BKF 2432 MASS TRANSFER

Assignment 3

Please work in pair (2 people) and submit this assignment on Friday, 18th December 2015
before 12.00 pm. Late submission will not be considered.

QUESTION 1
There are two evaporators of ethanol into air with the same diameter of 50.8 mm. The diffusivity
of ethanol in air, DAB is measured as 0.155 cm2/s. The first evaporator has an internal condition
with a velocity of the air is 3 m/s at 45 C and 1 atm while the vapor pressure of ethanol in air is
0.05 atm. For the second evaporator, the velocity of the air is 5 m/s at 70 C and 1 atm, while the
vapor pressure of ethanol in air is 0.1 atm. The Sherwood number, Nsh and mass transfer
coefficient, kc are derived as the following equations:
N sh 0.023( N Re )

N sh=

kc=

a)

0.83

D
AB

0.33

D AB

Calculate the Reynold number, NRe and state the type of flow region for these two evaporators.
Assume DAB is constant at any temperature.
(10 Marks)

b)

Calculate the effective thickness of the gas film , for these two evaporators for evaporation of
ethanol into air.

c)

(8 Marks)
Calculate the gas mass transfer coefficient, kG (kg mol/s.m .atm) for these two evaporators.
2

(6 Marks)

d)

As a process engineer, suggest and justify THREE (3) necessary parameters should be
controlled to increase the rate of ethanol evaporation in the above case.
(6 Marks)
QUESTION 2
Mass transfer is occurring from a stream of air at 35 C where air flowing in a duct past a single
sphere made of solid naphthalene. Initially, there is 0.21 kg mole of naphthalene per m 3 loaded
in the wall of sphere that has a diameter of 27.5 mm. The velocity of the air is 2.198 m/s at 35 C
and 202.6 kPa. The diffusivity of naphthalene and water in air at 101.3 kPa is presented in Table
1 while the physical properties of air at 2 atm are presented in Table 2.
Table 1: Diffusivity of naphthalene and water in air at 101.3 kPa
Temperature (C)

Diffusivity of naphthalene

Diffusivity of water

10
20
30

[(m2/s)106]
27.48
29.21
30.96

[(m2/s)109]
2.35
2.75
3.15

Table 2: Physical properties of air at 2 atm

a)

Determine the Reynolds, Schmidt and Sherwood numbers associated with this process at
35 C and 202.6 kPa.
(15 Marks)

b)

Calculate the mass transfer coefficient, kG and the mass flux of the process.
(10 Marks)

c)

Calculate the value of JD and Stanton number.

(5 Marks)

d)

Then, the bulk of water was transferred into the sphere and air at 30 C is pumped into the
water at 1 atm absolute pressure having diameters of 60 m of air bubbles. Calculate the
rate of air in water from air bubbles if the solubility of air in water at 30 C is 5.32 x 10-3
kg mol/m3. Assumed that the diffusivity of water in air is same as diffusivity of air in
water.
(10 Marks)