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Mass Transfer

Presented By:
Poonam Y. Purkar M.Pharm
E.mail : pypurkar@gmail.com

Sir. Dr. M.S.Gosavi College of Pharmaceutical Education & Research.


Nasik.
Contents :
 Introduction
 Molecular Diffusion
 In Gases
 In Liquid
 Mass Transfer in turbulent & laminar flow
 Interphase Mass Transfer
 Two film theory
 Penetration theory
 Surface Renewal Theory

Mrs. Poonam Purkar, GES'S


1/8/2018 MSGCOPER, Nasik 2
Introduction
 Transfer of material from one homogeneous phase to another
with or without phase change.
 Complex phenomenon occurs almost in all unit operations

Extraction – transfer of solute


Humidification – transfer of water molecule
Evaporation
Drying simultaneous heat & mass
Distillation transfer

 Occurs through different mechanisms such as molecular


diffusion, convection / bulk flow & turbulent mixing
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Mass Transfer
 Movement of the molecule occurs due to
concentration gradient known as molecular diffusion.

Molecular
Diffusion

In Gases In Liquid

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Molecular diffusion in gases:
partition

Gas A Gas B

CB decreasing

dx

CA decreasing

 Gas A moves towards chamber B and gas A towards chamber A.


 Concentration of A with distance towards chamber B & B
towards A, variation in concentration of component with
distance in the system called concentration gradient.
 Movement of molecule A or B occurs due to concentration
gradient known as molecular diffusion.
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 Fick’s law: dCA
NA  
dX
(negative sign, as concentration decreases with distance)

dCA dCB
NA  DAB NB  DBA
dX dX
For molecule A For molecule B

where,
DAB DBA = diffusivity of A in B & diffusivity of B in A respectively.
( cm2/sec)
NA & NB = rate of diffusion (gm.moles/ cm2/sec)

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1/8/2018 MSGCOPER, Nasik 6
Equimolecular Counter diffusion:
If molecular diffusion is the only mechanism of mass transfer then,
NA = -NB
Consider dPA and dPB are changes in partial pressure of A & B over element
dPA dPB
dX. As we assumed that there is no bulk flow, we can say 
dX dX
For an ideal gas,
PAV = nA RT

where,
PA = partial vapor pressure
nA = no. of moles in volume V at temperature T.
R = gas constant
PA= CA RT ( as CA = nA/ V )
PA
CA 
RT

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DAB dPA DBA dPB
NA   similarly for gas B N B  
RT dX RT dX
But for equimolecular counter diffusion NA = -NB, therefore,

DAB dPA DBA dPB


NA  
RT dX RT dX
X2
D dPA
RT X1 dX
(as DAB = DBA =D)
NA 

D PA2  PA1
NA 
RT X2  X1
where,
PA1 & PA2 are partial pressures of A at distance X1 & X2

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Diffusion through stationary, non-diffusing
gas:
 Movement of molecules from liquid or film on drying solids,
occurs to a non-diffusing gas.
 Molecule A is moving from the surface to atmosphere due to
conc. gradient in partial pressure but B is not moving towards
the surface.
 Therefore, rate of mass transfer of A takes place by molecular
diffusion & bulk flow.

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Molecular diffusion in liquids:
According to Fick’s law, for diffusion in liquid
dCA
NA  D
dX
For equimolar counter diffusion,
CA2  CA1
NA  D
X2  X1
where,
CA1 & CA2 = concentration of A at point x1 & x2
Diffusivity of liquid are much lesser than diffusivity of gases.
e.g.
diffusivity of gaseous ethanol in air = 0.119 cm2/sec
diffusivity of liquid ethanol in water = 1 × 10-5 cm2/sec
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Mass transfer in turbulent & laminar flow:
 Explained by boundary layer or film theory
 when fluid flows adjacent to the surface forms the boundary
layer
 Considers two regions
 boundary layer
 bulk
• If bulk flows in laminar fashion – rate of mass transfer
depends given by molecular diffusion equation
• If fluid bulk is turbulent – mass transfer depends upon transfer
rate across the boundary layer.

