Mass transfer with bulk flow

Thus for simultaneous heat transfer and mass transfer with bulk flow, combination ni equations 12.111 and 12.102 gives ... 

Equation 12.112 is the form of the Lewis Relation which is applicable to mass transfer with bulk flow. 

In the last sections, you have learnt about the basic analysis of bulk flow, bulk flow and Knudsen flow using the Stefan-Maxwell approach. Very often when we deal with diffusion and adsorption system, the total pressure changes with time as well as with distance within a particle due to either the nonequimolar diffusion or loss of mass from the gas phase as a result of adsorption onto the surface of the particle. When such situations happen, there will be an additional mechanism for mass transfer the viscous flow. This section will deal with the general case where bulk diffusion, Knudsen diffusion and viscous flow occur simultaneously within a porous medium (Jackson, 1977). 

Sh , Sh asymptotic Sherwood number at constant mass flow (with reaction) from the bulk to the wall, at mass transfer with chemical reaction ... 

Film Theory. Many theories have been put forth to explain and correlate experimentally measured mass transfer coefficients. The classical model has been the film theory (13,26) that proposes to approximate the real situation at the interface by hypothetical "effective" gas and Hquid films. The fluid is assumed to be essentially stagnant within these effective films making a sharp change to totally turbulent flow where the film is in contact with the bulk of the fluid. As a result, mass is transferred through the effective films only by steady-state molecular diffusion and it is possible to compute the concentration profile through the films by integrating Fick s law ... 

Over 25 years ago the coking factor of the radiant coil was empirically correlated to operating conditions (48). It has been assumed that the mass transfer of coke precursors from the bulk of the gas to the walls was controlling the rate of deposition (39). Kinetic models (24,49,50) were developed based on the chemical reaction at the wall as a controlling step. Bench-scale data (51—53) appear to indicate that a chemical reaction controls. However, flow regimes of bench-scale reactors are so different from the commercial furnaces that scale-up of bench-scale results caimot be confidently appHed to commercial furnaces. For example. Figure 3 shows the coke deposited on a controlled cylindrical specimen in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and the rate of coke deposition. The deposition rate decreases with time and attains a pseudo steady value. Though this is achieved in a matter of rninutes in bench-scale reactors, it takes a few days in a commercial furnace. 

In many applications of mass transfer the solute reacts with the medium as in the case, for example, of the absorption of carbon dioxide in an alkaline solution. The mass transfer rate then decreases in the direction of diffusion as a result of the reaction. Considering the unidirectional molecular diffusion of a component A through a distance Sy over area A. then, neglecting the effects of bulk flow, a material balance for an irreversible reaction of order n gives ... 

In a gas absorption process, the solute gas A diffuses into a solvent liquid with which it reacts. The mass transfer is one of steady state unidirectional molecular diffusion and the concentration of A is always sufficiently small for bulk flow to be negligible. Under these conditions the reaction is first order with respect to the solute A. 

The term Csm/Cr (the ratio of the logarithmic mean concentration of the insoluble component to the total concentration) is introduced because hD(CBm/Cr) is less dependent than hD on the concentrations of the components. This reflects the fact that the analogy between momentum, heat and mass transfer relates only to that part of the mass transfer which is not associated with the bulk flow mechanism this is a fraction Cum/Cr of the total mass transfer. For equimolecular counterdiffusion, as in binary distillation when the molar latent heats of the components are equal, the term Cem/Cj- is omitted as there is no bulk flow contributing to the mass transfer. 

In these experiments, it might be anticipated that, with high concentrations of vapour in the air, the rate of evaporation would no longer be linearly related to the partial pressure difference because of the contribution of bulk flow to the mass transfer process (Section 10.2.3), although there is no evidence of this even at mole fractions of vapour at the surface as high as 0.5. Possibly the experimental measurements were nol sufficiently sensitive to detect this effect. 

In model equations, Uf denotes the linear velocity in the positive direction of z, z is the distance in flow direction with total length zr, C is concentration of fuel, s represents the void volume per unit volume of canister, and t is time. In addition to that, A, is the overall mass transfer coefficient, a, denotes the interfacial area for mass transfer ifom the fluid to the solid phase, ah denotes the interfacial area for heat transfer, p is density of each phase, Cp is heat capacity for a unit mass, hs is heat transfer coefficient, T is temperature, P is pressure, and AHi represents heat of adsorption. The subscript d refers bulk phase, s is solid phase of adsorbent, i is the component index. The superscript represents the equilibrium concentration. 

The modeling of mass transport from the bulk fluid to the interface in capillary flow typically applies an empirical mass transfer coefficient approach. The mass transfer coefficient is defined in terms of the flux and driving force J = kc(cbuik-c). For non-reactive steady state laminar flow in a square conduit with constant molecular diffusion D, the mass balance in the fluid takes the form... 

In the common case of cylindrical vessels with radial symmetry, the coordinates are the radius of the vessel and the axial position. Major pertinent physical properties are thermal conductivity and mass diffusivity or dispersivity. Certain approximations for simplifying the PDEs may be justifiable. When the steady state is of primary interest, time is ruled out. In the axial direction, transfer by conduction and diffusion may be negligible in comparison with that by bulk flow. In tubes of only a few centimeters in diameter, radial variations may be small. Such a reactor may consist of an assembly of tubes surrounded by a heat transfer fluid in a shell. Conditions then will change only axially (and with time if unsteady). The dispersion model of Section P5.8 is of this type. 

Due to the difficulties in having rigorous analytical expressions for the flux at any given geometry and flow conditions, in many instances it is convenient to include all the characteristics of the supply in the mass transfer coefficient ms and use expression (50). It must be pointed out that expression (50), stating a linearity between the flux and the difference between bulk and surface concentrations, cannot be - in general valid for nonlinear processes, such as coupled complexation of the species i with any other species (see Chapters 4 and 10 for a more detailed discussion). 

Apart from the nature of the bulk flow, the hydrodynamic scenario close to the surfaces of drug particles has to be considered. The nature of the hydrodynamic boundary layer generated at a particle s surface may be laminar or turbulent regardless of the bulk flow characteristics. The turbulent boundary layer is considered to be thicker than the laminar layer. Nevertheless, mass transfer rates are usually increased with turbulence due to the presence of the viscous turbulent sub-layer. This is the part of the (total) turbulent boundary layer that constitutes the main resistance to the overall mass transfer in the case of turbulence. The development of a viscous turbulent sub-layer reduces the overall resistance to mass transfer since this viscous sub-layer is much narrower than the (total) laminar boundary layer. Thus, mass transfer from turbulent boundary layers is greater than would be calculated according to the total boundary layer thickness. 

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