  We introduce a Darcy-scale model to describe compressible multi-component
flow in a fully saturated porous medium. In order to capture cross-diffusive
effects between the different species correctly, we make use of the
Maxwell--Stefan theory in a thermodynamically consistent way. For inviscid flow
the model turns out to be a nonlinear system of hyperbolic balance laws. We
show that the dissipative structure of the Maxwell-Stefan operator permits to
guarantee the existence of global classical solutions for initial data close to
equilibria. Furthermore it is proven by relative entropy techniques that
solutions of the Darcy-scale model tend in a certain long-time regime to
solutions of a parabolic limit system.
