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Pflijgers Archiv: Three-Gas Diffusion - Experimental and Theoretical Study
Pflijgers Archiv: Three-Gas Diffusion - Experimental and Theoretical Study
Pflijgers Archiv: Three-Gas Diffusion - Experimental and Theoretical Study
Summary, The purpose of this work was to compare questioned whether mixing by diffusion was complete
experimental diffusion among three gases with the and whether ventilation of the lobes was equal. In
solution given by Stefan's equations to understand 1946 Rauwerda tried to answer the first question with
better how this phenomenon can work in the multi- a simple model of the lung. Many other models were
component alveolar gas. suggested by different authors which, although
Experiments were performed in a cylinder full of based on Weibel's data (1963), lead to different re-
beads open at one end and closed at the other in which sults. Complex mixtures including heavy or light
a mixture of oxygen with helium or argon or sulphur gases were used to enhance the effect of diffusion.
hexafluoride could diffuse with ambient air through However, under conditions of more than two gases in
the open end. We solved Stefan's equations for the a mixture, Fick's law (1855) does not apply any more.
non-steady state by a finite-difference method and The appropriate equations for the diffusion of more
applied them to our experimental conditions with than two gases have been available since Stefan (1871),
diffusion coefficients we had measured in binary ex- and experiments by Wretschko (1870) showed special
periments. We then made experiments and calculations features of ternary diffusion.
to show the influence of the beads on gas transport. Recently Chang et al. (1975) called attention to
Provided that diffusion is the only phenomenon, possible implications of ternary diffusion in respiratory
experimental and theoretical curves are very close physiology, and Modell and Farhi (1976) did in vitro
together. Moreover beads nearly stop motions due to studies in which the concentration of oxygen diffusing
vortices or small differences of density. with helium and nitrogen was recorded.
We conclude that: The aim of the present work was to apply Stefan's
Stefan's equations should replace Fick's equations law to conditions most often met during ventilation,
when more than two gases are involved, i.e., to the non-steady state. Theoretical curves were
One should bear in mind the possible influence of compared with experimental findings obtained with
gravity and devise diffusion experiments accordingly. mixtures of three different gases.
In small spaces such as alveoli the influence of
gravity must be negligible compared to diffusion.
Key words." Ternary diffusion - Binary diffusion - THEORY
Gravity - Oxygen - Inert gases.
According to Fick's law:
~?C1
N1 = - D 1 2 S 3x (1)
INTRODUCTION where:
The importance of gaseous diffusion in airways has N1 : flux of gas I in moles per unit time
been surmised as early as 1832 by Graham. In 1917 D~2 : diffusion coefficient between gases 1 and 2
Krogh and Lindhard raised this idea again and S : diffusion area
Ca ' concentration of gas 1 in moles per unit volume
* This study was aided by grant CL 74 5 117 06 INSERM x : distance.
228 Pfliigers Arch. 371 (1977)
Differentiating with respect to x and taking into These equations, worked out by Stefan (1871), re-
account the conservation of mass yields: duce to equation (1) in the presence of two gases only.
They can be used directly in the steady state as has been
8C1 [ 82C1 1 dS 8C1 done by Toot (1957) and Chang et al. (1975). For the
- + (2)
non-steady state which is the case in the ~ung, we have
solved them by a finite difference method with an ex-
which in the simple case of a constant diffusion area plicit scheme. Stability and convergence criteria are
close to those involved in parabolic equations. For sta-
( ~ - --- 0) yields: bility, one must choose such iteration steps Ax and At
that the inequality D. At/(Ax) 2 < 1/2 is satisfied. On
the other hand it is desirable for the sake of conver-
(~C1 82C1 gence that this ratio be as close to 1/6 as possible.
- Ol)_- (3)
8f 0X 2 Finally it must not be so Iow that it brings about
round-off errors (Collins, 1973).
