Single effective diffusivity

When a two- or higher-phase system is used with two or more phases permeable to the solute of interest and when interactions between the phases is possible, it would be necessary to apply the principle of local mass equilibrium [427] in order to derive a single effective diffusion coefficient that will be used in a one-equation model for the transport. Extensive justification of the principle of local thermdl equilibrium has been presented by Whitaker [425,432]. If the transport is in series rather than in parallel, assuming local equilibrium with equilibrium partition coefficients equal to unity, the effective diffusion coefficient is... 

In the case of nonequimolal cpunterdiffusion, equation 12.2.6 suffers from the serious disadvantage that the combined diffusivity is a function of the gas composition in the pore. This functional dependence carries over to the effective diffusivity in porous catalysts (see below), and makes it difficult to integrate the combined diffusion and transport equations. As Smith (12) points out, the variation of 2C with composition (YA) is not usually strong, and it has been an almost universal practice to use a composition independent form of Q)c (12.2.8) in assessing the importance of intrapellet diffusion. In fact, the concept of a single effective diffusivity loses its engineering utility if the dependence on composition must be retained. 

A single effective diffusion coefficient cannot adequately characterize the mass transfer within a bidisperse-structured catalyst when the influence of the two individual systems is equally important. In a realistic model the separate identity of the macropore and micropore structures must be maintained, and the diffusion must be described in... 

Internal mass transfer is usually considered to be diffusional and, consequently, frequently described using a single effective diffusion coefficient (Deff). The flux of a compound, therefore, depends both on its diffusion coefficient and the slope of the concentration profile... 

The mass transport influence is easy to diagnose experimentally. One measures the rate at various values of the Thiele modulus the modulus is easily changed by variation of R, the particle size. Cmshing and sieving the particles provide catalyst samples for the experiments. If the rate is independent of the particle size, the effectiveness factor is unity for all of them. If the rate is inversely proportional to particle size, the effectiveness factor is less than unity and

experimental points allow triangulation on the curve of Figure 10 and estimation of Tj and ( ). It is also possible to estimate the effective diffusion coefficient and thereby to estimate Tj and ( ) from a single measurement of the rate (48). 

A consequence of single-ion diffusion is that the mass movement must be compensated for by an opposing drift (relative to a fixed point deep in the metal) of the existing oxide layer if oxidation is not to be stifled by lack of one of the reactants. The effect may be illustrated by reference to a metal surface of infinite extent (Fig. 1.81). 

In this exercise we shall estimate the influence of transport limitations when testing an ammonia catalyst such as that described in Exercise 5.1 by estimating the effectiveness factor e. We are aware that the radius of the catalyst particles is essential so the fused and reduced catalyst is crushed into small particles. A fraction with a narrow distribution of = 0.2 mm is used for the experiment. We shall assume that the particles are ideally spherical. The effective diffusion constant is not easily accessible but we assume that it is approximately a factor of 100 lower than the free diffusion, which is in the proximity of 0.4 cm s . A test is then made with a stoichiometric mixture of N2/H2 at 4 bar under the assumption that the process is far from equilibrium and first order in nitrogen. The reaction is planned to run at 600 K, and from fundamental studies on a single crystal the TOP is roughly 0.05 per iron atom in the surface. From Exercise 5.1 we utilize that 1 g of reduced catalyst has a volume of 0.2 cm g , that the pore volume constitutes 0.1 cm g and that the total surface area, which we will assume is the pore area, is 29 m g , and that of this is the 18 m g- is the pure iron Fe(lOO) surface. Note that there is some dispute as to which are the active sites on iron (a dispute that we disregard here). 

Diffusion of a single electrolyte ( salt ) is thus characterized by an effective diffusion coefficient... 

Winters and Lee134 describe a physically based model for adsorption kinetics for hydrophobic organic chemicals to and from suspended sediment and soil particles. The model requires determination of a single effective dififusivity parameter, which is predictable from compound solution diffusivity, the octanol-water partition coefficient, and the adsorbent organic content, density, and porosity. 

Fig. 16. Panorama of values in the literature for diffusion coefficients of hydrogen in silicon and for other diffusion-related descriptors. Black symbols represent what can plausibly be argued to be diffusion coefficients of a single species or of a mixture of species appropriate to intrinsic conditions. Other points are effective diffusion coefficients dependent on doping and hydrogenation conditions polygons represent values inferred from passivation profiles [i.e., similar to the Dapp = L2/t of Eq. (95) and the ensuing discussion] pluses and crosses represent other quantities that have been called diffusion coefficients. The full line is a rough estimation for H+, drawn assuming the top points to refer mainly to this species otherwise the line should be higher at this end. The dashed line is drawn parallel a factor 2 lower to illustrate a plausible order of magnitude of the difference between 2H and H.

J. H. Nam and M. Kaviany. Effective diffusivity and water-saturation distribution in single- and two-layer PEMEC diffusion medium. International Journal of Heat Mass Transfer 46 (2003) 4595-4611. 

Wheeler s treatment of the intraparticle diffusion problem invokes reaction in single pores and may be applied to relatively simple porous structures (such as a straight non-intersecting cylindrical pore model) with moderate success. An alternative approach is to assume that the porous structure is characterised by means of the effective diffusivity. (referred to in Sect. 2.1) which can be measured for a given gaseous component. In order to develop the principles relating to the effects of diffusion on reaction selectivity, selectivity in isothermal catalyst pellets will be discussed. 

Equation (1.57a) implies that in the locally electro-neutral ambipolar diffusion concentration of both ions evolves according to a single linear diffusion equation with an effective diffusivity given by (1.57b). Physically, the role of the electric field, determined from the elliptic current continuity equation... 

An opposing effect is possible under the severe conditions of a single extraction with HC1 some of the aluminum removed from the crystal structure may not be transported out of the catalyst particle. The resulting amorphous alumina, (after subsequent calcining) remaining in the particle would cause some reduction in effective diffusivity. Such amorphous alumina has been suggested by others (17,18). 

Finally, intraparticle diffusion appears to be an important factor in adsorption kinetics for many types of systems. In the past it has been customary to define such mass transfer quantitatively in terms of an effective diffusivity. However, even in gas-solid systems more than one process can be involved for porous particles. Thus, two-dimensional migration on the pore surface, surface diffusion, is a potential contribution. Liquid systems appear to be more complex, and, with electrolytes, it has been shown that the electric potential induced by counter-diffusing ions should be taken into account. A realistic description of intraparticle mass transfer in such cases requires more than a single rate coefficient for a binary system. 

We write the exact solution of the diffusion in a velocity field with a single Fourier-component. The expression for the effective diffusion contains the molecular diffusion coefficient as a factor this ensures correct behavior of the result with respect to time reversal. 

The model formulated by Ahn and Smith (1984) considered partial surface poisoning for HDS and pore mouth plugging for HDM reactions. The conservation equations with first-order reactions for metal-bearing and sulfur-bearing species were based on spherical pellet geometry rather than on single pores. Hence, a restricted effective diffusivity was employed... 

Single-stage simulations reveal that intermolecular friction forces do not lead to reverse diffusion effects, and thus the molar fluxes calculated with the effective diffusion approach differ only slightly from those obtained via the Maxwell-Stefan equations without the consideration of generalized driving forces. This result is as expected for dilute solutions and allows one to reduce model complexity for the process studied (143). 

Zuleta, M., Bursell, M., Bjornbom, P., and Lundblad, A. Determination of the effective diffusion coefficient of nanoporous carbon by means of a single particle microelectrode technique.. /. Electroanal. Chem. 549, 2003 101-108. 

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