Diffusivity molecular

Thus far we have considered systems where stirring ensured homogeneity witliin tire medium. If molecular diffusion is tire only mechanism for mixing tire chemical species tlien one must adopt a local description where time-dependent concentrations, c r,f), are defined at each point r in space and tire evolution of tliese local concentrations is given by a reaction-diffusion equation... 

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 ... 

Neither the penetration nor the surface renewal theory can be used to predict mass transfer coefficients directiy because T and s are not normally known. Each suggests, however, that mass transfer coefficients should vary as the square root of the molecular diffusivity, as opposed to the first power suggested by the film theory. 

The combined effects of Knudsen and molecular diffusion may be estimated approximately from the reciprocal addition rule ... 

For hquid systems v is approximately independent of velocity, so that a plot of JT versus v provides a convenient method of determining both the axial dispersion and mass transfer resistance. For vapor-phase systems at low Reynolds numbers is approximately constant since dispersion is determined mainly by molecular diffusion. It is therefore more convenient to plot H./v versus 1/, which yields as the slope and the mass transfer resistance as the intercept. Examples of such plots are shown in Figure 16. 

The driving force in diffusion involves differences in the concentration of the diffusing substance. The molecular diffusion of a gas into a hquid is dependent on the characteristics of the gas and the hquid, the temperature of the hquid, the concentration deficit, the gas to hquid contact area, and the period of contact. Diffusion may be expressed by Pick s law (13,14) ... 

The rate of mass transfer (qv) depends on the interfacial contact area and on the rate of mass transfer per unit interfacial area, ie, the mass flux. The mass flux very close to the Hquid—Hquid interface is determined by molecular diffusion in accordance with Pick s first law ... 

Although molecular diffusion itself is very slow, its effect is nearly always enhanced by turbulent eddies and convection currents. These provide almost perfect mixing in the bulk of each Hquid phase, but the effect is damped out in the vicinity of the interface. Thus the concentration profiles at each... 

Circulation of fluid is promoted by surface tension gradients but inhibited by viscosity, which slows the flow, and by molecular diffusion, which tends to even out the concentration differences. The onset of instabibty is described by a critical Marangoni number (Mo), an analogue of the Rayleigh... 

Gases and vapors permeate FEP resin at a rate that is considerably lower than that of most plastics. Because FEP resins are melt processed, they are void-free and permeation occurs only by molecular diffusion. Variation in crystallinity and density is limited, except in unusual melt-processing conditions. 

For weU-defined reaction zones and irreversible, first-order reactions, the relative reaction and transport rates are expressed as the Hatta number, Ha (16). Ha equals (k- / l ) where k- = reaction rate constant, = molecular diffusivity of reactant, and k- = mass-transfer coefficient. Reaction... 

Since the infinite dilution values D°g and Dba. re generally unequal, even a thermodynamically ideal solution hke Ya = Ys = 1 will exhibit concentration dependence of the diffusivity. In addition, nonideal solutions require a thermodynamic correction factor to retain the true driving force for molecular diffusion, or the gradient of the chemical potential rather than the composition gradient. That correction factor is ... 

Binary Electrolyte Mixtures When electrolytes are added to a solvent, they dissociate to a certain degree. It would appear that the solution contains at least three components solvent, anions, and cations, if the solution is to remain neutral in charge at each point (assuming the absence of any applied electric potential field), the anions and cations diffuse effectively as a single component, as for molecular diffusion. The diffusion or the anionic and cationic species in the solvent can thus be treated as a binary mixture. 

Ruthven (gen. refs.) summarizes methods for the measurement of effective pore diffusivities that can be used to obtain tortuosity factors by comparison with the estimated pore diffusion coefficient of the adsorbate. Molecular diffusivities can be estimated with the methods in Sec. 6. 

Neglecting flow nonuniformities, the contributions of molecular diffusion and turbulent mixing arising from stream sphtting and recombination around the sorbent particles can be considered additive [Langer et al., Int. ]. Heat and Mass Transfer, 21, 751 (1978)] thus, the axial dispersion coefficient is given by ... 

The first term in Eqs. (16-79) and (16-80) accounts for molecular diffusion, and the second term accounts for mixing. For the first term,... 

Concentration and temperature differences are reduced by bulk flow or circulation in a vessel. Fluid regions of different composition or temperature are reduced in thickness by bulk motion in which velocity gradients exist. This process is called bulk diffusion or Taylor diffusion (Brodkey, in Uhl and Gray, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 48). The turbulent and molecular diffusion reduces the difference between these regions. In laminar flow, Taylor diffusion and molecular diffusion are the mechanisms of concentration- and temperature-difference reduction. 

For turbines at Reynolds numbers less than 100, toroidal stagnant zones exist above and below the turbine periphery. Interchange of hq-uid between these regions and the rest of the vessel is principally by molecular diffusion. 

Dispersion The movement of aggregates of molecules under the influence of a gradient of concentration, temperature, and so on. The effect is represented hy Tick s law with a dispersion coefficient substituted for molecular diffusivity. Thus, rate of transfer = —Dj3C/3p). 

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