Mass transfer current flow

RICHARD C. ALKIRE is Alumni Professor and Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he has been on the faculty since 1969. He received the Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests are in mass transfer, fluid flow, and potential distribution phenomena in electrochemical processing operations, including plasma processing. He was president of The Electrochemical Society during 1985-1986, and is currently a member of the National Materials Advisory Board. 

The mass of the workpiece that dissolves is transferred away from it, resulting in flow of mass transfer current. Mass transfer occurs due to migration, diffusion, and convection. Current density due to migration and diffusion is well known and given by [2]. 

Expressions similar to equations 6 and 7 may be derived in terms of an overall Hquid-phase driving force. Equation 7 represents an addition of the resistances to mass transfer in the gas and Hquid films. The analogy of this process to the flow of electrical current through two resistances in series has been analyzed (25). 

Mass Transport. Probably the most iavestigated physical phenomenon ia an electrode process is mass transfer ia the form of a limiting current. A limiting current density is that which is controlled by reactant supply to the electrode surface and not the appHed electrode potential (42). For a simple analysis usiag the limiting current characteristics of various correlations for flow conditions ia a parallel plate cell, see Reference 43. 

Eddy diffusion as a transport mechanism dominates turbulent flow at a planar electrode ia a duct. Close to the electrode, however, transport is by diffusion across a laminar sublayer. Because this sublayer is much thinner than the layer under laminar flow, higher mass-transfer rates under turbulent conditions result. Assuming an essentially constant reactant concentration, the limiting current under turbulent flow is expected to be iadependent of distance ia the direction of electrolyte flow. 

Equation 10.4, which describes the mass transfer rate arising solely from the random movement of molecules, is applicable to a stationary medium or a fluid in streamline flow. If circulating currents or eddies are present, then the molecular mechanism will be reinforced and the total mass transfer rate may be written as ... 

Mass transfer processes involving two fluid streams are frequently carried out in a column countercurrent flow is usually employed although co-current flow may be advantageous in some circumstances. There are two principal ways in which the two streams may be brought into contact in a continuous process so as to permit mass transfer to take place between them, and these are termed stagewise processes and continuous differential contact processes. 

Coriolis flowmeter 267 Costich, E. W. 280,283,288.311 Coulson, J. M, 517, 565 Counter- and co-current flow, mass transfer 621 Countercurr ent contacting of phases 600 --flow 387... 

Describe the advantages and disadvantages of the following reactor types with reference to heat and mass transfer. For each reactor discuss one reaction for which it may be appropriate to use that reactor, (a) fluidized bed reactor, (b) A continuous counter-current flow reactor, (c) A monolith reactor. 

Electricity is normally measured in units of charge, the coulomb (C), or as rate of electrical current flow, the ampere (A 1 A — 1 C/. ). The total amount of charge is the product of the current flow, symbolized by I, and the time for which this current flows Charge = It Just as molar mass provides the link between mass and moles, the Faraday constant provides the link between charge and moles. The number of moles of electrons transferred in a specific amount of time is the charge in coulombs divided by the charge per mole, F ... 

The basic theory of mass transfer to a RHSE is similar to that of a RDE. In laminar flow, the limiting current densities on both electrodes are proportional to the square-root of rotational speed they differ only in the numerical values of a proportional constant in the mass transfer equations. Thus, the methods of application of a RHSE for electrochemical studies are identical to those of the RDE. The basic procedure involves a potential sweep measurement to determine a series of current density vs. electrode potential curves at various rotational speeds. The portion of the curves in the limiting current regime where the current is independent of the potential, may be used to determine the diffusivity or concentration of a diffusing ion in the electrolyte. The current-potential curves below the limiting current potentials are used for evaluating kinetic information of the electrode reaction. 

Thus, in an isothermal system, the mass flow rate depends on the difference in pressures of the gas across the orifice and does not depend upon the thickness of the plate. One may define an area-normalized resistance, R, for mass transfer through the orifice using a generalization of Ohm s law, i.e., Resistance = force/ flux. For Knudsen flow, the force is the pressure difference (analogous to voltage difference in Ohm s law) and the flux is the mass flow per unit area of the hole (analogous to the electrical current density in Ohm s law). Thus, we have... 

Another survey by Ibl (13) in 1963 listed 13 mass-transfer correlations established by the limiting-current method, only four of which were derived from quantitative considerations. At the time of writing the total number of publications is more than 200. The majority of these concern flow conditions under which theoretical predictions are, at best, qualitative. More recently, an increasing number of publications deal with model hydrodynamic studies of more complex situations, for example, packed and fluidized beds. 

The effective diffusivities determined from limiting-current measurements appear at first applicable only to the particular flow cell in which they were measured. However, it can be argued plausibly that, for example, rotating-disk effective diffusivities are also applicable to laminar forced-convection mass transfer in general, provided the same bulk electrolyte composition is used (H8). Furthermore, the effective diffusivities characteristic for laminar free convection at vertical or inclined electrodes are presumably not significantly different from the forced-convection diffusivities. 

The validity of Eq. (12) for correlations of limiting-current measurements was first questioned by Arvia et al. (A5), and later by Wragg and Ross (W13a). The latter found that limiting currents in an annular flow cell could be correlated in better agreement with the Leveque mass-transfer theory if a lower mobility (Stokes-Einstein) product were employed, such as... 

Experimental data relative to unsteady-state mass transfer as a result of a concentration step at the electrode surface are not available. However, for a linear increase of the current to parallel-plate electrodes under laminar flow, Hickman (H3) found that steady-state limiting-current readings were obtained only if the time to reach the limiting current at the trailing edge of the plate (see Section IV,E), expressed in the dimensionless form of Eq. (18), is... 

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