Studies on the performance of a small reciprocating compressor with different nitrogen–hydrocarbon mixtures

• We study the performance of a compressor operating with refrigerant mixtures.
• An expression has been presented for the volumetric efficiency of the compressor.
• The adiabatic efficiency was found to be independent of the mixture composition.

The performance of Joule–Thomson refrigerators operating with mixed refrigerants depends on the composition of mixtures as well as the hardware employed. The role of mixture composition on the overall performance of the system has been well addressed in the open literature. What is not well known is the role of mixture composition on the performance of individual components such as the compressor, heat exchanger, etc. The adiabatic efficiency of a single stage Joule–Thomson refrigerator compressor was measured with thirty different nitrogen–hydrocarbon and neon–nitrogen–hydrocarbon mixtures. Our results show that the adiabatic efficiency of the compressor is independent of the mixture composition in the range of pressure ratios tested.