Joule-Thomson Effect
CHRISTOPH WINDMEIER, Linde AG, Pullach (Munchen), Germany
RANDALL F. BARRON, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, United States
A fluid flow encountering an obstruction like,
e.g., an expansion valve, an orifice plate, a
porous plug, or a capillary tube, will experience
a pressure drop. Since outer heat transfer and
changes in kinetic energy are usually negligi-
ble, and because there is no transfer of work
from and to the fluid flow, the resulting expan-
sion can be considered to be isenthalpic. A
non-ideal fluid will hence experience a change
in temperature. This fundamental phenomenon
is called the JouleThomson (JT) effect and it
enables the production of cold temperature
levels by isenthalpic expansion of high-
pressure fluids.
The origin of the JT effect lies within the
occurrence of intermolecular forces in non-
ideal fluids: A pressure reduction is accompa-
nied by an increase of specific volume. Conse-
quently the average intermolecular distances
also increase. The internal work done on
attractive or repulsive interactions will result
to a respective change of system temperature.
The constant enthalpy lines on the temperature
pressure plane are shown in Figure 1. The effect
of temperature change for an isenthalpic
change in pressure is represented by the
JouleThomson coefficient, mJT, defined by


@T
mJT
@p h
The JouleThomson coefficient is equal to
the slope of the isenthalpic lines in Figure 1. In
the region where mJT < 0, isenthalpic expan-
sion results into an increase in temperature,
whereas in the region where mJT > 0, respec-
tive expansion results into a temperature
decrease. The curve that separates the two
regions is called the inversion curve. The
JT coefficient is zero along the inversion
# 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
10.1002/14356007
curve, because the slope of the isenthalpic
line is zero.
Thermodynamics show that the JT
coefficient may be expressed in terms of volu-
metric and caloric properties as follows:
"
 #
1 @v
mJT T v 1
cp @T p
where v is the specific volume and cp the
specific heat at constant pressure of the
material.
Since an ideal gas does not possess any
intermolecular forces one can expect a value
of zero for its JT coefficient. Substituting the
equation of state of an ideal gas v (RT)/p into
Equation 1 gives:


@v R v
@T p p T
where R is the gas constant and p is the pressure.
Substitution into Equation 1 gives mJT 0 for
an ideal gas. For a real gas, the JT coefficient
may be negative, zero, or positive, depending
on the initial temperature and pressure of the
material.
The simplest equation of state for real gases
is the van der Waals equation of state:
 a
p v  b RT
v2
where the constant a gives a measure of the
intermolecular forces between the molecules,
and the constant b provides a measure of the
finite size of the gas molecules. Constants a
and b are thus dependent upon the species and
can be determined using the first and second
derivative of the isothermal line at the critical
point.
2 Joule-Thomson Effect

The inversion curve is formed by all points at

which the JT coefficient is zero. The inversion
temperature Ti from Equation 2 is given by:

2a
Ti 1  b=v2
bR

The maximum inversion temperature for a

van der Waals fluid is the temperature on the
inversion curve where p 0 (or b/v 0) or Ti,
max 2a/bR. The maximum inversion temper-
ature (in K) for several gases is as follows:
Figure 1. General temperaturepressure diagram for a
real gas Helium [4He] 45
Carbon monoxide 652
Hydrogen 205
The expression for the JT coefficient for a Neon 250
Argon 794
van der Waals gas is given by Equation 2:
Air 603
Oxygen 761
2a=RT 1  b=v2  b Nitrogen 621
mJT h i 2
cp 1  2=vRT 1  b=v2 Methane 939

For large values of the specific volume, as

typically occurring in gas phases, Equation 2 The maximum inversion temperatures for
can be approximated by: helium, hydrogen, and neon are below ambient
temperature. When starting out from ambient

 temperature, liquefaction systems that use JT
1 2a
mJT b
cp RT expansion alone to produce low temperature
cannot be used to liquefy these gases: Addi-
This expression shows that the JT tional means such as external sources of refrig-
coefficient is positive when T < 2a/bR and eration or expansion engines must be used in
negative when T > 2a/bR. order to liquefy these gases.