PHYSICAL, THERMODYNAMIC AND SELECTED

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CHLORINE

GEST 91/168
Chapter 5 – Mechanical Properties

1st Edition

September 2002

EURO CHLOR PUBLICATION

This document can be obtained from:

EURO CHLOR - Avenue E. Van Nieuwenhuyse 4, Box 2 - B-1160 BRUSSELS
Telephone: 32-(0)2-676 72 65 - Telefax: 32-(0)2-676 72 41
 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

Euro Chlor

Euro Chlor is the European federation which represents the producers of

chlorine and its primary derivatives.

Euro Chlor is working to:

 improve awareness and understanding of the contribution that chlorine

chemistry has made to the thousands of products which have improved our
health, nutrition, standard of living and quality of life;
 maintain open and timely dialogue with regulators, politicians, scientists, the
media and other interested stakeholders in the debate on chlorine;
 ensure our industry contributes actively to any public, regulatory or scientific
debate and provides balanced and objective science-based information to
help answer questions about chlorine and its derivatives;
 promote the best safety, health and environmental practices in the
manufacture, handling and use of chlor-alkali products in order to assist our
members in achieving continuous improvements (Responsible Care).

***********

This document has been produced by the members of Euro Chlor and should not be
reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Euro Chlor.

It is intended to give only guidelines and recommendations. The information is provided in

good faith and was based on the best information available at the time of publication. The
information is to be relied upon at the user’s own risk. Euro Chlor and its members make no
guarantee and assume no liability whatsoever for the use and the interpretation of or the
reliance on any of the information provided.

This document was originally prepared in English by our technical experts. For our members’
convenience, it may have been translated into other EU languages by translators / Euro Chlor
members. Although every effort was made to ensure that the translations were accurate, Euro
Chlor shall not be liable for any losses of accuracy or information due to the translation
process.

Prior to 1990, Euro Chlor’s technical activities took place under the name BITC (Bureau
International Technique du Chlore). References to BITC documents may be assumed to be to
Euro Chlor documents.

September 2002 Page 2 of 14

 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

RESPONSIBLE CARE IN ACTION

Chlorine is essential in the chemical industry and consequently there

is a need for chlorine to be produced, stored, transported and used.
The chlorine industry has co-operated over many years to ensure the
well-being of its employees, local communities and the wider
environment. This document is one in a series which the European
producers, acting through Euro Chlor, have drawn up to promote
continuous improvement in the general standards of health, safety
and the environment associated with chlorine manufacture in the
spirit of Responsible Care.

The voluntary recommendations, techniques and standards

presented in these documents are based on the experiences and
best practices adopted by member companies of Euro Chlor at their
date of issue. They can be taken into account in full or partly,
whenever companies decide it individually, in the operation of
existing processes and in the design of new installations. They are in
no way intended as a substitute for the relevant national or
international regulations which should be fully complied with.

It has been assumed in the preparation of these publications that the

users will ensure that the contents are relevant to the application
selected and are correctly applied by appropriately qualified and
experienced people for whose guidance they have been prepared.
The contents are based on the most authoritative information
available at the time of writing and on good engineering, medical or
technical practice but it is essential to take account of appropriate
subsequent developments or legislation. As a result, the text may be
modified in the future to incorporate evolution of these and other
factors.

This edition of the document has been drawn up by the GEST

Working Group to whom all suggestions concerning possible revision
should be addressed through the offices of Euro Chlor.

September 2002 Page 3 of 14

 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This document is the result of numerous contributions from Euro Chlor

members. However, the following two papers have been particularly and their
use is gratefully acknowledged:

Solvay Internal Note EN 284 (1959) - Physical, Physicochemical and

Thermodynamic Properties of Chlorine - which gives extensive results of
Solvay Laboratories determinations.

Chlorine Institute publication - Properties of Chlorine in SI units (1986) - for

extensive compilation and tabulation of the thermodynamic properties.

