Free-Surface Atomization

Formation of droplets from a fluid-fluid interface of a scale at least an order of magnitude smaller than the characteristic scale of the interface. Acoustic atomizers are typical examples of free-surface atomization. 

When the energy of the incoming atom increases, it will not become fully accommodated in one collision, but it loses only part of its energy. The accommodation coefficient will have a minimum as a function of energy, because at infinitely high energies it becomes equal to the energy transfer coefficient predicted for a collision with a free surface atom. 

Wliat is left to understand about this reaction One key remaining issue is the possible role of otiier electronic surfaces. The discussion so far has assumed that the entire reaction takes place on a single Bom-Oppenlieimer potential energy surface. Flowever, three potential energy surfaces result from the mteraction between an F atom and FI,. The spin-orbit splitting between the - 12 and Pi/2 states of a free F atom is 404 cm When... 

A thorough description of the internal flow stmcture inside a swid atomizer requires information on velocity and pressure distributions. Unfortunately, this information is still not completely available as of this writing (1996). Useful iasights on the boundary layer flow through the swid chamber are available (9—11). Because of the existence of an air core, the flow stmcture iaside a swid atomizer is difficult to analyze because it iavolves the solution of a free-surface problem. If the location and surface pressure of the Hquid boundary are known, however, the equations of motion of the Hquid phase can be appHed to reveal the detailed distributions of the pressure and velocity. 

Atomization = Eotvos numher, Eo Two-phase flows, free surface flows Compressible flow, hydraulic transients Cavitation... 

When a gas comes in contact with a solid surface, under suitable conditions of temperature and pressure, the concentration of the gas (the adsorbate) is always found to be greater near the surface (the adsorbent) than in the bulk of the gas phase. This process is known as adsorption. In all solids, the surface atoms are influenced by unbalanced attractive forces normal to the surface plane adsorption of gas molecules at the interface partially restores the balance of forces. Adsorption is spontaneous and is accompanied by a decrease in the free energy of the system. In the gas phase the adsorbate has three degrees of freedom in the adsorbed phase it has only two. This decrease in entropy means that the adsorption process is always exothermic. Adsorption may be either physical or chemical in nature. In the former, the process is dominated by molecular interaction forces, e.g., van der Waals and dispersion forces. The formation of the physically adsorbed layer is analogous to the condensation of a vapor into a liquid in fret, the heat of adsorption for this process is similar to that of liquefoction. 

By their nature, dislocations cannot end suddenly in the interior of a crystal a dislocation line can only end at a free surface or a grain boundary (or form a closed loop). Where a screw dislocation intersects a free surface there is inevitably a step or ledge in the surface, one atomic layer high, as shown in Fig. 20.30c. Furthermore, the step need not necessarily be straight and will, in fact, almost certainly contain kinks. 

Such simple considerations led Scholten and Konvalinka to confirm the form of the dependence of the reaction velocity on the pressure, as had been observed in their experiments. Taking into account a more realistic situation, on the polycrystalline hydride surface with which a hydrogen molecule is dealing when colliding and subsequently being dissociatively adsorbed, we should assume rather a different probability of an encounter with a hydride center of a /3-phase lattice, an empty octahedral hole, or a free palladium atom—for every kind of crystallite orientation on the surface, even when it is represented, for the sake of simplicity, by only the three low index planes. 

TABLE 13. Free surface (A2) and volume (A3) for atoms in sulphur compounds, and total surface and volume0... 

FIGURE 20. The free surface on the sulphur atom, S, (A2), as a function of ring strain for sulphide, sulphoxide and sulphone molecules. 

To address these challenges, chemical engineers will need state-of-the-art analytical instruments, particularly those that can provide information about microstmctures for sizes down to atomic dimensions, surface properties in the presence of bulk fluids, and dynamic processes with time constants of less than a nanosecond. It will also be essential that chemical engineers become familiar with modem theoretical concepts of surface physics and chemistry, colloid physical chemistry, and rheology, particrrlarly as it apphes to free surface flow and flow near solid bormdaries. The application of theoretical concepts to rmderstanding the factors controlling surface properties and the evaluation of complex process models will require access to supercomputers. 

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