Alexandria University Mass transfer ‫جامعة اإلسكندرية‬

Faculty of Engineering ‫كلية الهندسة‬

Chemical Engineering program ‫برنامج الهندسة الكيميائية‬

Fall 2021

Sheet 2
1- Starting with Fick’s equation for the diffusion of A through a binary mixture of species A and

B as given by NAZ = - c DAB + ‫‏‬yA (NAZ - NBZ ) and Fick’s equation for the diffusion of B

through the same binary mixture given by NBZ = - c DBA + ‫‏‬yA (NBZ - NAZ ) , prove the two

gas diffusivities, DAB and DBA, are equal. Does the Hirshfelder equation for gas evaluating gas
diffusivities verify this same equality?

2- Starting with the Fick’s equation for the diffusion of A through a binary mixture of
components A and B

NA = - c DAB ∇ yA +‫‏‬yA(NA ‫‏‬+ NB)

derive the following relations, stating the assumptions made in the derivations:

a. nA = -DAB ∇ρA + ‫‏‬wA (nA ‫‏‬+ nB)

b. JA = -DAB ∇ CA

3-Starting with Fick’s equation for the diffusion of A through a binary mixture of A and B, prove

a. NA ‫‏‬+ NB = cV;

b. nA ‫‏‬+ nB = ρV

c. jA + ‫‏‬jB = 0.

1
4- Determine the value of the following gas diffusivities using the Hirschfelder equation:

a. carbon dioxide/air at 310 K and 1.5 x 105 Pa

b. ethanol/air at 325 K and 2.0 x 105 Pa

c. carbon monoxide/air at 310 K and 1.5 x 105 Pa

d. carbon tetrachloride/air at 298 K and 1.913 x 105 Pa

5- The isomerization of n-butane to iso-butane is carried out on a catalyst surface at 2.0 atm and
400οC. What is the gas-phase molecular diffusion coefficient of n-butane in iso-butane?
Compare values obtained from both the Hirschfelder and Fuller–Schettler–Giddings equations.

6- In the Determine the diffusivity of methane in air using:

(a) the Hirschfelder equation and (b) the Wilke equation for a gas mixture.

The air is at 373 K and 1.5 x 105 Pa.

7-An absorption tower has been proposed to remove selectively two pollutants, hydrogen sulfide
(H2S) and sulfur dioxide (SO2), from an exhaust gas stream containing

H2S 3 vol %
SO2 5 vol %
N2 92 vol %

Estimate the diffusivity of hydrogen sulfide in the gas mixture at 350 K and 1.013 x 105 Pa.

The critical temperature (TC) of H2S is 373.2 K and the critical volume (VC) of H2S is 98.5
cm3/mol.