MASS TRANSFER

CHEE 3201
CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION
TO MASS TRANSFER
By
Mr. Marimuthu Chellakkannu
 1.1. Introduction to Mass Transfer

• Definition of mass transfer:

• When a system contains two or more components whose concentrations vary

from point to point, there is a natural tendency for mass to be transferred,
minimizing the concentration differences within the system.

• The transport of one constituent from a region of higher concentration to that

of a lower concentration is called mass transfer.
• There is no difference between the Mass transfer and diffusion.

• Mass transfer is a general term, and diffusion is a form of mass transfer.

• Mass transfer is the transport of mass from one place to another.

• Diffusion is the even distribution of solutes throughout the system.

• The main difference between mass transfer and diffusion is that mass transfer
may or may not occur across a concentration gradient.

• whereas diffusion occurs across a concentration gradient.

Day to day examples of mass transfer
• A lump of sugar added to a cup of black coffee eventually dissolves
and then diffuses uniformly throughout the coffee.

• Water evaporates from ponds to increase the humidity of the passing

air stream.

• Perfume presents a pleasant fragrance that is imparted throughout

the surrounding atmosphere.
 Mass transfer is the basis for many biological and chemical processes

• Biological processes include

• The oxygenation of blood and
• The transport of ions across membranes within the kidney.

• Chemical processes include

• The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of silane (SiH4) onto a silicon wafer,
• The doping of a silicon wafer to form a semiconducting thin film,
• The aeration of wastewater, and
• The purification of ores and isotopes.
 1.2. Classification of Mass Transfer
Operations:
1. Direct Contact of Two Immiscible Phases

Phases Mass Transfer Operations

Gas-Gas All gases are completely soluble in each other; this category is not practically realized.

Gas-Liquid Absorption, Desorption or stripping, Humidification, Dehumidification, Distillation

Gas-Solid Sublimation, Adsorption, Drying or Desorption

Liquid-Liquid Extraction
Liquid-Solid Leaching, Adsorption, Crystallization
Solid-Solid There is no industrial separation operation in this category.
  
2. Phases Separated by a Membrane

Phases Mass Transfer Operations

Gas-Gas Gaseous diffusion or effusion

Gas-Liquid Permeation

Liquid-Liquid Dialysis, Fractional dialysis, Electro dialysis, Reverse Osmosis,

3. Direct Contact of Two miscible Phases

Examples: Thermal diffusion, Sweep diffusion, Atmolysis, Centrifugation.
 Direct and indirect operations
• The operations depending upon contact of two immiscible phases particularly can
be further sub classified into two types.

• The direct operations produce the two phases from a single-phase solution by
addition or removal of heat.

• Examples: Fractional distillation, fractional crystallization, and one form of

fractional extraction are of this type.

• The indirect operations involve addition of a foreign substance

• Examples: Gas absorption and stripping, adsorption, drying, leaching, liquid
extraction, and certain types of fractional crystallization.
 Design Principles:

• There are four major factors to be established in the design of any plant
involving the diffusional operations:

the number of equilibrium stages or their equivalent,

the time of phase contact required,
the permissible rate of flow,
the energy requirements
 Similarities in Mass Transfer Operations
• Equilibrium between the phases is attained after a sufficiently long time
period/period of phase contact.

• Material transfer is caused by the combined effect of molecular diffusion

and turbulence.

• There is no resistance to mass transfer at the phase interface

• Rate of mass transfer is evaluated by deviation/departure from equilibrium

concentrations.
Mass transfer operations may occur in:

• It can occur in one direction or in two directions.

• It can occur along with simultaneous heat transfer
• It can occur along with simultaneous chemical reaction.
• It can occur isothermally and non-isothermally.
 Differences between various mass transfer operations:

• One of the main differences between various mass transfer operations is

no of components.

• Distribution of components between phases.

• Temperature is a point of difference between the operations.

 1.3. Description of various mass transfer operations
• 1.Gas – Liquid
• Absorption
• Transfer of a solute from a gas mixture to the solvent is called absorption
• Example :Removal of Ammonia gas from by-product coke oven gas using water.
• De – Sorption / Stripping
• Removal of solute from solution using a gas ,
• Example :removal of NH3 from NH3-water solution using air
• Humidification
• Transfer of liquid to the gas phase containing one or more components by contacting dry gas with pure liquid is known as humidification.
• Example :contact of dry air with liquid water result in evaporation of some water into the air (lie) humidification of air
• De-Humidification
• Transfer of a vapor component from gas-vapour mixture to the liquid phase by contacting them is known as de-Humidification.
• Example: transferring water vapour form air water vapour mixture to liquid water
• Distillation
• Method of separating the component in a liquid mixture by the distribution of substances between a gas and liquid phase is known as
distillation
• Example :separation of petroleum fractions by application of heat
 II. Liquid – Liquid (Extraction)
 Separation of a component (solute) from a liquid mixture using another in
solute or partially miscible solvent is known as extraction.

