Kinetics of spontaneous boiling-up of a methane–nitrogen solutions

Abstract

The mean life time method has been used to investigate the kinetics of nucleation in a superheated methane–nitrogen solution. Measurements have been made in the range of nucleation rates J = (1.2·104–1.6·108) m−3s−1. Temperature dependences of the nucleation rate have been obtained for seven compositions of the solution at pressures p = 1.0 and 1.6 MPa. The results of the experiments have been compared with classical nucleation theory (CNT). In contrast to pure methane and hydrogen, where superheating temperatures achieved by experiment are lower than their theoretical values, in methane–nitrogen solutions the opposite behavior is found. Close to the equimolecular composition limiting superheatings of solutions exceed theoretical values by (1.2–1.6) K. Possible reasons for the disagreement between CNT and experiment (size dependence of the surface tension of critical bubbles, bypassing the saddle point of the activation barrier, etc) are analyzed.