This equation can be integrated for cases with
As will be seen later, only two different diffusion
simple geometry. For the particular case of a cylinder
coefficients are involved in our experiments. Steps Ax
of length l, closed at one end and initially filled with a
and At will then be selected in such a way as to satisfy
gas of concentration Ca diffusing out at the other end
the preceding conditions for both coefficients.
into a medium of constant concentration CB, concen-
Nevertheless, merely by inspection of equations (6),
tration C1 in the cylinder at distance x from the open-
it can be seen that the flux of one component can exist
ing and at time t is given by Crank (1956):
without a concentration gradient for that component
or even in the same direction as that concentration
2 2 (CB-- CA) gradient. Those features, called by Toor osmotic dif-
C1 = CB + ~- n
n=l fusion and reverse diffusion, cannot be accounted
for by Fick's law. We tried to demonstrate them.
(cos n ~ - 1) sin ~nnx exp (-D12nZn2t/4/2). (4)
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
If the cylinder of length [ is closed at both ends with As described previously (Br6s and Hatzfeld, 1975,
an initial concentration CA from 0 to l/2 and CB from 1976), we used a cylinder I m long and 96 mm in
l/2 to l, concentration C1 at distance x is given by Crank diameter which is open at one end. Oxygen concentra-
(1956): tion was recorded half-way along the length of the tube
(50 cm from the open end) with an electrolytic cell 1
C1 = C a + CB 2 2 (CA--CB) (Rost, 197-0). The current through it is 0.25 laA for
- 2 + rc n=l n
every 10 ~ of oxygen concentration at 101 kPa. By use
HTCX ng of Faraday's law this corresponds to an oxygen con-
cos ~ sin ~ - exp (-D12n2~at/l 2) (5) sumption of 0.2 mm 3 per h when the surrounding gas
has a concentration of 20 ~ oxygen. This oxygen in-
We now consider the case of three gases with: take is negligible when compared to the 1.8 1 of gas in
Ct, C2, C3: concentrations of the three gases in the cylinder as calculated from dimensions and equa-
moles per unit volume tion (7) (given in discussion).
al, a2, a3: ratios G/(CI + C2 + C3), C2/(C1 The linearity was evaluated by comparison with
+ C2 + Ca), C3/(C1 + C2 + C3) ranging from 0 to 1 02 N2 mixtures assayed by the Scholander method
with at + a2 + a3 = 1. with an accuracy of 0.5 ~o of the reading. Before each
N1, Na, N3: respective fluxes with N1 + Nz + Ns experiment the meter was calibrated with air (20.95
~- 0. 02). The drift cannot be estimated during an experi-
Dlz, D23, D31: binary diffusion coefficients. ment but we rejected all recordings for which the error
of the reading of air after the experiment was more than
1
8C1 _ 1 (aaNz-a2N1) + (aaN3-a3N1) 0 . 3 ~ 02.
S 8X D12 To reduce possible gas whirling motions which
would accelerate equilibration the diffusion chamber
8Cz 1 was filled with glass beads 6 mm in diameter. This en-
S (a2Nl - CllNz) + D2323 (a2N3 a3N2)(6)
~,x D12 tails an increase in the path of the gas molecules which
8C3 1 1 is difficult to estimate and thus precludes the use of
S (a3N1 - axN3) + ~ (a3N2 - a2N3)
Ox D31 D23 1 Beckman model OM 10
M. Br6s and C. Hatzfeld: T1aree-GasDiffusion 229
m~ (~ i; ~ .......
t ~ I " "................
' "-'~'~........................
o loocm .7
..... --
%
40 / /;" ,..........
I ,.'/" ............... I
! ,.';"';'..............
" ............ I,. "o".; ~ I
~ I ..<s.
/ ,,..,';,~ .... .... ,,
.. ',,, "20"~ :"
--i"....................
............
2o.,, ......
