Diffusion in drying

Table 4-4 Effective binary diffusivities in "dry silicate melts 404...

Muehlenbachs and Connolly (1991) and Gautason and Muhlenbachs (1993) demonstrated that oxygen diffusion in dry systems exhibits reasonably good correlations between anion porosity and the activation parameters. Eg and In Do, as shown in Figure... 

Obviously, the diffusion of gas in concrete is largely controlled by the degree of pore filling with a liquid phase it relates also to the diffusion of oxygen. The oxygen diffusion in dried or in water saturated concrete corresponds approximately to the rate ratio of oxygen diffusion in the air and in liquid water [75],... 

Diffusivity in Drying Tapioca Root. Using the data given in Example 9.9-2,... 

Millington (1959) envisioned a porous medium as consisting of solid spheres, which interpenetrate each other, separated by spherical pores that also interpenetrate. Based on his determination of the area available for flow in a given plane of a porous media, and the probability of the continuity of pores within two adjacent planes, Millington (1959) derived the following expression for diffusion in dry isotropic porous media ... 

Apart from the sheer complexity of the static stmctures of biomolecules, they are also rather labile. On the one hand this means that especial consideration must be given to the fact (for example in electron microscopy) that samples have to be dried, possibly stained, and then measured in high vacuum, which may introduce artifacts into the observed images [5]. On the other, apart from the vexing question of whether a protein in a crystal has the same stmcture as one freely diffusing in solution, the static stmcture resulting from an x-ray diffraction experiment gives few clues to the molecular motions on which operation of an enzyme depends [6]. 

Work in the area of simultaneous heat and mass transfer has centered on the solution of equations such as 1—18 for cases where the stmcture and properties of a soHd phase must also be considered, as in drying (qv) or adsorption (qv), or where a chemical reaction takes place. Drying simulation (45—47) and drying of foods (48,49) have been particularly active subjects. In the adsorption area the separation of multicomponent fluid mixtures is influenced by comparative rates of diffusion and by interface temperatures (50,51). In the area of reactor studies there has been much interest in monolithic and honeycomb catalytic reactions (52,53) (see Exhaust control, industrial). Eor these kinds of appHcations psychrometric charts for systems other than air—water would be useful. The constmction of such has been considered (54). 

Ordinary diffusion involves molecular mixing caused by the random motion of molecules. It is much more pronounced in gases and Hquids than in soHds. The effects of diffusion in fluids are also greatly affected by convection or turbulence. These phenomena are involved in mass-transfer processes, and therefore in separation processes (see Mass transfer Separation systems synthesis). In chemical engineering, the term diffusional unit operations normally refers to the separation processes in which mass is transferred from one phase to another, often across a fluid interface, and in which diffusion is considered to be the rate-controlling mechanism. Thus, the standard unit operations such as distillation (qv), drying (qv), and the sorption processes, as well as the less conventional separation processes, are usually classified under this heading (see Absorption Adsorption Adsorption, gas separation Adsorption, liquid separation). 

Diffusion in porous solids is usually the most important factor con-troUing mass transfer in adsorption, ion exchange, drying, heterogeneous catalysis, leaching, and many other applications. Some of the... 

The Morse function which is given above was obtained from a study of bonding in gaseous systems, and dris part of Swalin s derivation should probably be replaced with a Lennard-Jones potential as a better approximation. The general idea of a variable diffusion step in liquids which is more nearly akin to diffusion in gases than the earlier treatment, which was based on the notion of vacant sites as in solids, remains as a valuable suggestion. 

If steam condenses on a surface, there is no boundary layer the resistance to heat flow is due to scale, metal thickness, and the condensed liquid layer, resulting in a high heat transfer factor. A thin layer of air or other noncondensing gas forms at the surface through which the steam diffuses. The heat transfer factor diminishes rapidly but is considerably higher than in dry convection. 

