Article révisé par les pairs
Résumé : In an unprecedented experimental investigation, a binary, a ternary and a four-component hydrocarbon mixture at different pressure have been studied in a nearly convection free environment to understand the thermodiffusion process. Experimental investigations of the mixtures have been conducted in space onboard the spacecraft FOTON-M3. The experiment objective was to measure the thermodiffusion coefficient for multi-component hydrocarbon mixtures. Then the experimental results have also been used to test a thermodiffusion model that has been calibrated based on the results of previous experimental investigations. Results showed a good agreement with current theoretical results except for the four-component system where discrepancies were found and discussed. © (2012) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.