A simple correlation to estimate natural gas thermal conductivity

• Generalized natural gas thermal conductivity correlation.
• Validity in temperature range from 220 to 425 K and pressures range between 0.1 and 300 MPa.
• AARE% of 5.69 in the comparison with experimental data.

A general investigation of the thermal conductivity of natural gas as a function of temperature, pressure and composition was carried out to develop a generalized correlation. The model obtained was based on 731 data points of 42 binary mixtures in wide ranges of pressures (0.1–300 MPa), temperatures (220–425 K) and specific gravities (0.626–1.434). Correction terms for non-hydrocarbons of carbon dioxide and nitrogen were up to 87.8 and 82.8 of mole percent, respectively. The arithmetic average of the model's absolute error was found to be 5.69%, which is acceptable in engineering calculations.