Department of Chemical Engineering

Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh

CH 313: Mass Transfer Operations

Numerical Problems
Unit I
1. An open beaker, 0.06 m in height, is filled with liquid benzene at 25 °C to within
0.005 m of the top. A gentle breeze of dry air at 25 °C and 1 atm is blown by a fan
across the mouth of the beaker so that evaporated benzene is carried away by
convection after it transfers through a stagnant air layer in the beaker. The vapor
pressure of benzene at 25 °C is 0.131 atm. The mutual diffusion coefficient for
benzene in air at 25 °C and 1 atm is 9.05×10-6 m2/s. Compute
(a) Initial rate of evaporation of benzene as molar flux in kmol/m2-s
(b) The time in hours for the benzene level to drop 0.02 m from the initial level if the
specific gravity of liquid benzene is 0.874. Neglect the accumulation of benzene
and air in the stagnant layer as it increases in height.
2. Estimate the time required for complete evaporation of a naphthalene sphere having
an initial diameter of 0.005 m when suspended in an effectively infinite amount of
still air at 45 ºC. The naphthalene surface temperature is taken to be 45 ºC, so that its
vapor pressure is 0.555217 mmHg and its density is 1143.718 kg/m3. For the present
purposes neglect any variation in vapor pressure with changing curvature of the
surface. For these conditions diffusivity of naphthalene in air is 6.877406×10-06 m2/s.
Molecular weight of naphthalene is 128.17.
3. Chlorine is being absorbed from a gas in a small experimental wetted wall tower of
diameter 2.8 cm and length 13 cm. The absorbing fluid is water which is flowing in
the form of thin film over the inner surface of the tower with an average velocity of
17.7 cm/s. At the prevailing condition the liquid phase diffusivity of the chlorine-
water system is 1.26 × 10-5 cm2/s and the saturation concentration of chlorine in water
is 0.823 g chlorine per 100 g water respectively. Determine the absorption rate of
chlorine in mol/s.
4. Water flows down the inside wall of a wetted wall tower, while air flows upward
through the core. In a particular case, the ID is 25 mm, and dry air enters at the rate of
7.0 kg/m2·s of inside cross section. Assume the air is everywhere is at its average
temperature, 36 ºC, the water at 21 ºC, and the mass transfer coefficient constant.
Pressure = 1 atm. Compute the average partial pressure of water in the air leaving if
the tower is 1 m long.
5. Water (B) at 25 °C, in contact with pure CO2 (A) at 1 atm, flows as a film down a
vertical wall 1 m wide and 3 m high at Reynolds number of 25. Using the following
properties, estimate the rate of absorption of CO2 into water in kmol/s
DAB  1.96  10 9 m 2 /s ;   1000 kg / m3 ;  L  0.89 cP
Solubility of CO2 in water at 1 atm and 25 °C  3.4 102 kmol / m3
6. Solute A is diffusing at unsteady state into a semi-infinite medium of pure B and
undergoes a first-order reaction with B (reaction rate constant k1  1 10 5 s 1 ). Solute
A is dilute with an interfacial concentration of 1.0 kmol/m3. The diffusivity of A in
B is DAB  1 10 9 m 2 /s . Calculate the concentration of A at the point 5 mm away
 from the interface and the mass transfer rate at interface after 1 h of contact of A and
B.
7. Carbon dioxide is absorbed in water at 20 ºC and 1 atm in a packed column. For the
system it may be assumed that 98% of the resistance to mass transfer occurs in the
liquid film and the over all gas side mass transfer coefficient is KG = 0.95
kmol/m2·h·atm. For a dilute solution of carbon dioxide in water, the equilibrium curve
can be expressed in terms of Henry’s law constant by
p A  1.42 103 x A
where p A is the partial pressure of A in the gas in atm , x A is the mole fraction in of A
in liquid, and the Henry’s law constant has units atm/mole fraction. Determine
(i) K y , (ii) kG , (iii) k y , (iv) K x , and (v) k x .
8. In a certain apparatus used for absorption of sulfur dioxide, SO2, from air by means of
water, at one point in the equipment the gas contained 10% SO2 by volume and was in
contact with liquid containing 0.4% SO2 (density = 990 kg/m3). The temperature was
50 ºC and the total pressure 1 atm. The overall mass-transfer coefficient bases on gas
concentration was KG = 7.36 × 10-10 kmol/ ·s· (N/m2). Of the total diffusional
resistance 47% lay in the gas phase. Equilibrium data at 50 ºC are:
kg SO2/100 kg water 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.7
partial pressure SO2, mmHg 29 46 83 119
(a) Calculate the overall coefficient base don liquid concentration in terms of mol/vol.
(b) Calculate the individual mass-transfer coefficient for the gas, expressed as kG
mol/(area)(time)(pressure), ky mol/(area)(time) (mole fraction), and kc
mol/(area)(time)(mol/vol), and for the liquid expressed as kL
mol/(area)(time)(mol/vol), and kx mol/ (area)(time)(mole fraction).
(c) Determine the interfacial concentration in both phases.
9. