Ref-L04

Cryogenics
Lecture 3

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Cryogenics 1

Outline Ref-L04

‹ What is cryogenics?
‹ Where is cryogenics used?

‹ Cryosurgenry & cryopreservation

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Cryogenics 2
 Cryogenics Ref-L04

The word "Cryogenics" is derived from two Greek words:

"kryos", which means cold or freezing, and "genes",
which means being born of or generated. Cryogenics is
the branch of physics concerned with the production and
maintenance of extremely low temperatures, and with the
effects that occur under such conditions.
Cryogenic Engineering is concerned with temperatures found
in the range of -150C to absolute zero –273.15C (123K –
0K)
The lowest natural temperature ever recorded was In
Antarctica. -89C or 184K

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Cryogenics 3

Cryo History Ref-L04

1895 Air liquefaction @ 40K

1908 Helium liquefied @ 4.2 K
1911 Superconductivity discovered.
1960s 0.00000001K possible.

0 K All molecular motion comes as close to

ceasing as theoretically possible.
At the very lowest temperatures of the cryogenic temperature
range, matter behaves strangely—liquids run uphill and
electric currents never stop flowing.

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Cryogenics 4
 Cryogenic Fluid Properties Ref-L04

‹ Liquid Helium
Normal boiling point 4.21K
Density 124.8Kg/m3

‹ Liquid Nitrogen
Normal boiling point 77.36K
Density 807Kg/m3
Both are odourless and non-flammable in air

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Cryogenics 5

Safety Ref-L04

‹ Health Hazards:
Asphyxiation.
less than 18% oxygen in the atmosphere.
Cold burns.
contact with un-insulated plant
pressurised escaping cryogen gas etc.

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Cryogenics 6
 Ref-L04
Refrigeration

Refrigeration is not an efficient process,

work is required to cool and maintain the
low temperature.
The lower the temperature required the
more costly refrigeration becomes.

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Cryogenics 7

Ref-L04
Refrigeration

There are three main cooling methods that

the engineer employs to achieve
Cryogenic temperatures:

External work.

Transfer of Heat.

Isenthalpic

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Cryogenics 8
 Ref-L04

The main applications of cryogenics (i.e. below 200 K) are:

*At some 195 K, dry ice production and use.
*At some 150 K, high-temperature superconductors.
*At some 112 K, liquefied natural gas (LNG), production and
transport.
*At some 80 K, liquid air fractional distillation, liquid nitrogen, liquid
oxygen. Satellite passive coolers. Infrared and microwave detectors
cooled to decrease thermal noise of electrons (Johnson/Nyquist noise).
*At some 20 K, liquid hydrogen. Deep vacuum space simulators (at 20
K the vapour pressure of nitrogen is some 10-8 Pa).
Below 20 K, scientific research.

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Cryogenics 9

Ref-L04
Dry ice

Fig. 16. Phase changes (p-T diagram) and p-h diagram for pure CO2

Dry ice, also named carbon dioxide snow, is the solid phase of CO2. Dry ice is commonly
used in many refrigeration applications, as for food freezing (it is fast, clean, and yields a
preservative atmosphere), for shrink fitting (cooling large metal pieces for mounting with
interference).
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Cryogenics 10
 Ref-L04
Gas liquefaction
Gas liquefaction, or condensation, is the conversion of a gas to
the liquid phase by cooling or compression. All gases are
transported in liquid phase because of economy. Propane,
butane, ammonia, and others with critical temperature above
ambient, can be liquefied by pressure at ambient temperature,
or it may be more convenient to handled them refrigerated at
some -40 ºC, using common refrigerators, to avoid very strong
pressurised tanks.
As a summary of cryogenic fluids, the lowest condensation
temperatures at 100 kPa are (below 100 K): 90 K for O2, 87 K
for Ar, 77 K for N2, 26 K for Ne, 20 K for H2 and 4.2 K for
He.