9
I-I..-o.I
Jl~/Ar*O~ r o, I
1
~lS~'~ o~
0 . . . . s6o . . . . 1o o r
2r
o 1o 20 ao 4'0 5o 6o 70 80 90 t&
time(mn) distance {c rn~
Fig. 1. Binary diffusion. Experimental curves of oxygen versus Fig.2. Ternary diffusion between He, 02, N2: Theoretical curves
time half way along the cylinder (50 cm from both ends) of oxygenconcentration versus distance at differenttimes from the
beginning of diffusion. 0 cm is at the open end
diffusion coefficients available in the literature. There- that their diffusion coefficients with a third gas are also
fore, we measured the apparent coefficients of binary very similar. F r o m the theoretical formula given by
experiments in our cylinder full of beads and used them Radford (1964) one gets the following ratios:
in Stefan's equations.
DN2He DN2Ar
= 0.96 - 1.
MEASUREMENT DO2He DO2Ar
OF D I F F U S I O N C O E F F I C I E N T S We then adopted the following values of the
We used the following mixtures for these binary experi- diffusion coefficients: 02 N2:0.15 cm2/s, 02 He and
ments as well as for the ternary experiments which N2 He: 0.52 cm2/s, 02 Ar and N2 Ar: 0.14 cm2/s,
were done later: 78.8 ~o He 21.2 ~ Oz, 79 ~ Ar 21 ~o 02, 02 SF6 and N2 SF6:0.063 cm2/s.
78.24 ~ SF6 21.76 ~ 02.
First we measured the diffusion coefficient between
T H R E E - G A S CURVES
oxygen and nitrogen by filling the cylinder with oxygen
which was allowed to diffuse with ambient air through We allowed each of our three mixtures filling the tube
the open end. This yielded a curve which we compared to diffuse with ambient air (79.05 ~o N2 20.95 ~ 02).
to the theoretical curves obtained from equation (4) In each case we calculated the behavior of the three
with various diffusion coefficients. The experimental components with our computer program. As in those
curve (I. Fig. 1) fits the computed curve for an oxygen- mixtures helium or argon or sulphur hexafluoride are
nitrogen diffusion coefficient of 0.15 cm2/s. We then assumed to have the same diffusion coefficient with
carried out a similar experiment where the air in the oxygen and with nitrogen, they behave as though they
cylinder diffused with oxygen passing through a small were in a binary mixture (Stefan, 1871).
chamber at the open end (curve II). By again applying For the helium mixture Figure 2 shows the theore-
equation (4) we found an identical diffusion coefficient tical concentration of oxygen as a function of distance
of 0.15 cm2/s. for different times. These curves display a maximum
Gas motions which might be produced by this which increases and moves to the closed end up to a
external oxygen flow are therefore negligible and we value of 34 ~ at 3 h. Then the whole profile falls back
were able to use this device to measure diffusion coeffi- to the equilibrium value. At the measuring point
cients between helium and oxygen (curve III), argon (50 cm from the open end) the oxygen reaches a ma-
and oxygen (curve IV), and sulphur hexafluoride and ximum of 29.5 ~ at 4 h.
oxygen (curve V). We found values of 0.52 cmZ/s, For the three mixtures, Figures 3, 4, 5 show the
0.14 cmZ/s, 0.063 cm2/s respectively. theoretical curve of oxygen concentration at 50 cm
Our sensor allowed measurement of diffusion (A) and the experimental curves obtained in the follow-
coefficients only between oxygen and another gas. ing conditions: vertical tube with opening down (B),
Nevertheless since the masses and cross-sections of vertical tube with opening up (C), and horizontal
nitrogen and oxygen are very similar, one may assume tube (D). For argon the experimental curve is too close
230 Pfl/igers Arch. 371 (1977)
29.
(~
oxygen concentration
..."
...-~=
............... ; ': I]'~176
doxy~en concentration ~ A :computed .....
51=6-O2-N2 ( B,C,D: experimental
27 221 ~.~~.~
25
23 2O
21 / / He-O,-
He O2N2 B~..,D
: Aex; "'tn"~adl
.:rmmP: -"
19
,.oxygen concentration
9 ) " "'.'-.../..u......._.__
29- (O/o)
35 lOOcrn
~o 1ooo 2600
27_ .... time (mn)
9
Fig. 5. Ternary diffusion between SF6, 02, N2: Theoretical and
experimental curves of oxygen concentration at 50 cm from the
25.
open end. The SF~,02 mixture filling the cylinder at time zero diffuses
with ambient air through the open end. Same symbols as in Figure 3
23I
21
He-O2 N2 A: computed .....