• Ex : Separation of Acetic Acid from Acetic Acid – water mixture using

Isopropyl ether as a solvent.
 III. Solid – Liquid / Solid-Gas
• Leaching
• Separation of soluble solute from the solid mixture using liquid solvent.
Example: removal of copper from its ore using sulphuric acid.
• Adsorption
• It involves contact of solid with either liquid / gaseous mixture in which a specific substance from
the mixture concentrates on the solid surface.
Ex : Removal of moisture from Air by silica gel.
• Drying
• Removal of moisture from a substance.
• 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.
Example: removal of water from a cloth, wood or paper
• Crystallization
• The process of forming solid particles within a homogeneous phase is called crystallizations.
Example: the formation of crystals of sugar from a concentrated sugar solution
 1.4. Expression for concentration, Velocities and Fluxes:

• Mass concentration:

• It is the mass of species A per unit volume of the solution (mixture).

• It is equivalent to density of A and is designated as A.
• For a binary system, composed of component A and B,
• = A + B
• Where ‘’ is the mass density of the solution or mixture.
• It is also expressed in other terms like ‘w’ and ‘wi’ also.
• Weight fraction:

• It is the ratio of the weight of the individual component to the total weight
of the system. It is denoted by x’.

• For two component system: xA +xB = 1.0

• Weight% of A = Weight fraction of A x 100

 Molar concentration:
• It is the number of moles of species A per unit volume of the solution.

CA = A/MA
Where,
• CA = Molar concentration of species A per unit volume (moles/m3)
• A = Mass concentration of species A per unit volume (mass/m3)
• MA = Molecular weight of component A (mass/mole)
• For a binary mixture, total molar concentration is
• C = CA + C B
• Where,
• C= Total molar concentration (mole/m3)
• CA = Molar concentration of A (mole/m3)
• CB = Molar concentration of B (mole/m3)
• It is also expressed as ‘c’ and ‘ci’ also.

• For a gas mixture, to determine the concentration of species in a gas mixture

ideal gas law relation is used.
• The concentration of component is expressed in terms of “partial pressure”.
• We know, for an ideal gas law: PV = nRT
• Similarly for a component
• pAV = nART (OR) CA = nA/V = pA/RT
• Where pA is the partial pressure of species A in the mixture, nA is the number of
moles of A in the mixture, V is molar volume of the mixture, T is the absolute
temperature and R is universal gas constant.
• Rewriting, interms of mole fraction, xA
• XA = CA/C = (pA/RT)/(P/RT) = pA/P
• Where, P is the total pressure exerted by the gas mixture. Total pressure is also
expressed as Pt.
• Also, Total concentration, C is
• C = CA + CB = pA/RT + pB/RT = P/RT
• Mole fraction: It is the ratio of the moles of individual component to
the total moles of the system. It is denoted by x.

• For a binary system: xA +xB = 1.0

• Mole% of A = mole fraction of A x 100

 1.5. Velocities
• In a diffusing mixture, various chemical species exists and each of the species
have their own mobility.
• The species move with different velocity due to their difference in mobility.
• Hence, movement of a mixture is expressed in terms of “bulk velocity”.

• The bulk velocity of the mixture is expressed in terms of “average velocity”.

• In general, in mass transfer two types of average velocities are usually used
viz., local mass average velocity and local molar average velocity.

• The local mass average velocity is denoted by ‘u’ and local molar average
velocity is denoted by ‘U’
 Local Mass Average Velocity (u)
• Let us consider a mixture, where number of species = n.
• Let ‘ui ‘ be the velocity of species ‘i’ with respect to stationary coordinate
system. Then local mass average velocity is given by the relation.
Local Mass Average Velocity(cont):
Where,
i = mass concentration of species I
ui = velocity of species I
i = total mass concentration

The term ‘u’ gives the local rate at which mass passes through a unit cross section
when it is placed perpendicular to u.

For a binary system comprising species A and B

u = AuA +BuB/
 Local Molar average Velocity (U):
• Let us consider a mixture, where number of species = n.
• Let ‘ui ‘ be the velocity of species ‘i’ with respect to stationary coordinate
system.
• Then Local molar average velocity is given by the relation
Local Molar average Velocity (cont):
 The term, ‘Cu’ is the local rate at which moles pass through a unit
cross-section which is placed perpendicular to ‘U’.

For a binary system consisting of species A and B

U = CAuA+ CBuB/C
 Diffusion Velocity:
• The velocity of a particular species relative to the mass-average or molar-
average velocity is termed a ‘diffusion velocity’.

