LKC FACULTY OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (HONOURS) CHEMICAL

ENGINEERING

UEMK1522 MASS TRANSFER

LECTURER: DR. SIM LAN CHING

DR. LEE SZE YING

GROUP 4

SUBMISSION DATE: 14 April 2020

STUDENT ID NAME YEAR AND

TRIMESTER
1901645 Tan Shou Zheng Y1S3
1802987 Gwee Yong Kuan Y1S3
1802993 Tan Yi Jie Y1S3
1802879 Ng Kai Joe Y1S3
1805775 Soh Jia Qi Y1S3
 Table of contents
Part
1 MASS TRANSFER THEORIES 2
Q1 What is Film Theory? 2
Q2 What is Penetration Theory? 2
Q3 Differences between Penetration and Surface Renewal Theory 3
Q4 Mass Transfer theory on Packed Tower 4

2 MASS TRANSFER COEFFICIENT 7

Q1 Convert 𝐾′𝑐 𝑡𝑜 𝐾𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐾𝐺 7
Q2 Estimate value 𝑁𝐴 , 𝐾𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐾′𝐺 8
Q3 Method used to determine convective mass transfer coefficient 10

References 14

1
PART 1: MASS TRANSFER THEORIES
Q1.
Film theory is an academic pursuit that attempts to explain what is the nature of film. In short, it
reflects both the society it comes from and the comments it provides. Therefore, in academic
circles, film theory is a branch of film research. As such, it is related to Literary Theory and
Semiotics. According to the film theory, the mass transfer coefficient, kl, and diffusivity are
related as kl µ D as boundary layer theory predicts that kl α D 0.67. For mass transfer of a solute, A
present in a dilute mixture of A and B, the term PBM tends to total pressure P.

Q2.
Penetration theory is one of the mass transfer theory in film theory, surface renewal theory and
boundary layer theory. The theory of percolation was first proposed by R. Higbie in 1935. This
theory is called Higbie's percolation theory.
The basic assumptions of the infiltration theory are as follows:
1) As long as it is in contact with air bubbles or others, the liquid will undergo unsteady mass
transfer
2) Equilibrium at the gas-liquid interface
3) Each liquid element and gas remain for the same period of time

Figure 1

2
The mass transfer coefficient is given by

The average mass transfer coefficient during a time interval tc is then obtained by integrating.

Therefore, according to the above formula, the mass transfer coefficient is proportional to the
square root of the diffusivity. An unstable state means that certain parameters change over time.
In the case of mass transfer, non-steady-state or transient mass transfer is also possible. This may
be due to a change in driving force or a difference in driving force.

Q3.
Surface renewal theory, developed by Danckwerts, applies the mathematics of peneration theory
to more rational situations. In this case, the liquid is depicted as two regions, a large, fully mixed
bulk region and an interface region, and the renewal rate is so fast that the thick film shown in
Figure 2 comes out. The basic assumptions of the theory are:
(1) The liquid elements at the interface are randomly exchanged by a number of new elements.
(2) At any time, all liquid elements at the interface are likely to be replaced with new elements.
(3) In the unsteady state, mass transfer from gas to liquid element occurs during gas stagnation
at the interface.
Therefore, instead of using a constant contact time (0), turbulence near the interface (referred to
as surface renewal frequency (s)) increases the liquid volume difference at the gas-liquid
interface. Surface renewal theory uses the surface renewal frequency (y) and the molecular
diffusion coefficient of a gas in a liquid to express the mass transfer coefficient on the liquid
side.
kL=(DABS)0.5

3
Figure 2
Q4.
According to P.A.ramachandran (2018), mass transfer processes are widely useful in many
field. Unit operation is the one relay on the mass transfer principle. Unit operation is defined as
separation technique used by chemical engineering application. The unit operation for mass
transfer are distillation from vapour to liquid, absorption from gas to liquid or from gas to solid or
from liquid to solid, extraction from liquid to liquid, drying from wet solid to gas and stripping
from liquid to gas. These separation are rely on the interfacial mass transfer. Therefore, the analysis
and modeling the mass transfer effect are important before design such of system.

