Mass transfer coefficient

• The values of the coefficients are usually reported

as correlations of dimensionless numbers
– Sherwood and Stanton numbers involve the mass
transfer coefficient
– Schmidt, Lewis and Prandtl numbers involve different
kind of diffusion
– Reynolds, Grashof and Peclet numbers describe flow
(forced convection)
(free convection)

kl mass transfer velocity

Sherwood number  
D diffusion velocity
 hmass is the mass transfer coefficient
DAB is the mass diffusivity.
The Nusselt and Sherwood numbers
represent the effectiveness of heat
and mass convection at the surface,
respectively.

The Sherwood number can be obtained

from the Nusselt number expression by
simply replacing the Prandtl number by
the Schmidt number.
For natural
convection
mass transfer
Heat Transfer

Mass Transfer
A Schmidt number of near unity
(Sc = 1) indicates that momentum
and mass transfer by diffusion are
comparable, and velocity and
concentration boundary layers
almost coincide with each other.

5
6
 Natural
convection
mass transfer

Applicable to both temperature- and/or

concentration-driven natural convection flows.

7
 Sherwood number
• The variation of Sherwood number with flow is
complex because the flow has two physical origins:
– Forced convection
• the flow is caused by external stirring or pumping
– Free convection
• the fluid velocity is a result of the mass transfer itself.
• The mass transfer causes density gradients in the surrounding
solution and then in turn cause flow.
 Correlations
• Correlations for fluid-fluid interfaces
– Accuracy ~ 30%
– k ~ v0.7
– k ~ D0.5-0.7
• Correlations for fluid-solid interfaces
– much like the heat transfer equivalents
– accuracy ~ 10% or less
– k ~ v0.5
– k ~ D2/3
Correlations of Mass Transfer Coefficients

Mass transfer coefficients (MTCs) are not physical properties like

the diffusion coefficient. They differ from case to case and even
within a system, depending on their definition.

With the help of experimental observations, correlations for mass

transfer coefficients have been developed for standard cases
(e.g. fluid flow through a packed bed of particles, gas bubbles rising
in a tank, falling films, flow over surfaces and within tubes.
Such MTC correlations are typically expressed with dimensionless
numbers, frequently in the following form:
 MTC Correlations
Excellent for preliminary design of small pilot plants. For design of full
scale equipment you must supplement them with data of the SPECIFIC
chemical system.
Fluid-Fluid interface
MTC error at best 30%
The MTC is expressed mostly
as
The Sh is typically expressed by
powers of Re and Sc
corresponding to “convection” and
“diffusion”, respectively.
When the convection is not a typical
”forced” one but one generated by
density gradients, it is “free
convection” and the Re is replaced
by the Grashof-#.
Fluid-Solid interface
The error is about 10% and as low
as 1% especially when dealing with
laminar flow in a single tube. This
high accuracy is attributed to the
heat transfer origin of these
correlations and the fact that
SIMPLER geometries are involved.
Also heat transfer is an older
subject than mass transfer. For
example, laminar flow of one fluid in
a tube is much better understood
than turbulent flow of gas and liquid
in a packed tower!
Again the MTC is written in the Sh-
or St-notation.
Example : Dissolution rate of a spinning disc
A disc of benzoic acid 2.5 cm in diameter is spinning at 20 rpm and 25C. How fast
will it dissolve in a large volume of water? How fast will it dissolve in a large
volume of air? The diffusion coefficients are 1.0 x 10-5 cm2/sec in water and 0.233
cm2/sec in air. The solubility of benzoic acid in water is 0.003 g/cm3. Its equilibrium
vapor pressure is 0.3 mmHg.

The dissolution rate is: N1  kc1 ( sat )

1 1
  2 v  3
k  0.62 D   
 v  D

 
1
 20  2  2 0.01 13
For water k  0.62(110 5 ) 60   
  3
 
  110 
 5  0.9 10 cm / sec
0.01
 

 
1
 20  2  2 0.15 13
For air k  0.62(0.233) 60   

 
  0.233  0. 47cm / sec
0.15
 
The flux in air is about 1/3 of that in water.
The flux in water

The flux in air

The flux in air is about one-third of that in water, even though
the mass transfer coefficient in air is about 500 times larger
than that in water.
Did you guess this?
 m

H’
Oxygen mass transfer: Use the Equation below to estimate the overall liquid side
mass transfer coefficient Kx at 25 C for oxygen from water into air. In this
estimate, assume that the film thickness is 10 -2 cm in liquids but 10-1 cm in gases.
For oxygen in air, the diffusion coefficient is 0.23 cm 2/sec; for oxygen in water,
the diffusion coefficient is 2.1 x 10 –5 cm2/sec. The Henry’s law constant in this
case is 4.2 x 104 atmospheres.

We need only calculate kx and kp and plug these values into Eq.

Finding kx is easy:
Finding kp involves the unit conversions
Find KL

DL 3
kL   2.110 cm / sec
0.01
DG 1 4
kp  ( )  9.4 10 g  mol / cm  sec atm
2

0.01 RT
4.4 10 4 atm
H  7.9 105 atm  cm3 / g  mol
1g  mol
3
18cm
1 1
KL    2.110 3 cm / sec
1 1 1 1
 3

kL k p H 2.110 (9.4  10  4 )(7.9 105 )
We are studying gas absorption into water at 2.2 atm total pressure in a
packed tower containing Berl saddles. For both ammonia and methane
the mass transfer coefficient times the packing area per tower volume
is 18 lb-mol/hr-ft3 for the gas side and 530 lb-mol/hr-ft3 for the liquid
size. Their Henry’s law constants are different: 9.6 atm for ammonia
and 41000 atm for methane. What is the overall gas-side mass transfer
coefficient for each gas?

N1a  K y a( y10  y ) *
1
p1i  py1i  Hx1i H
 k y a ( y10  y1i ) 1 1 p
 
py  Hx10
* K y a kLa kxa
 k x a ( x10  x1i ) 1

9.6
1 1 2.2 K y a  16 lb  mol / hr  ft 3
For ammonia:  
K y a 18 530
41000
1 1
For methane:   2.2 K y a  0.03 lb  mol / hr  ft 3

K y a 18 530
Perfume extraction: Jasmone (C11H16O) is a valuable material in
the perfume industry, used in many soaps and cosmetics. Suppose
we are recovering this material from a water suspension of jasmine
flowers by an extraction with toluene. The aqueous phase is
continuous, with suspended flowers and toluene droplets. The mass
transfer coefficient in the toluene droplets is 3.0 x 10–4 cm2/sec; the
mass transfer coefficient in the aqueous phase is 2.4 x 10–3 cm2/sec.
Jasmone is about 150 times more soluble in toluene than in the
suspension. What is the overall mass transfer coefficient?
For convenience, we designate all concentrations in the toluene
phase with a prime and all those in the water without a prime. The
flux is
The quantity in square brackets is the overall coefficient K’x that we
seek. This coefficient is based on a driving force in toluene. Inserting
the values,