Technical Report No. 49
THERMAL PROPERTIES OF SEA WATER
James C. S. Chou
July 1971
ABSTRACT
The interpolation formulae for vapor pressures, specific volumes, enthalpies and heats of vaporization of ordinary sea water have been determined in the temperature range Oo to 200oC for salinities of 0 to 120 ppt, based on the published data. These formulae may facilitate calculations for designing desalting evaporators. The accuracies of vapor pressure data were found insufficient; however, the accurate measurements of vapor pressures by others are in progress. A close correlation was found between the compressibilities of sea water and those of aqueous sodium chloride solution at low temperatures. Because the lack of experimental data on compressibilities of sea water at elevated temperatures, compressibilities of aqueous sodium chloride solution for pressures up to 350 atmospheres are used as approximations to those of sea water in order to account for the effect of pressure on other thermal properties.