An example of unit operation is liquid-liquid extraction, the plan of a simple single-stage

extraction is shown in Figure 1.0. In the unit operation, two phase are mix in the mixer section of
the contractor to create an emulsion or dispersion, which promotes high rate of mass transfer. In
settler section, the two phase mixture is then allowed to settle. Lastly, the enriched solvent and the
lean solution are separated. In agitation the calculation of mass transfer is needed to specified the
rate agitation to ensure the degree of mass transfer has achieved between two phase by using mass
transfer theory such as two film theory.

4
Figure 1.0 the plan of a simple single-stage extraction.

Besides that, the mass transfer theory such as penetration theory and surface renewal theory
are often apply in gas absorption as the fundamental physical principle of this process are based
on the rate of mass transfer. In absorption operation, packed tower is an important design in the
process because many of mass transfer occur in this tower. So the efficiency of separation is
depend on the design of packed tower. Absorption equipment include stirred vessels, packed beds,
and bubble columns.However, packed tower is the most common and rapidly developing system
used to carry out the absorption process. Generally, the packed tower are operated in
countercurrent flow, liquid enter to the packed tower from top to bottom and wet the surface of the
packing and the gas stream mixed with effluent and enter from the bottom to top. In packed tower
gas and liquid will contact with one another, the component of effluent can be absorbed into the
liquid shown in Figure1.2

Figure1.2 the plan of the packed tower

5
 Gas absorption in a countercurrent flow packed tower is decided by the equilibrium condition
between the contaminant gas and absorbing liquid. Besides that, the overall controlling mechanism
is control by the solubility of gas. Therefore, mass transfer between gas and liquid apply from the
two film theory is important for the overall gas or liquid equilibrium controls the design of the
packed tower. Since the gas is absorbed into the liquid, the more gas liquid interaction between
the gas and liquid can be caused to occur, the closer the exiting stream will approach equilibrium.

Besides that, the rate of absorption which is based on the mass transfer coefficient and the
concentration difference between the gas and liquid is needed to determine the height of the packed
tower. Besides that, driving force also need to calculate. This is because the high and the diameter
based on the mass transfer coefficient and driving force which will affect the rate mass transfer of
the gas and liquid. Rate of absorption can be expressed in four way, either using in individual
coefficient or in overall coefficient based on the gases or liquid phase. To obtain the mass transfer
coefficient, mass transfer theory formula is required.

Furthermore, the other absorption equipment such as stirred vessels, packed beds, and bubble
columns are also apply to the mass transfer theory like surface renewal theory are not suitable for
penetration theory as the these equipment process in wide range sizes of bubble and droplets.

6
PART 2: MASS TRANSFER COEFFICIENT
Q1.
𝑑𝑋 𝐶
Flux equation: 𝑁𝐴 = −𝑐𝐷𝐴𝐵 𝑑𝑍𝐴 + 𝐶𝐴 (𝑁𝐴 + 𝑁𝐵 )
Equimolar diffusion,
𝐷𝐴𝐵
𝑁𝐴 = (𝐶 − 𝐶𝐴2 )
(𝑍2 − 𝑍1 ) 𝐴1
𝑁𝐴 = 𝐾′𝑐 (𝐶𝐴1 − 𝐶𝐴2 )
𝐾′𝑐 𝑐 = 𝐾𝑦 𝑌𝐵𝑀
𝑚 𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙
( )( 3
)=( 2
)(𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐)
𝑠 𝑚 (𝑠)(𝑚 )(𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐)
𝑃
𝐾 ′ 𝑐 ( ) = 𝐾𝑦 𝑌𝐵𝑀
𝑅𝑇
𝑅𝑇
𝐾 ′ 𝑐 = 𝐾𝑦 𝑌𝐵𝑀 ( )
𝑃
𝐷𝐴𝐵
𝑁𝐴 = (𝐶 − 𝐶𝐴2 )
(𝑍2 − 𝑍1 ) 𝐴1
𝑁𝐴 = 𝐾′𝑐 (𝐶𝐴1 − 𝐶𝐴2 )
𝐾′𝑐 𝑐 = 𝐾𝐺 𝑃𝐵𝑀
𝑚 𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑘𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑙
( )( 3
)=( )(𝑃𝑎)
𝑠 𝑚 (𝑠)(𝑚2 )(𝑃𝑎)
𝑃
𝐾 ′ 𝑐 ( ) = 𝐾𝐺 𝑃𝐵𝑀
𝑅𝑇
𝑅𝑇
𝐾′𝑐 = 𝐾𝐺 𝑃𝐵𝑀 ( )
𝑃