• According to Fick’s law, a species can have a velocity relative to the mass-
or molar-average velocity only, if gradients in the concentration exist.
 We can define two different diffusion velocities
• ui-u; the diffusion velocity of species ‘i’ relative to the mass-average
velocity
• Where ‘ui’ denotes the absolute velocity of species ‘i’ relative to stationary
coordinate axes. This is the velocity that would be measured by a pitot tube.
• For species A, we can write
• Mass diffusion of velocity of species ‘A’ = uA – u

•  ui –U; the diffusion velocity of species ‘i’ relative to the molar-velocity
average
• For Species A, we can write
• Molar diffusion velocity of species ‘A’ = uA -U
 1.6. Fick’s law of diffusion
• Fick’s law of diffusion states that “The flux of diffusing component A (diffusion flux of A)
in z direction in a binary mixture of A and B is proportional to the molar concentration
gradient”.
• The proportionality constant is called ‘diffusivity coefficient or diffusion coefficient’.
• JA  dCA /dZ
• JA = - DAB dCA /dZ
• JA – Molar flux of A in the direction of Z
• CA -Concentration of A (in moles of A per unit volume)[ kmol/m3]
• dCA/dZ is concentration gradient in the Z-direction
• DAB = Molecular diffusivity or diffusion coefficient for component A diffusing through B.
• Z - Distance in the direction of diffusion in m.
• The negative sign indicates diffusion occurs in the direction of a drop in concentration.
 Diffusivity (DAB)
• Diffusivity is defined as the “ratio of the flux to the corresponding
concentration gradient”.

• The SI unit of Diffusivity is m2/s.

• The diffusivity of any component is a measure of its diffusive mobility and

is a function of the temperature, pressure, nature and concentration of the
other components.
 Fluxes

• The flux is defined as the “rate of transport of species ‘i’ per unit area
in a direction normal to the transport”.

• The flux is calculated with respect to a fixed frame of reference.

• In mass transfer the flux can be expressed in different ways.

 Mass Flux:
• The mass flux of a species ‘i’ is defined as the mass of the species ‘i’ that pass
through a unit area per unit time.
• The mass flux relative to the stationary or fixed coordinates is given by
• ni = iui
• Sometimes it is convenient to interpret the total flux of species ‘i’ with respect
to an arbitrary reference frame rather than a fixed set of reference frame.

• The mass flux of species ‘i’ based on arbitrary reference velocity ‘u’ is
denoted by ‘ji’ which can be defined as
ji = i (ui -u)
 Molar Flux:
• It is defined as the moles of species ‘ i‘ that passes through a unit area
per unit time.

• The molar flux relative to the stationary coordinates is given by

• Ni= Ciui (Applications to design of equipment)

• The molar flux relative to the molar average velocity ‘U’ is given by
• Ji = Ci (ui-U) (more characteristic nature of the constituent)
 Expression of Fluxes for a Binary system
The various forms of flux for a binary system consisting component A and B only can be expressed as follows:

Mass fluxes of A and B relative to stationary coordinates are

nA = A uA
nB = BuB
Mass fluxes of A and B relative to Mass average velocity (u) are
jA = A (uA – u)
jB = B (uB – u)
Molar fluxes of A and B with respect to stationary co-ordinates
NA = CAuA
NB = CBuB
Molar fluxes of A and B relative Molar average velocity (U) are
JA = CA (uA – U)
JB = CB (uB– U)
 Inter-relationship with various types of
Fluxes
To show that nA = xAni +jA
We know,
nA = AuA
= A (u+uA-u)
= Au + A (uA- u)
= Au + jA

We also know, xA’ = A/ or A = xA’

Therefore,
nA = xA’(u) +jA
We know, ni =iui or ni = iui=u
nA = xAni +jA
 Inter-relationship with various types of
Fluxes
To show that NA = xA(Ni) + JA
 We know,
NA = CAuA
C (U+uA-U)
= A

= CAU + CA (uA-U)
NA = CAU + JA

We know, CA =xA C
NA = xACU + JA
We Know,
Ni= Ciui or Ni=CiUi=CU
NA = xA(Ni) + JA
 Problems: 1-4:
1. Calculate the mass concentration of 2 gram moles of sulphur dioxide to be used to manufacture Sulphuric acid in a 0.20 m 3 of reactor.
2. A gas mixture has the following molar composition 93.5% CH 4, 4.6% C2H6, 1.2% C3H8 and 0.7% CO2 Calculate (a) Average molecular
weight of the gs mixture (b) weight fraction of CH 4 in the mixture
3. A mixture of noble gases (helium, argon, krypton and xenon) is at a total pressure of 100 kPa and a temperature of 200 K. If the mixture
has equal kmole fractions of each of the gases, determine
i. Composition of the mixture in terms of mass fractions
ii. Total molar concentration of mixture
iii. Mass density of the mixture
4.Air is stored in a 30 m3 container at 340 K and 101.3 kPa is saturated with water vapor. Partial pressure of water vapor is 27.35 kPa.
Determine the following of the gas mixture (Molecular Weight of Air = 28.97 and Molecular weight of water=18)
iv. Mole fraction of the water vapor
v. Average molecular weight of the mixture
vi. Total mass contained in the tank
vii. Mass of water vapor in the tank