Inmaterials science,liquefaction[1] is a process that generates aliquid from asolid or agas[2] or that generates a non-liquidphase which behaves in accordance withfluid dynamics.[3] It occurs bothnaturally andartificially. As an example of the latter, a "major commercial application of liquefaction is the liquefaction of air to allow separation of the constituents, such as oxygen, nitrogen, and the noble gases."[4] Another is the conversion of solid coal into a liquid form usable as a substitute for liquid fuels.[5]
Ingeology,soil liquefaction refers to the process by which water-saturated, unconsolidatedsediments are transformed into a substance that acts like a liquid, often in an earthquake.[6] Soil liquefaction was blamed for building collapses in the city of Palu,Indonesia in October 2018.[7]
In a related phenomenon, liquefaction of bulk materials in cargo ships may cause a dangerous shift in the load.[8][9]
Inphysics andchemistry, thephase transitions from solid and [gas to liquid (melting andcondensation, respectively) may be referred to as liquefaction. Themelting point (sometimes called liquefaction point) is the temperature and pressure at which a solid becomes a liquid. In commercial and industrial situations, the process of condensing a gas to liquid is sometimes referred to asliquefaction of gases.Coal liquefaction is the production ofliquid fuels fromcoal using a variety of industrial processes.
Liquefaction is also used in commercial and industrial settings to refer to mechanicaldissolution of a solid bymixing, grinding or blending with a liquid. In kitchen or laboratory settings, solids may be chopped into smaller parts sometimes in combination with a liquid, for example in food preparation or laboratory use. This may be done with ablender.
Inbiology, liquefaction often involves organic tissue turning into a more liquid-like state. For example,liquefactive necrosis inpathology,[10] or liquefaction as a parameter insemen analysis.[11]
[by] a process of liquefaction is meant any process the effect of which is to cause a solid or gaseous body to assume or pass into the liquid state.