7
Q2.

𝑇 = 325.6 𝐾
𝑣 = 1.524 𝑚/𝑠
P = 1 atm

DAB = 6.92×10-6 m2/s

PA1 = 0.6 mmHg

0.6 mmHg
PA1 = × 101325 Pa
760 mmHg
= 80 𝑃𝑎
PA2 = 0 (Pure air)

𝑇(𝐾) µ(kg/m.s) P( kg/m3)

311.0 1.90 × 10−5 1.1337

325.6 𝑀 𝑁

338.8 2.03 × 10−5 1.043

𝑀 − 1.90 × 10−5 325.6 − 311.0

=
2.03 × 10−5 − 1.90 × 10−5 338.8 − 311.0
𝑀 = 1.968 × 10−5 kg/m.s.

𝑁 − 1.137 325.6 − 311.0

=
1.043 − 1.137 338.8 − 311.0
𝑁 = 1.0876 kg/m3

𝜇
𝑁𝑠𝑐 =
𝑃𝐷𝐴𝐵
1.968 × 10−5
=
1.0876 × 6.92 × 10−6
= 2.615

𝐿𝑣𝑃
𝑁𝑅𝐸,𝐿 =
𝜇
(0.152)(1.524)(1.0876)
=
1.968 × 10−5
= 12801.8

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 Correlation Conditions
𝑘′𝑐𝐿 1 Gases:
⇒ = 𝑁𝑠ℎ = 0.664𝑁𝑅𝐸 0.5 𝑁𝑆𝐶 ⁄3 𝑁𝑅𝐸,𝐿0 < 15000 Laminar
𝐷𝐴𝐵
⇒ JD = 0.664𝑁𝑅𝐸 −0.5

JD = 0.664𝑁𝑅𝐸 −0.5
= 0.664(12801.8)−0.5
= 5.869 × 10−3
𝑘′𝐶 2
𝐽𝐷 = (𝑁𝑠𝑐 ) ⁄3
𝑣
𝐽𝐷𝑣
𝑘′𝐶 = 2
(𝑁𝑠𝑐 ) ⁄3
(5.869 × 10−3 )(1.524)
= 2
(2.615) ⁄3
= 4.712 × 10−3 𝑚/𝑠

Assumption : 𝑦𝐵𝑚 ≅ 1.0

𝑘 ′ 𝐶𝐶 = 𝑘𝑐 𝑦𝐵𝑚 𝐶
𝑘 ′ 𝐶 = 𝑘𝐶
4.712 × 10−3 𝑚
𝑘𝐶 =
𝑠
𝑃
𝑘′𝐶 = 𝑘 ′ 𝐺𝑃 = 𝑘𝐺𝑦𝐵𝑚 𝑃
𝑅𝑇 ′
𝑘𝐶
𝑘′𝐺 =
𝑅𝑇
4.712 × 10−3
=
8.314(325.6)
1.741 × 10−9 𝑚
=
𝑠

𝑘 ′ 𝐺𝑃 = 𝑘𝐺𝑦𝐵𝑚 𝑃
𝑘𝐺 = 𝑘 ′ 𝐺(since 𝑦𝐵𝑚 ≅ 1)
𝑁𝐴 = 𝑘𝐺(𝑃𝐴1 − 𝑃𝐴2 )
= 1.741 × 10−9 (80 − 0)
= 1.3928 × 10−7 kg mol/s.𝑚2