B:experimental
INTERPRETATION
,oxygen concentration
(~ The differences between the experimental curves of
^ r~ kl t A:computed ..... one mixture for different positions of the tube are
21 - - ; " a l
easily explained by the effect of gravity. This effect is
microscopically negligible: the barometric formula
obtained from Maxwell's distribution (for instance
ell Landau, 1967, p. 137) shows that for a hight of 1 m,
the relative difference of concentration between a light
gas like helium and a heavier one like oxygen due to
2c 5oo lC;OO '
1500 gravity is about 10-*; with sulphur hexafluoride and
time (mn)
oxygen this difference is about 5 x 10-4; both can
Fig. 4. Ternary diffusion between At, 02, N2 : Theoretical and ex-
perimental curves of oxygen concentration at 50 cm from the open then be neglected.
end. The Ar 02 mixture filling the cylinder at time zero diffuses with On the other hand, macroscopically the kinetic
ambient air through the open end. The cylinder is vertical with open energy of gases is zero and, provided that they are not
end upwards mixed, the heaviest gas sinks according to the buoyancy
principle. This can be illustrated with chlorine, which
to the equilibrium value of 21 ~o to lead to significantly is coloured and heavier than air (Br6s and Hatzfeld,
different results concerning the tube position 9 For 1976): Three test-tubes about 25 cm long in three
helium we also measured curve B at 35 cm (Fig.3) different positions are filled with chlorine. Caps are
because at this point, as can be seen from Figure 2, a removed. The vertical tube with opening down empties
double maximum is predicted. For each curve several at once; from the horizontal tube chlorine flows
experiments were performed with the same tempera- separated with air by a distinctly outlined surface. Five
ture and pressure conditions. Experiments are well s later, the only tube which still holds chlorine is the
reproducible. For example, in Figure 3, curve B re- vertical one with opening up. For the He 02 mixture
M. Br6s and C. Hatzfeld: Three-Gas Diffusion 231
DISCUSSION
~ llt~e/55s i,e: 1trois
Wretschko (1870) did experiments similar to ours with
hydrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen but could not
monitor the oxygen concentration; he only showed an
increase in its overall concentration in the part in which
it was initially mixed with hydrogen. Thus, reverse dif-
Fig.6. Ternary diffusion: Recorded curve of oxygen concentration
in the middle of the cylinder when the HeO2 mixture, at a speed of fusion was experimentally obtained a long time ago.
1 cm/s, displaces air which initially filled the cylinder. Bottom left: To get correct experiments it is necessary to avoid
The theoretical curve drawn on the same scale gas motions due to gravity or whirls. The first experi-
menters who tackled problems of diffusion were aware
of the influence of gravity. Accordingly, the heavier
which is lighter than air with the open end of the tube body was at the bottom of their vertical diffusion tube,
pointing down (Fig. 3, curve B), no convective flow whether it was brine and water (Fick, 1855) or gases
can be established by gravity and there is a flux of gas (Graham, 1863; Loschmidt, 1870; Wretschko, 1870).
