Mass transfer spherical particle

The mass transfer between particles and stagnant fluid is a well established problem when a single particle and the infinite surrounding fluid are involved. Asa matter of fact, when mass transfer takes place from a single spherical particle to an infinite body of fluid, the basic differential equation to describe diffusion around the particle is ... 

TABLE 16-11 Rate Equations for Description of Mass Transfer in Spherical Adsorbent Particles... 

In binary ion-exchange, intraparticle mass transfer is described by Eq. (16-75) and is dependent on the ionic self diffusivities of the exchanging counterions. A numerical solution of the corresponding conseiwation equation for spherical particles with an infinite fluid volume is given by Helfferich and Plesset [J. Chem. Phy.s., 66, 28, 418... 

FIG. 16-27 Constant pattern solutions for R = 0.5. Ordinant is cfor nfexcept for axial dispersion for which individual curves are labeled a, axial dispersion h, external mass transfer c, pore diffusion (spherical particles) d, surface diffusion (spherical particles) e, linear driving force approximation f, reaction kinetics. [from LeVan in Rodrigues et al. (eds.), Adsorption Science and Technology, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dor drecht, The Nether lands, 1989 r eprinted with permission.]... 

The relationship between adsorption capacity and surface area under conditions of optimum pore sizes is concentration dependent. It is very important that any evaluation of adsorption capacity be performed under actual concentration conditions. The dimensions and shape of particles affect both the pressure drop through the adsorbent bed and the rate of diffusion into the particles. Pressure drop is lowest when the adsorbent particles are spherical and uniform in size. External mass transfer increases inversely with d (where, d is particle diameter), and the internal adsorption rate varies inversely with d Pressure drop varies with the Reynolds number, and is roughly proportional to the gas velocity through the bed, and inversely proportional to the particle diameter. Assuming all other parameters being constant, adsorbent beds comprised of small particles tend to provide higher adsorption efficiencies, but at the sacrifice of higher pressure drop. This means that sharper and smaller mass-transfer zones will be achieved. 

A considerable amount of information has been reported regarding mass transfer between a single fluid phase and solid particles (such as those of spherical and cylindrical shape) forming a fixed bed. A recent review has been presented by Norman (N2). The applicability of such data to calculations regarding trickle-flow processes is, however, questionable, due to the fundamental difference between the liquid flow pattern of a fixed bed with trickle flow and that of a fixed bed in which the entire void volume is occupied by one fluid. 

Most theoretical studies of heat or mass transfer in dispersions have been limited to studies of a single spherical bubble moving steadily under the influence of gravity in a clean system. It is clear, however, that swarms of suspended bubbles, usually entrained by turbulent eddies, have local relative velocities with respect to the continuous phase different from that derived for the case of a steady rise of a single bubble. This is mainly due to the fact that in an ensemble of bubbles the distributions of velocities, temperatures, and concentrations in the vicinity of one bubble are influenced by its neighbors. It is therefore logical to assume that in the case of dispersions the relative velocities and transfer rates depend on quantities characterizing an ensemble of bubbles. For the case of uniformly distributed bubbles, the dispersed-phase volume fraction O, particle-size distribution, and residence-time distribution are such quantities. 

The basic differential equation for mass transfer accompanied by an nth order chemical reaction in a spherical particle is obtained by taking a material balance over a spherical shell of inner radius r and outer radius r + Sr, as shown in Figure 10.12. 

Figure 10.12. Mass transfer and chemical reaction in a Spherical particle.

A hydrocarbon is cracked using a silica-alumina catalyst in the form of spherical pellets of mean diameter 2.0 mm. When the reactant concentration is 0.011 kmol/m3, the reaction rate is 8.2 x 10"2 kmol/(m3 catalyst) s. If the reaction is of first-order and the effective diffusivity De is 7.5 x 10 s m2/s, calculate the value of the effectiveness factor r). It may be assumed that the effect of mass transfer resistance in the. fluid external Lo the particles may be neglected. 

ROWE et a/.,55) have reviewed the literature on heat and mass transfer between spherical particles and a fluid. For heat transfer, their results which are discussed in Chapter 9. Section 9.4.6., are generally well represented by equation 9.100 ... 

This study was carried out to simulate the 3D temperature field in and around the large steam reforming catalyst particles at the wall of a reformer tube, under various conditions (Dixon et al., 2003). We wanted to use this study with spherical catalyst particles to find an approach to incorporate thermal effects into the pellets, within reasonable constraints of computational effort and realism. This was our first look at the problem of bringing together CFD and heterogeneously catalyzed reactions. To have included species transport in the particles would have required a 3D diffusion-reaction model for each particle to be included in the flow simulation. The computational burden of this approach would have been very large. For the purposes of this first study, therefore, species transport was not incorporated in the model, and diffusion and mass transfer limitations were not directly represented. 