September 2002 Page 4 of 14

 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

TABLE OF CONTENTS

V MECHANICAL PROPERTIES 6

V.1 Compressibility and Expansion Coefficient 6

V.1.1 Compressibility of Liquid Chlorine 6
V.1.2 Expansion Coefficient of Liquid Chlorine 6
V.1.3 Compressibility of Superheated Vapour 7

V.2 Surface Tension 7

V.3 Viscosity 9
V.3.1 Liquid Chlorine 9
V.3.2 Gaseous Chlorine 10

V.4 Van der Waals Volume and Area 12

V.4.1 Van der Waals Volume 12
V.4.2 Van der Waals Area 12

REFERENCES 13

TABLE OF TABLES
Table V.1 Compressibility of liquid chlorine 6
Table V.2 Expansion coefficient of liquid chlorine 6
Table V.3 Surface tension of liquid chlorine 8
Table V.4 Viscosity of liquid chlorine 9
Table V.5 Viscosity of gaseous chlorine 11

TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure V.1 Surface tension of liquid chlorine 8

Figure V.2 Viscosity of liquid chlorine 10
Figure V.3 Viscosity of gaseous chlorine 11

September 2002 Page 5 of 14

 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

V MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

V.1 Compressibility and Expansion Coefficient

V.1.1 Compressibility of Liquid Chlorine

Compressibility is defined as the decrease of the specific volume for

100 kPa increase of pressure :

specific volume
C For p = 100 kPa
Specificvo lume

Table V.1 gives values quoted by Ullmann [1] over the range 0 - 10Mpa.

Table V.1 Compressibility of liquid chlorine

T T
Compressibility
°C K
20 293 0.12.10-3
35 308 0.23.10-3
64 347 0.37.10-3
91 364 0.64.10-3

The variation of specific volume per unit volume for a given pressure
increase can be derived from Table IV.2 “Density of compressed liquid
chlorine”, in Chapter 4..

V.1.2 Expansion Coefficient of Liquid Chlorine

The change of volume per unit volume per degree Celsius at constant
pressure is given in Table V.2:

Table V.2 Expansion coefficient of liquid chlorine

Temperature range Expension

°C coefficient
0 - 20 3.84.10-3
20 – 100 3.83.10-3
100 - 200 3.80.10-3

1
Ullman’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, A.6, 399, (1986)

September 2002 Page 6 of 14

 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

The variation of specific volume for a given temperature increase can

best be derived from Table IV.3 “Density of Saturated Liquid Chlorine”,
in Chapter 4.

V.1.3 Compressibility of Superheated Vapour

The compressibility of superheated vapour is defined by the equation:

g RT
Z  Equation V.1
PV

Equation V.1 is used to evaluate P, V and T. Martin [2] showed that at

low pressure the second virial coefficient is given by :

 Z 
   BPc Equation V.2
Pr T RT

Rearranging the PVT relation and substituting in Z, gives:

tPc Pr A  B2Tr  C 2 e  kTr A3  B3Tr  C 3 e  kTr

Z  1  2  
RTc Tr tPc tPc 2
Tr ( Z cVr  ) Tr ( Z cVr  )
RTc RTc
Equation V.3
tP
( A3  B3Tr )( Z cVr  c )
RTc

Tr e (1  nce )
mavr mavr

The critical compressibility is 0.2760 [3]

V.2 Surface Tension

The equation of surface tension is given by:

1.21
 T 
  79.30 1   Equation V.4
 T  c

where:   surface tension, mJ/m2

T  temperature, K
and Tc  critical temperature, 416.90 K

2
J.J. Martin , The Thermodynamic Behavior of the Real Ideal Gas,
Chem. Eng. Prog. Symposium Series, 59, 44, 120-126 (1963)
3
DIPPR

September 2002 Page 7 of 14

 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

This equation is deduced from a non-linear least square method, by

using the experimental data of Marchand [4]. The surface tension values
are given in Table V.3 and Figure V.1.

Table V.3 Surface tension of liquid chlorine

Temp. oC -100 -90 -80 -70 -60 -50 -40 -30 -20
Surface
Tension 41.4 39.4 37.3 35.3 33.3 31.4 29.4 27.5 25.6
mJ/m2
Temp. oC -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Surface
Tension 23.7 21.9 20.0 18.2 16.5 14.7 13.0 11.4 9.8
mJ/m2
Temp. oC 80 90 100 110 120 130 140
Surface
Tension 8.2 6.6 5.2 3.8 2.5 1.3 0.3
mJ/m2

Figure V.1 Surface tension of liquid chlorine

50

40
Surface Tension (mJ/m )
2

30

20

10

0
-80 -40 0 40 80 120
o
Temperature ( C)

4
E. J. Marchand, Chim. Phy. Physicochim. Bio., 11, 573 (1913)

September 2002 Page 8 of 14

 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

V.3 Viscosity

V.3.1 Liquid Chlorine

The viscosity of liquid chlorine at 0°C is 0 = 0.385.10-3 Pa.s.