only as a result of diffusion. On curves C and D this To avoid whirls, Modell and Farhi (1976) used glass
gas is not confined and escapes from the tube. This beads as we did, Graham (1863) cotton wool. As he
convection tends to mask the effect of diffusion but stated: "In these experiments the glass cylinder was
not completely because it is hindered by the beads so loosely packed with cotton wool, to impede the action
that a maximum in oxygen concentration is still notice- of currents in the column of air; but this precaution
able. was found unnecessary, as similar results were after-
One additional feature of curves D and of curves C wards obtained in the absence of the cotton". Unfortu-
and F of Figure 2 in Modell and Farhi's paper (1976) nately he indicated only the height of his cylinder,
is the existence of an extreme which is in opposite 0.57 m, but not its diameter. As one may infer from
direction to the equilibrium value. Let us consider the Poiseuille's law, a narrow section is an obstacle to
helium-oxygen mixture: as it flows out because of its flow. Quoting Graham, Loschmidt did not use any
lightness it is replaced by air entering the tube which beads or cotton in his tube which had a height of
is deprived of part of its oxygen because of osmotic and 0.975 m and a diameter of 26 mm only. As regards the
reverse diffusion. When this air poor in oxygen comes influence of Graham's baffle, if the cotton had been
near the sensor the curve shows a minimum. Then, as effective, one would have expected that it would have
mixing proceeds, differences of density are reduced, influenced the results: being devised as an obstacle, it
diffusion predominates and entails the expected ma- ought to have entailed an increase in the path of
ximum of oxygen concentration. molecules. Probably the cotton was packed too loosely
To confirm this explanation we devised another to exert sufficient drag on gas motions that may have
experiment, in which flow in the tube is steady and been present. The ideal arrangement would seem to be
known; instead of being due to gravity we created it a longitudinally honey-combed tube which would pre-
by flowing the He-O2 mixture into the air-filled tube. vent whirls but not axial diffusion.
The linear velocity of the gas was calculated from the We devised the following binary experiments to
values of the flow and volume of gas in the tube given show the influence of beads on vortices and gas motions
by equation (7). This velocity being known, gas con- due to gravity. Our cell was located near the bottom of
centration at any time and place in the tube can be our tube (94 cm from the open end), oxygen was intro-
predicted using our computer program slightly altered duced and then allowed to diffuse with ambient air.
to take this translation into account. Figure 6 shows The experimental curves (all of which correspond to
the result of such an experiment performed with a experiments done twice and giving the same results)
velocity of 1 cm/s. The recorded profile of oxygen con- are shown in Figure 7. The case of the tube with its
centration exhibits a minimum (18 %) when the light open end upwards and full of beads corresponds to a
mixture comes near the sensor, then passes to a maxi- diffusion coefficient of 0.15 cm2/s. If it is tilted hori-
mum of 22.3 %, and finally reaches equilibrium at zontally the gas motions due to the difference of
21.2 %; the quantitative differences between the ob- densities have little influence and the mixing towards
served and theoretical curves are probably due to vor- equilibrium is only slightly faster (apparent diffusion
tices. When the heavy mixture with SF6 is used, the coefficient: 0.17 cmZ/s). On the other hand, when there
opposite phenomenon appears: the recorded oxygen are no beads these two experiments give different
concentration goes up to 24.4 %, then passes through a results. If the tube is vertical the curve does not follow
minimum at 18 %, and finally reaches equilibrium at Fick's law, because of vortices, but grossly corresponds
21.76~. to a diffusion coefficient of 0.39 cm2/s. If the tube is
232 PflfigersArch. 371 (1977)
R _ L,. 1
[, 3 5{9
-2+ _]/~
} proportional to the square of the dimension l along
which diffusion occurs:
Lo- ~/2 4-
tdiff < l 2. (9)
laminar, v is directly proportional to cross section S ' BrSs, M., Hatzfeld, C. : Diffusion gazeuse dans un m61ange 5_trois
perpendicular to t', to the gradient of pressure caus- composants. Comptes-rendus des colloques de I'I.N_S.E.R.M.
gl, 4 3 - 4 9 , Paris 1976
ing the gas to move dp/dl', and inversely proportional
Brun, E. A., Martinot-Lagarde, A., Mathieu, J.: M~canique des
to viscosity ~ (see e.g. Brun, 1968, volume 2, page 6). Fluides. Paris: Dunod 1968
l" is the dimension along which gravity acts. dp/dl" Chang, H. K., Tai, R. C., Farhi, L. E. : Some implications of ter-
only depends on the differences of gas densities and is nary diffusion in the lung. Respir. Physiol. 23, 109- 120 (1975)
therefore a constant with our assumptions; # is a con- Collins, R. : Analyse num6rique: application aux milieux continus.