9
Q3.
The gas-liquid two-phase mass transfer process in microchannels is complicated due to the
special dynamical characteristics. In this work, a novel method was explored to measure the liquid
side volumetric mass transfer coefficient kLa. Pressure transducers were utilized to measure the
pressure variation of upward gas-liquid two-phase flow in three vertical rectangular microchannels
and the liquid side volumetric mass transfer coefficient kLa was calculated through the Pressure-
Volume-Temperature correlation of the gas phase. The gas-liquid two-phase micro-contactor is a
very important part of micro-chemical systems. The interfacial area - to - volume ratio of gas-
liquid two-phase flow in microchannels was demonstrated to be much higher than that in
conventional tubes (Haverkamp et al., 2001; Yue et al., 2006; Fu et al., 2010) and the mass transfer
process was greatly enhanced.

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

The microchannel chips were fabricated first by the etching technique on transparent glass and
then the mechanical method was applied to produce and polish the microchannels with rectangular
cross-section. Carbon dioxide-water, carbon dioxide-ethanol and carbon dioxide-n-propanol were
used as working fluids, respectively. To eliminate the effect of outlet connecting tubes and two-
phase collectors on the mass transfer of two-phase mixing sections, absorption in non-mixing
section microchannels was conducted under the same conditions, as shown in Figure 4.0, the T-
junction was connected directly to the outlet connecting tubes without the mixing section.

FIGURE4.0

10
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Flow Patterns of Upward Two-Phase Flow in Vertical Microchannels

The gas-liquid two-phase flow patterns captured by the high-speed camera in the experiments are
shown in Figure 4.1. The flow patterns varied from Taylor bubble flow to annular flow with
increasing gas and liquid flow rates. The length of the gas bubbles LB and liquid slugs LS in
Taylor bubble flow were obtained from an analysis of flow pattern images.

FIGURE 4.1

Calculation of the Liquid Volumetric Mass Transfer Coefficient kLa

The mass transfer of carbon dioxide into water, ethanol and n-propanol is mainly governed by
the liquid phase and kLa is obtained from the equation of mass balance:

where C0 and C1 are concentrations of carbon dioxide in the liquid phase at the inlet and outlet of
the microchannels and Ce is the equilibrium concentration of carbon dioxide in the liquid phase,
JL is the liquid phase superficial velocity and LC is the length of the mixing section of the

11
microchannel. The value of kLa in the outlet connecting tube of the experiments is the same as
that of the blank experiments, expressed as follow:

Combination of Eq. (1) and Eq. (2) results in the following expression:

where C2 and are the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the liquid phases in the two-phase
collector of the microchannel flow experiments and the blank experiments, respectively, and are
calculated from the following correlations:

where Pin is the inlet pressure of the absorption processes and is that of the blank experiments;

Pob is the outlet pressure before absorption in the experiments and is that of the blank

experiments; Poa is the outlet pressure after absorption in the experiments and is that of the
blank experiments; T is the temperature of system in the experiments and T' is that of the blank

experiments; is the total CO2 volume injected into the system in the experiments and is
that of the blank experiments; Vliquid is the total liquid phase volume injected into the system in

the experiments and is that of the blank experiments; and V is the total volume of the system.

In conclude, by measuring the pressure variation before and after the absorption
processes, the liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient kLa of carbon dioxide-water, carbon

12
dioxide-ethanol and carbon dioxide-n-propanol two-phase upward flow in vertical microchannels
were obtained. Both the channel diameter and the liquid phase capillary number influence the
liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient remarkably, and kLa achieves its maximum in the
annular flow pattern.

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 REFERENCES

Braz,J 2010. Experimental investigation of the liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient for
upward gas-liquid two-phase flow in rectangular microchannels, vol.27, no.4. Viewed 5 April
2020< http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-
66322010000400009&lng=en&tlng=en>

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