CRYOCHEM, Thermodynamic Model for Cryogenic Chemical Systems: Solid-Vapor and Solid-Liquid-Vapor Phase Equilibria Toward Applications on Titan and Pluto

Abstract:

Until in-situ measurements can be made regularly on extraterrestrial bodies, thermodynamic models are the only tools to investigate the properties and behavior of chemical systems on those bodies. The resulting findings are often critical in describing physicochemical processes in the atmosphere, surface, and subsurface in planetary geochemistry and climate studies. The extremely cold conditions on Triton, Pluto and other Kuiper Belt Objects, and Titan introduce huge non-ideality that prevents conventional models from performing adequately. At such conditions, atmospheres as a whole—not components individually—are subject to phase equilibria with their equilibrium solid phases or liquid phases or both. A molecular-based thermodynamic model for cryogenic chemical systems, referred to as CRYOCHEM, the development of which is still in progress, was shown to reproduce the vertical composition profile of Titan’s atmospheric methane measured by the Huygens probe (Tan et al., Icarus 2013, 222, 53). Recently, the model was also used to describe Titan’s global circulation where the calculated composition of liquid in Ligeia Mare is consistent with the bathymetry and microwave absorption analysis of T91 Cassini fly-by data (Tan et al., 2014, submitted). Its capability to deal with equilibria involving solid phases has also been demonstrated (Tan et al., Fluid Phase Equilib. 2013, 360, 320). With all those previous works done, our attention is now shifting to the lower temperatures in Titan's tropopause and on Pluto’s surface, where much technical development remains for CRYOCHEM to assure adequate performance at low temperatures. In these conditions, solid-vapor equilibrium (SVE) is the dominant phase behavior that determines the composition of the atmosphere and the existing ices. Another potential application is for the subsurface phase equilibrium, which also involves liquid, thus three-phase equilibrium: solid-liquid-vapor (SLV). This presentation will discuss the current state of CRYOCHEM in representing the SVE and SLV of chemical systems at temperatures and pressures relevant to Titan’s tropopause and Pluto and the upper crusts of these objects.