Tortuosity, factor

Here c denotes the void fraction and T a tortuosity factor, while G... 

Dpi is smaller than the diffusivity in a straight cylindrical pore as a result of the random orientation of the pores, which gives a longer diffusion path, and the variation in the pore diameter. Both effects are commonly accounted for by a tortuosity factor Tp such that Dp = DjlXp. In principle, predictions of the tortuosity factor can be made if the... 

For adsorbent materials, experimental tortuosity factors generally fall in the range 2-6 and generally decrease as the particle porosity is increased. Higher apparent values may be obtained when the experimental measurements are affected by other resistances, while v ues much lower than 2 generally indicate that surface or solid diffusion occurs in parallel to pore diffusion. 

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. 

Since theoretical calcination of effectiveness is based on a hardly realistic model of a system of equal-sized cylindrical pores and a shalq assumption for the tortuosity factor, in some industrially important cases the effectiveness has been measured directly. For ammonia synthesis by Dyson and Simon (Ind. Eng. Chem. Fundam., 7, 605 [1968]) and for SO9 oxidation by Kadlec et aJ. Coll. Czech. Chem. Commun., 33, 2388, 2526 [1968]). 

For the effective diffusivity in pores, De = (0/t)D, the void fraction 0 can be measured by a static method to be between 0.2 and 0.7 (Satterfield 1970). The tortuosity factor is more difficult to measure and its value is usually between 3 and 8. Although a preliminary estimate for pore diffusion limitations is always worthwhile, the final check must be made experimentally. Major results of the mathematical treatment involved in pore diffusion limitations with reaction is briefly reviewed next. 

With increasing tortuosity factor T and lower porosity P, R increases sharply. The electrical resistance of a separator is proportional to the thickness d of the membrane and is subject to the same dependence on temperature or concentration as... 

Many theoretical embellishments have been made to the basic model of pore diffusion as presented here. Effectiveness factors have been derived for reaction orders other than first and for Hougen and Watson kinetics. These require a numerical solution of Equation (10.3). Shape and tortuosity factors have been introduced to treat pores that have geometries other than the idealized cylinders considered here. The Knudsen diffusivity or a combination of Knudsen and bulk diffusivities has been used for very small pores. While these studies have theoretical importance and may help explain some observations, they are not yet developed well enough for predictive use. Our knowledge of the internal structure of a porous catalyst is still rather rudimentary and imposes a basic limitation on theoretical predictions. We will give a brief account of Knudsen diffusion. 

For a system on nonconducting spherical particles of radius r, Boyack and Giddings found that the constriction and tortuosity factors are given by... 

K = Debye screening length 4 = model parameter n = osmotic pressure p = density T = tortuosity factor <1> = swelling ratios... 

Influence on Electrolyte Conductivity In porous separators the ionic current passes through the liquid electrolyte present in the separator pores. Therefore, the electrolyte s resistance in the pores has to be calculated for known values of porosity of the separator and of conductivity, o, of the free liquid electrolyte. Such a calculation is highly complex in the general case. Consider the very simple model where a separator of thickness d has cylindrical pores of radius r which are parallel and completely electrolyte-filled (Fig. 18.2). Let / be the pore length and N the number of pores (all calculations refer to the unit surface area of the separator). The ratio p = Ud (where P = cos a > 1) characterizes the tilt of the pores and is called the tortuosity factor of the pores. The total pore volume is given by NnrH, the porosity by... 

For all the essential nutrient ions, the diffusion coefficient, Du is essentially the same with a value of around 10 cm s whereas the water flux at the root surface is typically of the order 10 cm s for soils at around field capacity. The tortuosity factor typically scales with the volumetric moisture content over quite a wide range of moisture content, i.e., / 0. As the soil becomes drier, the water flux will decline much faster than the tortuosity factor due to the typi-... 

A quantitative analysis [34], based on the adsorption isotherms and the intercrystalline porosity, yielded the remarkable result that a satisfactory fit between the experimental data and the estimates of Aong-range = Pinter Anter following Eqs. (3.1.11) and (3.1.12) only lead to coinciding results for tortuosity factors a differing under the conditions of Knudsen diffusion (low temperatures) and bulk-diffusion (high temperatures) by a factor of at least 3. Similar results have recently been obtained by dynamic Monte Carlo simulations [39—41]. 

For hydrophilic and ionic solutes, diffusion mainly takes place via a pore mechanism in the solvent-filled pores. In a simplistic view, the polymer chains in a highly swollen gel can be viewed as obstacles to solute transport. Applying this obstruction model to the diffusion of small ions in a water-swollen resin, Mackie and Meares [56] considered that the effect of the obstruction is to increase the diffusion path length by a tortuosity factor, 0. The diffusion coefficient in the gel, )3,i2, normalized by the diffusivity in free water, DX1, is related to 0 by... 

The tortuosity factor appears as a squared term because it decreases the concentration gradient and increases the diffusive path length. Using a cubic lattice model and inquiring how many steps a diffusing molecule needs to take to get around an obstacle, 0 was derived to be... 

In the above discussion, we have presumed that the tortuosity factor t is characteristic of the pore structure but not of the diffusing molecules. However, when the size of the diffusing molecule begins to approach the dimensions of the pore, one expects the solid to exert a retarding influence on the flux and this effect may also be incorporated in the tortuosity factor. This situation is likely to be significant in dealing with catalysis by zeolites (molecular sieves). 

A narrow pore-size distribution and a tortuosity factor of three may be assumed. Using the methods suggested by Reid and Sherwood (7), the ordinary molecular diffusivity DAB is found to be 0.150 cm2/sec. 

The measured value of k Sg is 0.716 cm3/(sec-g catalyst) and the ratio of this value to k ltTueSg should be equal to our assumed value for the effectiveness factor, if our assumption was correct. The actual ratio is 0.175, which is at variance with the assumed value. Hence we pick a new value of rj and repeat the procedure until agreement is obtained. This iterative approach produces an effectiveness factor of 0.238, which corresponds to a differs from the experimental value (0.17) and that calculated by the cylindrical pore model (0.61). In the above calculations, an experimental value of eff was not available and this circumstance is largely responsible for the discrepancy. If the combined diffusivity determined in Illustration 12.1 is converted to an effective diffusivity using equation 12.2.9, the value used above corresponds to a tortuosity factor of 2.6. If we had employed Q)c from Illustration 12.1 and a tortuosity factor of unity to calculate eff, we would have determined that rj = 0.65, which is consistent with the value obtained from the straight cylindrical pore model in Illustration 12.2. 

If the effectiveness factor of the catalyst is known to be 0.42, estimate the tortuosity factor of the catalyst assuming that the reaction obeys first-order kinetics and that Knudsen diffusion is the dominant mode of molecular transport. 

To employ this relation one needs to estimate a tortuosity factor in order to convert the combined diffusivity to an effective diffusivity by equation 12.2.9. If we assume a value of 3, then... 

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