Universit6 Paris VII, 1973
stant too. One then can write: Crank, J. : The mathematics of diffusion. Oxford: Clarendon Press
1956
tdiff [2 Cumming, G., Crank, J., Horsfield, K., Parker, I. : Gaseous diffu-
- - oc ,/s~ (1o) sion in the airways of the human lung. Respir. Physiol. 1, 58 - 74
tgrav l
(1966)
Fick, A. : Uber Diffusion. Ann. Phys. Chem. 94, 5 9 - 8 6 (1855)
Because of the similarity of shapes, S oc l 2, l' oc l, and Graham, T. : On the law of the diffusion of gases. Trans. R. Soc.
one gets : Edinb. 12, Part 1,222-258 (1832)
Graham, T. : On the molecular mobility of gases. Phil. Mag. S.4.
(177), 26, 409-434 (1863)
talf~ oc l 3. (11) Krogh, A., Lindhard, J.: The volume of the dead space in breath-
/gray ing and the mixing of gases in the lungs of man. L Physiol.
The hypothesis of the flow due to gravity being (Lond.) 51, 5 9 - 9 0 (1917)
Landau, F., Lifchirz, E.: Physique statistique. Moscou: Editions
laminar is valid in the lungs because, for volumes of Mir 1967
the same order of magnitude as the larger airways, Loschmidt, J. : Experimental-Untersuchungen fiber die Diffusion
Reynold's number is much below the critical value and von Gasen ohne por6se Scheidew/inde. S.-B. Akad. Wiss. Wien
goes on decreasing with the cube of dimensions. Equa- 61, 2. Abt. 367-380 and 62, 2. Abt. 468-478 (1870)
tion (10) shows that to,re decreases and tgrav increases Modell, H. I., Farhi, L. E. : Ternary gas diffusion- in vitro studies.
Respir. Physiol. 27, 6 5 - 7 1 (1976)
when dimensions decrease so that in small volumes Pa'iva, M. : Stochastic simulation of the gas diffusion in the air phase
diffusion acts chiefly. Let us consider the 23rd bron- of the human lung. Bull. Math. Biophysics 34, 457-466 (1972)
chial generation of the human lung as a cylinder of Radford, E. P.: The physics of gases. Handbook of Physiology,
diameter 0.4 mm and length 0.5 mm (Weibel, 1963). Section 3, pp. 125-152 (W.O. Fenn and H. Rahn, eds.).
Washington, D.C. : American Physiological Society 1964
One can compute a characteristic time for diffusion Rauwerda, P. E. : Unequal ventilation of different parts of the lung
between nitrogen and oxygen to be 10 ms and in and the determination of cardiac output. Thesis, Groningen,
the same fashion a characteristic time for equilibration Netherlands 1946
through gravity to be 4 s using 1.7 9 10 .5 Pa - s for Rost, G.: Recent improvements in hypoxia warning systems.
Aerospace Med. 41, 865-869 (1970)
the viscosity and 0.23 cm2/s for the diffusion co-
Stefan, J. : fQber das Gleichgewicht und die Bewegung insbesondere
efficient. One can then conclude that in alveolar sacs die Diffusion von Gasgemengen. S.-B. Akad. Wiss. Wien 63,
and ducts gravity does not exert any appreciable in- 2. Abt., 6 3 - 124 (1871)
fluence before completion of diffusion. T o o l H. L. : Diffusion in three-component gas mixtures. A. I. Ch.
E. J. 3, 198-207 (1957)
Acknowledgements. We thank Prof, P. Macklem and Prof. F.
Weibel, E.: Morphometry of the human lung. Berlin-G6ttingen-
Kreuzer for helpful advice and criticism.
Heidelberg: Springer 1963
Wretschko, A. : Experimental-Untersuchungen fiber die Diffusion
yon Gasgemengen. S.-B. Akad. Wiss. Wien 62, 2. Abt., 575 - 589
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