Conductivity of Dilute Aqueous Electrolyte Solutions at High Temperatures and Pressures Using a Flow Cell

Abstract

A flow-through electrical conductance cell was assembled in order to measuremolar conductances of dilute aqueous electrolytes with a high degree of accuracyat high temperatures and pressures. The design of the cell is based on the conceptdeveloped at the University of Delaware and built in 1995, with modificationsthat will allow the cell to operate at much higher temperatures (to 600°C) andpressures (to 300 MPa). At present, the cell has been tested successfully bymeasuring aqueous (10−4-10−3 mol-kg−1) solutions of LiCl, NaCl, and KCl attemperatures 25–410°C and pressures 9.8–33 MPa. The results are in goodagreement with reported values, including those measured with the Delawareflow-through cell. These new results are also complementary to our previousresults, which were measured with a static high-pressure cell. Measurements attemperatures near the critical point of water (374°C, 22.1 MPa) require the useof lower solution concentrations that were unachievable in the past with thestatic cell.