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 Boundary layer consist of 3 sub layers
 Laminar sub layer adjacent to surface
 Buffer / transient sub layer
 Turbulent region towards the bulk of fluid.
 Turbulent layer : eddies move under inertial forces causing
mass transfer. The rate of mass transfer is high and conc.
gradient is low
 Buffer layer : combination of eddy and molecular diffusion
responsible for mass transfer
 Laminar sub layer : molecular diffusion is the only
mechanism of mass transfer. Concentration gradient is high
and rate of mass transfer is low.
 The rate of mass transfer can be estimated by considering a
film which offers the resistance equivalent to boundary layer.

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Let,
PAi = partial pressure of A at surface
PAl = partial pressure of A at laminar sub layer
of thickness X
PAb = partial pressure of A at the edge of
boundary layer.
PAi – PAb
conc.gradient 
X'
According to Fick’s law for diffusion,
D PAi – PAb
NA  .
RT X'

X’ is not known , hence kg constant known as mass transfer coefficient is introduced.


NA  kg.CAi  CAb 
NA  kg.CAi  CAb 
PA
We know, CA  therefore
RT
where, CAi & CAb concentration of A on either side of the film.
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Interphase Mass Transfer:
 Involves two phase mass transfer
e.g. distillation, liquid-liquid extraction.
 Different theories involved :
 Two film theory
 Penetration theory
 Surface Renewal theory

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Two film theory
 Theory has been developed by Nernst, Lewis and Whitman.
 Postulates that two non-turbulent fictitious films are present
on either side of the interface between thw film
 Mass transfer across these films purely occurs molecular
diffusion.
 Total resistance for mass transfer is summation of resistance
of two films

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Let,
pAg = partial pressure of A in the bulk of gas
pAi = partial pressure of A in gas at the interface
CAi = concentration of A in liquid at interface
CAl = concentration of A in the bulk of liquid
kg & kl = mass transfer coefficients of individual
films of gas & liquid respectively

But difficult to know pAi and CAi.


Hence concept of overall mass transfer coefficient
is used.
pAe = gas phase partial pressure of A equilibrium
with conc. of A in the bulk of liquid (CAl)
CAe = conc. Of A in the liquid phase equillibrium
with partial pressure of A bulk gas (pAg )

KG and KL are overall mass transfer coefficient , by applying Fick’s law,


NA  KG  pAg  pAe  or NA  KLCAe  CAl 
Equilibrium between two phases ,
pA = H CA + b
where, H & b are constant.

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 By considering individual film transfer equations and overall
mass transfer equations, equilibrium equations can be developed
between overall and individual phase mass transfer coefficients
1 1 H
 
KG kg kl
1 1 1 1
  
KL HK G Hk g kl kl
 If A is less soluble in liquid ( i.e. H is very large ) then KG 
H
and process becomes liquid phase controlled.
 If A is highly soluble in liquid ( i.e. H is very low ) then KG ≈
kg and process is gas phase controlled.
 According to this theory, mass transfer is directly proportional
to molecular diffusivity of solute in the phase into which it is
going and inversely proportional to thickness of films

Mrs. Poonam Purkar, GES'S


1/8/2018 MSGCOPER, Nasik 17
Penetration theory:
 This theory proposed by Higbie
 considers unsteady state at interface
 Fluid eddies travel from bulk to interface by convection &
remain remain there for equal but limited period of time
 When eddies comes at interface, solute moves into it by
molecular diffusion & get penetrated into bulk when eddies
moves to bulk.
 According to this theory, rate of mass transfer directly
proportional to square root of molecular diffusion and
inversely proportional to exopsure time of eddies at interface.

Mrs. Poonam Purkar, GES'S


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Surface renewal theory:
 This theory proposed by Dankwort
 Each eddies gets equal exposure time at interface
 Continuous renewal of interface by fresh eddies which have
composition that of bulk
 Turbulent eddies remain at interface for time varying from 0
to ∞ and taken back into bulk phase by convection current.
 According to this theory, rate of mass transfer is directly
proportional to square root of molecular diffusivity.

Mrs. Poonam Purkar, GES'S


1/8/2018 MSGCOPER, Nasik 19
Thank you

Mrs. Poonam Purkar, GES'S


1/8/2018 MSGCOPER, Nasik 20

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