The tarnishing of copper and silver in dry air containing traces of hydrogen sulphide (Table 2.6) is another example of film growth by lattice diffusion at ambient temperatures. In these cases defects in the sulphide lattice enable the films to grow to visible thicknesses with the consequent formation of tarnish films which are aesthetically objectionable and may have a significant effect on the behaviour of the metals in particular applications, e.g. electrical contacts. 

Sublimation (diffusion) printing is a textile process in which color patterns in dry die crystals are transferred from a release film to the fabric under high heat and pressure. The process has been adapted to plastics. The equipment used is very similar to that used for hot stamping. Under heat and pressure, the dye crystals sublime (go directly to the vapor phase from the solid phase without melting) and the vapor penetrates the plastic product. As a result, the decoration is very durable and wear resistant. It is also cost competitive against other processes such as two-step injection molding or silk screening. 

It should be noted that in a vapour phase the liquid layer on the surface of a sensitive element of the sensor (zinc oxide) must be sufficiently thin, so that it would not produce any influence on the diffusion flux of oxygen through this layer. Possible lack of the film continuity (the presence of voids) does not prevent determination of concentration of oxygen in the bulk of the cell by the vapour - gas method. In this case, one deals with a semi-dry method. On the contrary, the presence of a thick liquid layer causes considerable errors in measuring t, because of different distribution of oxygen in a system gas - liquid layer -semiconductor film (this distribution is close to that in the system semiconductor film - liquid), in addition to substantial slowing down of oxygen diffusion in such systems. 

Dry-heat processes kill microorganisms primarily through oxidation. The amount of moisture available to assist sterilization in dry-heat units varies considerably at different locations within the chamber and at different time intervals within the cycle. Also, the amount of heat available, its diffusion, and the environment at the spore/air interface all influence the microorganism kill rate. Consequently, cycles tend to be longer and hotter than would be expected from calculations to ensure that varying conditions do not invalidate a run. In general, convection dry-heat sterilization cycles are run above 160°C [37],... 

Table I shows the results of calculating a soil diffusion coefficient and soil diffusion half-lives for the pesticides. The 10% moisture level specified means that the soil is relatively dry and that 40% of the soil volume is air available for diffusion. Complete calculations were not made for methoxychlor, lindane, and malathion because, based on Goring s criteria for the Henry s law constant, they are not volatile enough to diffuse significantly in the gas phase. This lack of volatility is reflected in their low values of X. These materials would move upward in the soil only if carried "by water that was moving upward to replace the water lost through evapotranspiration at the surface. Mirex has a very high Henry s law constant. On the basis of Goring s criteria, Mirex should diffuse in the soil air but, because of its strong adsorption, it has a very large a and consequently a very small soil air diffusion coefficient. The behavior of Mirex shows that Goring s criteria must be applied carefully.

Gershey et al. [58] have pointed out that persulfate and photo-oxidation procedures will determine only that portion of the volatile organics not lost during the removal of inorganic carbonate [30,79,92,181]. Loss of the volatile fraction may be reduced by use of a modified decarbonation procedure such as one based on diffusion [98]. Dry combustion techniques that use freeze-drying or evaporation will result in the complete loss of the volatile fraction [72,79, 92,93],... 

Reactants and reagents can be conveniently loaded into the dry zeolite by adsorption. This can be accomplished by intimately mixing the solid or liquid reactant and the powdered zeolite, by absorption from the gas phase, or by diffusion in a solvent slurry containing the zeolite and dissolved reactant. The choice of solvent for the slurry method is critical. It must be volatile enough to be removable at a pressure and temperature that does not result in evacuation of the reactant or its decomposition. In addition, the reactant must have a greater affinity for the interior of the zeolite than for the slurry solvent itself. The lack of affinity for the interior of the zeolite is an acute problem for non-polar hydrocarbons that lack binding sites for the intrazeolitic cations. The use of fluorocarbons such as perfluorohexane as slurry solvents takes advantage of the fluorophobicity of many hydrocarbons and has alleviated this problem to some extent.29... 

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