WHERE IS THE INTERFACIAL AREA?

Transfer of CO2 from flue gas into

In petroleum refinery, many useful small hydrocarbons are
amine solutions in a cylindrical tower.
present along with asphaltenes (tar) as a liquid mixture. These
Gas flows upward in the tower as liquid
hydrocarbons are separated from the asphaltenes by contacting
moves down through it. The tower is
the mixture with liquid propane in a tower shown below;
packed with material such as small
hydrocarbons dissolve in propane whereas asphlatenes don’t.
glass pieces.

gas
Heavy phase is asphaltenes
packing Light phase is liquid propane
liquid

• Interfacial area is expressed as area/volume of tower as in cm2/cm3 or m2/m3 or ft2/ft3

"
• Would interfacial area increase if 1” packing is replaced with 1Τ2 packing?, if speed of rotation is raised? YES
1
 Problem Solution
Water at 25 oC flows through a tube coated with potassium
chloride. At a point in tube, the concentration of KCl is 0.05 Mass transfer flux = 𝑘𝑐 𝑐1𝑖 − 𝑐1
g/ml. If the solubility of KCl in water at 25 oC is 35.5 g/100 𝑐𝑚 𝑔
ml, what is the mass transfer flux of KCl from the tube wall = 1.2 × 10−3 𝑠
× 0.355 − 0.05 𝑐𝑐
𝑔
to the point? Mass transfer coefficient of KCl in water can be = 7.3 × 10−4 𝑐𝑚2 𝑠
taken as 1.2 x 10-3 cm/s.
Concentration at this point is 0.05 g/ml

in Coating of KCl
out

Oxygen is dissolving in water as shown below. What is the Mass transfer flux = 𝑘𝑐 𝑐1𝑖 − 𝑐1
mass transfer flux of O2 if its mass transfer coefficient in = 0.75𝑘 𝑝Τ𝐻
water can be taken as 2 x 10-3 cm/s. Oxygen pressure over 𝑐𝑚 𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙
= 0.75 × 2 × 10−3 × 3
ൗ7.9×105
water is 3 atm. Henry’s law constant for O2 is 7.9 × 𝑠 𝑐𝑐
𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙
105 𝑎𝑡𝑚 𝑐𝑐Τ𝑚𝑜𝑙 . = 5.7 × 10−8 𝑐𝑚2 𝑠
Pure O2 at 3 atm

Water, 25% saturated with O2

𝑝𝑠𝑎𝑡
Water is evaporating from a pond into air at 30 oC. What is Mass transfer flux = 𝑘𝑐 𝑐1𝑖 − 𝑐1 = 0.5𝑘 Τ𝑅𝑇
𝑐𝑚 0.042 𝑎𝑡𝑚
the mass transfer flux of water if its mass transfer = 0.5 × 0.8 × 𝑎𝑡𝑚 𝑐𝑐
𝑠 82.1 ×303𝐾
coefficient in air can be taken as 0.8 cm/s. Relative humidity 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐾
𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑘𝑔
of air is 50%. Vapour pressure of water is 31.8 mm Hg at = 6.7 × 10−7 𝑐𝑚2 𝑠
= 10 𝑚2 𝑑𝑎𝑦
30oC. 2
 CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

• How is data on interfacial area provided when air is bubbled through water?
When gas and liquid are in contact with each other in a packed column?
• A column 0.6 meters in diameter and 5 m tall is packed with a special packing material. A gas and a liquid
are contacted in this tower, the packing offers an interfacial area of 6 cm-1,
what is the total interfacial area in the column?
• What is the order of magnitude of mass transfer coefficient in liquids? In gases?
• For a given solute, mass transfer coefficient in gases is far higher than in liquids. Can it be concluded that
mass transfer rates of the solute are higher in gases than in liquids? Explain.
• Water is saturated with oxygen at 25oC and 1 atm. This water is brought in contact with pure nitrogen
at 1 atm. What is the mass transfer flux for oxygen into nitrogen when the transfer just begins?