Upscaled Model for Multicomponent Gas Transport in Porous Media Incorporating Slip Effect

Abstract

A two-scale model for multicomponent gas transport in porous media is developed. At the pore-scale, Stefan–Maxwell formulation is used to describe the multi-gas transport together with the mass and momentum conservation equations, whereas on the solid/fluid interface, a slip velocity according to the Kramers–Kistemaker condition is taken into account. The pore-scale equations are then upscaled using a formal homogenization procedure. The macroscopic model shows that the total average velocity is modified by a slip velocity which depends mostly on the diffusive flux of the light gas in the mixture. Application to hydrogen transport in electrochemical devices such as fuel cell, electrochemical hydrogen purifier/compressor, in which considerable contrast of molar mass between the gases occurs, is carried out. As a result, the gas slip effect can modify considerably the gas transport behavior within the porous medium of the devices. This is an important result because the gas transport mechanisms play a crucial role in their efficiency.