A kinetics or reaction model must take into account the various individual processes involved in the overall process. We picture the reaction itself taking place on solid B surface somewhere within the particle, but to arrive at the surface, reactant A must make its way from the bulk-gas phase to the interior of the particle. This suggests the possibility of gas-phase resistances similar to those in a catalyst particle (Figure 8.9) external mass-transfer resistance in the vicinity of the exterior surface of the particle, and interior diffusion resistance through pores of both product formed and unreacted reactant. The situation is illustrated in Figure 9.1 for an isothermal spherical particle of radius A at a particular instant of time, in terms of the general case and two extreme cases. These extreme cases form the bases for relatively simple models, with corresponding concentration profiles for A and B. 

Assume that the particle is spherical and isothermal, that both gas-film mass transfer resistance and reaction resistance are significant, and that the Ranz-Marshall correlation for k g is applicable. Do not make an assumption about particle size, but assume the reaction is first-order. 

These results take into account three possible processes in series mass transfer of fluid reactant A from bulk fluid to particle surface, diffusion of A through a reacted product layer to the unreacted (outer) core surface, and reaction with B at the core surface any one or two of these three processes may be rate-controlling. The SPM applies to particles of diminishing size, and is summarized similarly in equation 9.1-40 for a spherical particle. Because of the disappearance of the product into the fluid phase, the diffusion process present in the SCM does not occur in the SPM. 

As shown in Example 22-3, for solid particles of the same size in BMF, the form of the reactor model resulting from equation 22.2-13 depends on the kinetics model used for a single particle. For the SCM, this, in turn, depends on particle shape and the relative magnitudes of gas-film mass transfer resistance, ash-layer diffusion resistance and surface reaction rate. In some cases, as illustrated for cylindrical particles in Example 22-3(a) and (b), the reactor model can be expressed in explicit analytical form additional results are given for spherical particles by Levenspiel(1972, pp. 384-5). In other f l cases, it is convenient or even necessary, as in Example 22-3(c), to use a numerical pro-... 

A first-order chemical reaction occurs isothermally in a reactor packed with spherical catalyst pellets of radius R. If there is a resistance to mass transfer from the main fluid stream to the surface of the particle in addition to a resistance within the particle, show that the effectiveness factor for the pellet is given by ... 

In the case of chromatographic columns packed with spherical nonporous adsorbent particles the differential mass transfer balance can be described by... 

For heat and mass transfer through a stationary or streamline fluid to a single spherical particle, it has been shown in Volume 1, Chapter 9, that the heat and mass transfer coefficients reach limiting low values given by ... 

The values of Sherwood number fall below the theoretical minimum value of 2 for mass transfer to a spherical particle and this indicates that the assumption of piston flow of gases is not valid at low values of the Reynolds number. In order to obtain realistic values in this region, information on the axial dispersion coefficient is required. 

There is apparently an inherent anomaly in the heat and mass transfer results in that, at low Reynolds numbers, the Nusselt and Sherwood numbers (Figures. 6.30 and 6.27) are very low, and substantially below the theoretical minimum value of 2 for transfer by thermal conduction or molecular diffusion to a spherical particle when the driving force is spread over an infinite distance (Volume 1, Chapter 9). The most probable explanation is that at low Reynolds numbers there is appreciable back-mixing of gas associated with the circulation of the solids. If this is represented as a diffusional type of process with a longitudinal diffusivity of DL, the basic equation for the heat transfer process is ... 

It is possible that the pores of wetted catalyst particles eire filled with liquid. Hence, by virtue of the low values of liquid diffusivities (ca. 10 cm s" ), the effectiveness factor will almost certainly be less than unity. A criterion for assessing the importance of mass transfer in the trickling liquid film has been suggested by Satterfield [40] who argued that if liquid film mass transport were important, the rate of reaction could be equated to the rate of mass transfer across the liquid film. For a spherical catalyst particle with diameter dp, the volume of the enveloping liquid fim is 7rdp /6 and the corresponding interfacial area for mass transfer is TTdn. Hence... 

Jin F, Balasubramaniam R, Stebe KJ (2004) Surfactant adsorption to spherical particles the intrinsic length-scale governing the shift from diffusion to kinetic-controlled mass transfer. J Adhes 80 773-796... 

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