Diffusion scrubbers applications

Porous Membrane DS Devices. The applicability of a simple tubular DS based on a porous hydrophobic PTFE membrane tube was demonstrated for the collection of S02 (dilute H202 was used as the scrubber liquid, and conductometric detection was used) (46). The parameters of available tubular membranes that are important in determining the overall behavior of such a device include the following First, the fractional surface porosity, which is typically between 0.4 and 0.7 and represents the probability of an analyte gas molecule entering a pore in the event of a collision with the wall. Second, wall thickness, which is typically between 25 and 1000 xm and determines, together with the pore tortuosity (a measure of how convoluted the path is from one side of the membrane to the other), the overall diffusion distance from one side of the wall to the other. If uptake probability at the air-liquid interface in the pore is not the controlling factor, then items 1 and 2 together determine the collection efficiency. The transport of the analyte gas molecule takes place within the pores, in the gas phase. This process is far faster than the situation with a hydrophilic membrane the relaxation time is well below 100 ms, and the overall response time may in fact be determined by liquid-phase diffusion in the boundary layer within the lumen of the membrane tube, by liquid-phase dispersion within the... 

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