Mass Transfer Unit Operation

Chapter 01
Introduction to Mass-transfer Unit Operation
Lecture 1

By Tesfalidet G/yohanns

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 Contents

Mechanical Use of
Unit Separation Classification
Vs Mass- Separation
Operation Processes of MTUO
transfer UO Processes

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 Unit Operations

Unit Operation: is part of a potentially multi-step chemical

process that performs a single function.

▪ There are a number of unit operations in chemical industries that

deal with altering the composition of solution and mixtures.
These operation are mostly concerned with separating a
substance into its constituents.

I. Mechanical Unit Operations: are unit operation that employ a

mechanical means such as gravity, centrifugal force, pressure
reduction, or an electric or magnetic field in order to separate the
mixture.
II. Mass-transfer Unit Operations: are unit operations that involve the
transfer one substance through another on a molecular scale due to
concentration difference or gradient
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 Filtration

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Centrifugal Solid Separator
Mechanical UO

Evaporation
Evaporator
Unit Operations

Distillation
Mass-transfer UO

4

It is rare to find a chemical process
that doesn’t require either a
preliminary purification of raw
material or final separation of
products from by-products.
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Separation Process
It is not surprising that separation
processes account for 40-90% of the
capital and operating cost in industry
and their proper application can
significantly reduce cost and increase
profits.
The separation cost depends on the ratio of
initial and final concentration of separated
substance. E.g. Sulfuric acid vs Uranium
separation costs.
5
 Use of Separation Processes

Removal of impurities from materials and feed mixtures

Recylcing of solvents and unconverted reactants

Isolation of products for subsequent purification or processing

Purification of products, products classes and recycle stream

Recovery and purification of by-products

Removal of contaminants from air and water effluents

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 Classification of MTUO

I. Direct contact of two immiscible phases

▪ Most important category and includes most of the mass transfer operation

▪ The operation takes advantage of the fact that in two-phase of various

components at equilibrium, the composition of the phases are different. The
various components are distributed differently between the phases.

▪ In some cases, the separation might result in pure substance when one of the
phases contains only one constituent at equilibrium. E.g., the equilibrium
vapor in contact with a liquid salt solution contains no salt regardless of the
concentration of the liquid. Therefore, one can obtain pure salt or water by
complete separation by boiling of water or complete solidification.

▪ In MTUO, none of the equilibrium phases contain only one constituent. As a

result, when two phases make an initial contact, they won’t be at equilibrium
composition. The system then attempts to achieve equilibrium by the slow
diffusive movement of the constituents, that transfer in part between the
phases in the process. Therefore, the separation is not complete. However, it
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can be brought to near completion through appropriate manipulation. 7
 Classification of MTUO

I. Direct contact of two immiscible phases

▪ The three states of aggregation allow six possible contact between
phases
1. Gas-Gas : Most gases are completely soluble in each other as a result it isn’t
realized practically.
2. Gas-Liquid :
• Distillation: is an operation in which all the constituents of the system distribute
between the phases at equilibrium. In this operation gas phase is created by
removal of heat conversely the liquid is obtained with removal of heat. E.g., liquid
solution of acetic acid and water.

• Absorption: in this operation both phases are solutions each containing either only
one component (group of components) which distributes between the phases. E.g.,
if a mixture of ammonia air solution goes in contact with pure water, most of the
ammonia will dissolve in the water. The reverse of this process is known as
desorption or stripping.

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 Classification of MTUO

I. Direct contact of two immiscible phases

2. Gas-Liquid :
• Humidification: is an operation applied when a liquid phase containing one
component while the gas contains two or more. E.g., contact of dry air with water
results in evaporation of some water into the air. Conversely, contact of very
moisture with pure liquid water result in condensation of part of the moisture in
the air (dehumidification).
3. Gas-Solid:
• Sublimation: If a solid solution is partially vaporized without the appearance of a
liquid phase, the newly formed vapor phase and residual solid each contains all
the original components, but in different proportions. The final composition is
achieved through interdiffusion of the components between phases.

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 Classification of MTUO

I. Direct contact of two immiscible phases

3. Gas-Solid:
• Drying: If a solid which is moistened with a volatile liquid is exposed
to a relatively dry gas, the liquid leaves the solid and diffuses into the
gas. Sometimes it is known as desorption. E.g., drying laundry by
exposure to air or removal water from a wet filter cake by exposure to
dry gas.

• Adsorption: It is similar to drying expect the solute transfer or diffusion

in opposite direction. E.g., If a mixture of water vapor and air is
brought in contact with activated silica gel, the water vapor diffuses to
the solid, which retains it strongly ad thus dried, if a mixture of
propane and propylene gas is brought into contact with activated
carbon, the two gas are both adsorbed at different extent leading to
the separation of gas mixture.

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 Classification of MTUO

I. Direct contact of two immiscible phases

3. Gas-Solid:
• Drying: If a solid which is moistened with a volatile liquid is exposed to a
relatively dry gas, the liquid leaves the solid and diffuses into the gas.
Sometimes it is known as desorption. E.g., drying laundry by exposure to air or
removal water from a wet filter cake by exposure to dry gas.

