Mass transfer: CHE3003 HRIDYA ASHOKAN

Date: 06-09-2021 19BCM0009

Digital assignment 1

Table of content:

Subtopic Page number

Numerical 2
Literature review 2
Methodology 3
Calculation 3-5
Safety instructions and 6
Conclusion
References 6-7

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Numerical:

Ryan international school is hosting an event for

Children’s day. The students of grade ten wish to perform
a play based on Percy Jackson and they want it to look like
they are on clouds in mount Olympus. They requested the
teacher responsible for the props used in the performances
to get spherical dry ice for this effect. The spherical dry ice
she finds at the market had a radius of 5cm. Diffusivity of
dry ice was 0.181x10-4 m2/s. Concentration of dry ice at 2
places are 10% and 20% by volume. Dynamic viscosity is 20.639x10-6 Pa.s and the
velocity of flow is 20m/s. Assume air to be non-diffusing.
Density of dry ice is 1600 kg/m3 and its molecular weight is 44 g/mol.

Calculate:
(i) The Mass transfer coefficient in terms of concentration and mole fraction
(ii) Rate of evaporation of dry ice from the surface

Literature Review:

Dry ice is also known as frozen or solid carbon dioxide. The surficial temperature of
dry ice is around -78 degree Celsius and it sublimes from solid to gas directly, without
involving a phase change to liquid. The temperature difference between the surface
of dry ice and the atmosphere condenses the water vapour in the air which turn into
water droplets which makes the fog. The fog
from dry ice tends to remains suspended and
floats on the surface of the floor and only a small
amount of fog is visible around the dry ice since
carbon dioxide is denser than air. Fog machine
which are used in haunted houses, nightclubs
and theatres put dry ice in water to accelerate the
sublimation process and produce dense fog. [1,
2] Dropping dry ice in hot water magnifies the effect and cold carbon dioxide bubbles
form which cause the warm moist air around it to condense into more fog. This means
that the fog is formed from the water it is put into and not from the atmospheric water
vapour. [3] The density of dry ice is inversely proportional to temperature.

Dry ice has been used in transportation of cold-storage packages. The regulatory
bodies have imposed a limity of the amount of dry ice that can be carried on airplane
since dry ice sublimation can lead to asphyxiation of crew members or passengers.
[4]. Ning et al. [5] used the physical properties of dry ice to cool high heat flux chip
cooling system. Yang et al. [6] created dry ice fog extraction (DIFE) machine which

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generates a dense fog by inserting a small piece of dry ice into the liquid extracting
medium for a VOC-scavenging process.

Methodology:

A convective mechanism is followed in the mass transfer sublimation of dry ice. The
mass transfer coefficient is derived from the empirical correlations with non-
dimensional Sherwood, Reynolds and Schmidt number. [7] Mass transfer coefficient
conversions are employed to make the calculations easier and support the values
given in the problem statement. Since the air is non-diffusing in dry ice, the flux of
air is zero. The gas is ideal so the percentage of volume is equal to molar percentage.

Calculation:

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Safety instructions and Conclusion:

Unlike regular ice, there is no problem related to spillage or leaking and the product
does not get wet since there is no phase change to liquid. It has a surface temperature
of -109.3 degrees Fahrenheit. These qualities of dry ice allow it to be used for
refrigeration and cooling purposes like in food preservation in non-cyclic
refrigeration [8], vaccines [9], flash freezing food [10], in laboratories to preserve
samples [11], making ice-creams [12], and to prevent melting of ice sculptures. Apart
from these, they have applications in making carbonated drinks [13], solidifying oil
spills [14], and industrial cleaning [15] and even to freeze and remove warts [16].

It is advisable to the teacher to use an appropriately insulated

container to store the dry ice to ensure minimum sublimation and
loss of dry ice. The container lid should be only slightly closed to
avoid carbon dioxide gas from sinking which can be unsafe since
it gets converted into dry ice bomb and explodes. She should not
keep it in a refrigerator. The teacher should be careful while handling
the dry ice and use heavy gloves and tongs to avoid frostbites. The
auditorium should be well ventilated and the concentration of carbon
dioxide should not exceed 5% since carbon dioxide build-up can be
detrimental to health.

The Mass transfer coefficient in terms of concentration was 0.23 m/s and Mass
transfer coefficient in terms of mole fraction was 0.035 kmol/m2s.
The rate of evaporation of sublimated dry ice from the surface is 1.0966x10-3 kmol/s.

References:

[1]McCarthy, Robert E. (1992). Secrets of Hollywood Special Effects. Boston:

Focal Press. ISBN 978-0-240-80108-7
[2] "How does dry ice work?". HowStuffWorks. April 2000. Retrieved 2009-07-2
[3] Kuntzleman, T. S., Ford, N., No, J. H., & Ott, M. E. (2015). A molecular
explanation of how fog is produced when dry ice is placed in water. Journal of
Chemical Education, 92(4), 643-648.
[4] Purandare, A. S., van Lohuizen, S. W., Spijkers, R. M. A., & Vanapalli, S.
(2021). Experimental and numerical study of insulation packages containing dry ice
pellets. Applied Thermal Engineering, 186, 116486.
[5] Jinghong Ning , Zhaoyang Sun , Yanfeng Zhao , Runxia Wang ,
Chunxiu Bao , Influence of dry ice inlet and outlet positions on cooling
characteristics of high heat flux chip, International Journal of Refrigeration (2021),
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2021.04.020
[6] Yang, H. H., & Urban, P. L. (2019). Dry ice fog extraction of volatile organic
compounds. Journal of Chromatography A, 1585, 196-201

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[7] Vianello, C., Mocellin, P., & Maschioa, G. (2014). Study of formation, sublimation and
deposition of dry ice from carbon capture and storage pipelines. CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING, 36.
[8] Yaws, C. L., & Braker, W. (2001). Matheson gas data book. McGraw Hill
Professional.
[9] Newman, Jessie. "Dry Ice Demand Swells as Covid-19 Vaccines Prepare for
Deployment". The Wall Street Journal.
[10] Cool Uses for Dry Ice". Airgas.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-
01. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
[11] "Preparing Competent E. coli with RF1/RF2 solutions". Personal.psu.edu.
Retrieved 2009-07-25
[12] "Cool Uses for Dry Ice". Airgas.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-
01. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
[13] Blumenthal, Heston (2006-10-29). "How to make the best treacle tart and ice
cream in the world". The Sunday Times. London. Retrieved 2007-06-12.
[14] "Zapping Oil Spills with Dry Ice and Ingenuity" by Gordon Dillow Los
Angeles Times South Bay section page 1 2/24/1994
[15] Dzido, A., Krawczyk, P., Badyda, K., & Chondrokostas, P. (2021). Operational
parameters impact on the performance of dry-ice blasting nozzle. Energy, 214,
118847.
[16] Lyell A. (1966). "Management of warts". British Medical Journal. 2 (5529):
1576–9. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.5529.1576. PMC 1944935. PMID 5926267.