Viscosities at other temperatures may be derived using the formula:

0
T 
1  At  Bt 2

where t = temperature in °C
A = 5.878.10-3
B = -3.92. 10-6

Calculated values are given in table V.4 and FigureV.2 for

temperatures between –100oC and 100oC. More sophisticated
equations do not give a better fit with the experimental data within this
temperature range

Table V.4 Viscosity of liquid chlorine

Temperatur
Temperatur Viscosity
e
e°C 10-3 Pa.s
K
-100 173 1.032
-90 183 0.877
-80 193 0.763
-70 203 0.676
-60 213 0.608
-50 223 0.553
-40 233 0.508
-30 243 0.469
-20 253 0.437
-10 263 0.409
0 273 0.385
12 283 0.364
20 293 0.345
30 303 0.328
40 313 0.313
50 323 0.300
60 333 0.288
70 343 0.276
80 353 0.266
90 363 0.257
100 373 0.249

September 2002 Page 9 of 14

 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

Figure V.2 Viscosity of liquid chlorine

1.2

1
Viscosity (10 Pa.s)

0.8
-3

0.6

0.4

0.2
-100 -50 0 50 100
o
Temperature ( C)

V.3.2 Gaseous Chlorine

The viscosity of gaseous chlorine at atmospheric pressure or below

may be calculated by the equation:

L = 12.4 + 44.35. 10-3 t – 93.68.10-6 t2

where L is given in 10-6 Pa.s

T is temperature in °C

The equation gives the best fit with the experimental data given in
Table V.5 and Figure V.3, at temperatures up to about 100 oC.

September 2002 Page 10 of 14

 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

Table V.5 Viscosity of gaseous chlorine

Temperatur
Temperatur Viscosity
e
e°C 10-3 Pa.s
K
-100 173 7.9
-80 193 8.8
-60 213 9.7
-40 233 10.6
-20 253 11.5
0 273 12.4
10 283 12.8
20 293 13.3
30 303 13.9
40 313 14.2
50 323 14.7
60 333 15.1
80 353 16.0
100 373 16.8
150 423 18.8
200 473 20.8
300 573 24.8
400 673 28.8
500 773 32.2

Figure V.3 Viscosity of gaseous chlorine

35

30

25
Viscosity ( 10 Pa.s)
-3

20

15

10

5
-100 0 100 200 300 400 500

o
September 2002 Temperature ( C) Page 11 of 14
 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

V.4 Van der Waals Volume and Area

V.4.1 Van der Waals Volume

24.1 m3/mole[5]

V.4.2 Van der Waals Area

381 103 m3/mole[6].

5
A. J. Bondi, J. Phys. Chem, 68, 441, (1964)
6
Vera, Sayegh, and Ratcliff, Fluidplax equilibria 1, 113, (1977)

September 2002 Page 12 of 14

 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

REFERENCES
1 Ullman’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, A.6, 399, (1986)
2 J.J. Martin , The Thermodynamic Behavior of the Real Ideal Gas,
Chem. Eng. Prog. Symposium Series, 59, 44, 120-126 (1963)
3 DIPPR
4 E. J. Marchand, Chim. Phy. Physicochim. Bio., 11, 573 (1913)
5 A. J. Bondi, J. Phys. Chem, 68, 441, (1964)
6 Vera, Sayegh, and Ratcliff, Fluidplax equilibria 1, 113, (1977)

September 2002 Page 13 of 14

 GEST 91/168 – Chapter 5
1st Edition

Industrial consumers of chlorine, engineering and equipment supply

companies worldwide and chlorine producers outside Europe may establish a
permanent relationship with Euro Chlor by becoming Associate Members or
Technical Correspondents.

Details of membership categories and fees are available from:

Euro Chlor
Avenue E Van Nieuwenhuyse 4
Box 2
B-1160 Brussels
Belgium

Tel: +32 2 676 7211

Fax: +32 2 676 7241
e-mail: eurochlor@cefic.be
Internet: http://www.eurochlor.org

September 2002 Page 14 of 14