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Cryogenics 11

Ref-L04
Liquefied natural gas (LNG)

Natural gas is transported as a compressed gas in gasoducts (gas

pipelines), but it is difficult to lay down pipes at the sea-floor, that
batch transport by sea is economically better (more than ¼ of the
world consumption of natural gas follows that path, in 2002). For
that purpose, a gasoduct from the source to a sea side is built, a
liquefaction plant is built there, LNG tankers load the liquid in
four of five very-large tanks, navigate to the destination sea-side,
unload there, where large LNG storage tanks and a re-gasification
plant has to be built, and gasoducts are built from there to the
consumers area. On mass and economic terms, the transport of
liquefied natural gas by boat is the largest commercial
cryogenic application.

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Cryogenics 12
 Superconductivity Ref-L04

Superconductivity is the property of some materials

to abruptly drop their electrical resistivity at
cryogenic temperatures.
Superconductivity disappears when increasing
temperature and/or magnetic field strength.
Finally notice that there is not a similar thermal
superconductivity (i.e. an abrupt increase in
thermal conductivity).

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Cryogenics 13

Cryosurgery & cryopreservation Ref-L04

Biological activity does not cease at the freezing

point of water, the basic life fluid. Many single-
celled organisms and some small tissue
fragments can be frozen in vitro, with chemical
additives, to cryogenic temperatures and revived
(recovering activity) after a long time, if the
cooling and thawing rates are appropriate, a
technique called cryopreservation, now
routinely used to store eggs, semen, embryos and
other types of cells and tissues from animals and
humans, mainly for assisted reproduction, but
also for genetic research.
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Cryogenics 14
 Cold effects on materials Ref-L04

Since steel becomes brittle at even Arctic

temperatures, scientists make their low-
temperature equipment out of such metals as
copper or aluminum. Also, silicone rubbers
replace natural rubber, which is as brittle as
glass at liquid nitrogen temperatures.

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Cryogenics 15

ExampleNitrogen liquefier Ref-L04

In order to produce 100 kg/h of liquid nitrogen from the gas at room conditions, a cascade of
5 compressors with inter-cooling to the environment are used, to get the gas at 15 MPa,
with compressor isentropic efficiencies of 86%, followed by the liquefier itself, where
the gas goes along a coil and discharges through a valve to atmospheric pressure.
Evaluate:

Optimum intermediate pressures.

Fraction of the gas stream that is liquefied.
Demanded power of the plant.

Fig. 1. Sketch of the components and the T-s diagram of the processes (Linde
©Wanchailiquefaction).
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Cryogenics 16
 Optimum intermediate pressures Ref-L04

γ −1
 
  pi  − 1 
γ

5 5  p   → ∂w p p p p p
wtot = ∑ c p (Ti − T0 ) = ∑ c pT0 1 +  i −1   → tot = 0 ⇒ 1 = 2 = 3 = 4 = 5
i =1 i =1  ηC  ∂pi p0 p1 p2 p3 p4
 
 

pi = ( p05−i p5i ) 
→ pi = {100, 270, 740, 2000,5500,15000} kPa
1
5

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Cryogenics 17

Optimum intermediate pressures Ref-L04

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Cryogenics 18
 Fraction of the gas stream that is liquefied Ref-L04

hDl − hB
xD =
hDl − hA

With values from the nitrogen data in Fig. 2, hA=300 kJ/kg, hB=270 kJ/kg, hDl=-120
kJ/kg and hDv=78 kJ/kg, what yields xD=0.924

m& liq 0.028

m& gas = = = 0.37 kg/s
1 − xD 1 − 0.924

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Demanded power of the plant Ref-L04

With the perfect-gas model, each compressor is equally loaded and the global power is
five times that of the first compressor. The exit temperature:

γ −1
   1.4 −1

  p1  − 1 
γ
  270 
1.4
 
  p0   − 1
  100  
T1 = T0 1 +  = 288 1 +  = 399 K
 η  0.86
C
 
   
   

W&tot = 5m& gas c p (T1 − T0 ) = 5 ⋅ 0.37 ⋅1( 399 − 288 ) = 205 kW

Comments:
In practice, liquid nitrogen is not obtained from pure nitrogen gas but from air, by
fractional distillation of liquid air, which is obtained by a modification of this simple
Linde gas-liquefaction process.

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Cryogenics 20