• Adsorption : It is similar to drying expect the solute transfer or diffusion is in

opposite direction. E.g., If a mixture of water vapor and air is brought in
contact with activated silica gel, the water vapor diffuses to the solid, which
retains it strongly ad thus dried or if a mixture of propane and propylene gas is
brought into contact with activated carbon, the two gas are both adsorbed at
different extent leading to the separation of gas mixture.

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 Classification of MTUO

I. Direct contact of two immiscible phases

4. Liquid-Liquid:
Separation involving the contact of two insoluble liquid phases are known
as liquid – extraction operation. E.g. If acetone-water solution is shaken in a
separatory funnel with carbon tetrachloride and the liquid allowed to
settle, the large portion of the acetone will be found in the CCl4 rich phase
and will thus be separated from water. A very small amount of CCl4 might
enter the water but the effect is very small.

If mixture of acetic acid and acetone is shaken with CCl4 and water, both
acetone and acetic acid will be on the solvent in different proportion. This
is known as fractional extraction

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 Classification of MTUO

I. Direct contact of two immiscible phases

5. Liquid-Solid
• Fractional Crystallization
• Zone refining : used to obtain ultra pure metals and semiconductors
• Adductive crystallization: where a substance such as urea has a crystal lattice
will selectively entrap long straight-chain molecules like paraffin HCs but will
exclude branched molecules
• Leaching ( solvent extraction): selective solution of a component from solid
mixture by a liquid solvent. E.g., leaching of gold from its ores by cyanide solution
or cottonseed oil from the seed by hexane. The diffusion is from solid to liquid
phase. The reverse is called adsorption E.g., Impure colored material in cane
sugar solution by contacting it with activated carbon
6. Solid-solid:
Due to the slow rate of diffusion with in solid phase, no industrial separation
operation in this category
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 Classification of MTUO

II. Phases separated by a membrane

▪ New technology with its importance increasing steadily

▪ Prevent intermingling of two miscible phases and ordinary hydrodynamic flow
▪ The movement of substance through them is by diffusion
▪ Permit a component separation by selectively controlling passage of the
components from one side to another
1. Gas-Gas
• Gaseous diffusion or effusion: employs a microporous membrane. If a gas mixture
of different MW is brought in contact with such diaphragm, the various components
of the gas pass through the pores at different rates based on the their MWs. This
result in composition difference on opposite side of the membrane and leads to
separation. E.g., Separation of isotopes of uranium

• Permeation: The membrane is not porous and the gas is transmitted through
membrane first by dissolving and then diffusing through. Separation is due to
difference in solubility of the components. E.g., separation of helium from natural
gas by using fluorocarbon polymer membrane

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 Classification of MTUO

II. Phases separated by a membrane

2. Gas-Liquid
• Permeation: If liquid solution of alcohol and water is brought into contact with
suitable nonporous membrane, in which alcohol preferentially dissolves. After
passage through the membrane the alcohol is vaporized

3. Liquid-Liquid
• Dialysis: the separation of a crystalline substance from a colloid by contact of their
solution with a liquid solvent with an intervening membrane permeable only to the
solvent and dissolved crystalline substance. E.g., separation of undesired colloidal
material from aqueous beet-sugar solution
• Fractional dialysis: separate two crystalline substance by exploiting the difference
in membrane permeability.
• Electrodialysis: If electromotive force is applied across the membrane to assist in
the diffusion of charged particles.

• Osmosis: If a solution is separated from a pure solvent by a membrane that is only

permeable to the solvent, solvent diffuses to solution.
4/18/2019 • Reverse osmosis: if by superimposing a pressure to oppose the osmotic pressure 15
of the flow of solvent is reversed. E.g., Desalination of sea water
 Classification of MTUO

III. Direct Contact of Miscible Phases

• Rarely applied practically in industry due to the difficulty in maintaining
concentration gradients without mixing the fluid
• Thermal diffusion: the formation of concentration gradient within a single
liquid or gaseous phase by application temperature gradient up on the fluid,
resulting in separation of the components in the solution possible. E.g., 3He
separation from its mixture with 4He
• Sweep diffusion: If a condensable vapor is allowed to diffuse through gas
mixture, it will preferentially carry one of the component along with it.
• Atmolysis: If the two zones within the gas phase where the concentration are
different are separated by screen containing large opening
• Rapid Centrigugation: a gas mixture can be separated because of slightly
different forces acting on the various molecules owing to their different mass.
Heavier accumulate on periphery. E.g., separation of uranium isotopes

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 Classification of MTUO

III. Use of Surface Phenomena

• Substance which when dissolved in a liquid produce a solution of lowered
surface tension ( in contact with gas) are known to concentration in
solution at the liquid surface
• Foam separation: separation by forming foam of large surface, as bubbling
air through the solution, and collecting the foam and concentrating the
solute. E.g., separation of detergent from water.

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 References

• R.E. Treybal, Mass Transfer Operations

• Andre’ de Haan, Hans Bosch, Industrial Separation Processes
Fundamentals

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