Mass diffusion process

The surface hardening of a mild steel component by the diffusion of carbon molecules is a transient mass diffusion process. 

A quantity of interest in mass diffusion processes is the depth of diffusion at a given time. This is usually characterized by the penetration depth defined as the location where the tangent to the concentration profile at the surface (x = Oj intercepts the Q, line, as shown in Figure 14-27. Obtaining the concentration gradient at. r = 0 by differentiating Eq. 14-36, the penetration deptli is determined to be... 

The following observations show that in contrast with heat conduction, mass diffusion processes seldom occur in quiescent systems. Therefore mass diffusion in quiescent systems has less practical meaning compared to heat conduction. We understand mass diffusion to be mass transport as a result of the natural movement of molecules from one region of a system to another. Correspondingly, heat conduction can be described as the energy transport due to the statistical movement of elementary particles caused by an irregular temperature distribution. In this respect a close relationship between mass diffusion and heat conduction exists. 

To describe the mass diffusion processes within the pores in catalyst pellets we usually distinguish three fundamentally different types of mass diffusion mechanisms [64, 49, 48] ... 

This poor energy utilization compared with gaseous diffusion is inherent in the mass diffusion process. Using a thermodynamic argument similar to Sec. 4.8 for gaseous diffusion, Forsberg showed that the minimum ratio of availability loss rate to rate of production of separative work at any point in a mass diffusion screen is... 

Heterogeneous catalysis is of utmost significance in many fields of gas conversion and processing in chemical industries. Fixed packed bed reactors are widely used for heterogeneous catalysis of many of these processes. Accurate modeling of intra-particle heat and mass transport is a prerequisite for the design of many industrial processes and the interpretation of experiments. To describe the mass diffusion processes within... 

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). 

Analysis of neutron data in terms of models that include lipid center-of-mass diffusion in a cylinder has led to estimates of the amplitudes of the lateral and out-of-plane motion and their corresponding diffusion constants. It is important to keep in mind that these diffusion constants are not derived from a Brownian dynamics model and are therefore not comparable to diffusion constants computed from simulations via the Einstein relation. Our comparison in the previous section of the Lorentzian line widths from simulation and neutron data has provided a direct, model-independent assessment of the integrity of the time scales of the dynamic processes predicted by the simulation. We estimate the amplimdes within the cylindrical diffusion model, i.e., the length (twice the out-of-plane amplitude) L and the radius (in-plane amplitude) R of the cylinder, respectively, as follows ... 

The liquid-liquid extraction process is based on the specific distribution of dissolved components between two immiscible fluids, for instance, between aqueous and organic liquids. The process refers to a mass exchange processes in which the mass transport of component (j) from phase (1) to phase (2) by means of convection or molecular diffusion acts to achieve the chemical potential (p) equilibrium (134) ... 

The term mass transfer is used to denote the transference of a component in a mixture from a region where its concentration is high to a region where the concentration is lower. Mass transfer process can take place in a gas or vapour or in a liquid, and it can result from the random velocities of the molecules (molecular diffusion) or from the circulating or eddy currents present in a turbulent fluid (eddy diffusion). 

In many practical mass transfer processes, unsteady state conditions prevail. Thus, in the example given in Section 10.1, a box is divided into two compartments each containing a different gas and the partition is removed. Molecular diffusion of the gases takes place and concentrations, and concentration gradients, change with time. If a bowl of liquid... 

In a steady-state process, a gas is absorbed in a liquid with which it undergoes an irreversible reaction. The mass transfer process is governed by Fick s law, and the liquid is sufficiently deep for it to be regarded as effectively infinite in depth. On increasing the temperature, the concentration of reactant at the liquid surface CAi falls to 0.8 times its original value. The diffusivity is unchanged, but the reaction constant increases by a factor of 1.35. It is found that the mass transfer rate at the liquid surface falls to 0.83 times its original value. What is the order of the chemical reaction ... 

A number of theoretical (5), (19-23). experimental (24-28) and computational (2), (23), (29-32). studies of premixed flames in a stagnation point flow have appeared recently in the literature. In many of these papers it was found that the Lewis number of the deficient reactant played an important role in the behavior of the flames near extinction. In particular, in the absence of downstream heat loss, it was shown that extinction of strained premixed laminar flames can be accomplished via one of the following two mechanisms. If the Lewis number (the ratio of the thermal diffusivity to the mass diffusivity) of the deficient reactant is greater than a critical value, Lee > 1 then extinction can be achieved by flame stretch alone. In such flames (e.g., rich methane-air and lean propane-air flames) extinction occurs at a finite distance from the plane of symmetry. However, if the Lewis number of the deficient reactant is less than this value (e.g., lean hydrogen-air and lean methane-air flames), then extinction occurs from a combination of flame stretch and incomplete chemical reaction. Based upon these results we anticipate that the Lewis number of hydrogen will play an important role in the extinction process. 

Sintering of particles occurs when one heats a system of particles to an elevated temperature. It Is caused by an interaction of particle surfaces whereby the surfaces fuse together and form a solid mass. It Is related to a solid state reaction In that sintering is governed by diffusion processes, but no solid state reaction, or change of composition or state, takes place. The best way to illustrate this phenomenon is to use pore growth as an example. 

Diffusion coefficients are needed in the design of mass transfer processes such as gas absorption, distillation and liquid-liquid extraction. 

Summary of experimental data Film boiling correlations have been quite successfully developed with ordinary liquids. Since the thermal properties of metal vapors are not markedly different from those of ordinary liquids, it can be expected that the accepted correlations are applicable to liquid metals with a possible change of proportionality constants. In addition, film boiling data for liquid metals generally show considerably higher heat transfer coefficients than is predicted by the available theoretical correlations for hc. Radiant heat contribution obviously contributes to some of the difference (Fig. 2.40). There is a third mode of heat transfer that does not exist with ordinary liquids, namely, heat transport by the combined process of chemical dimerization and mass diffusion (Eq. 2-162). 

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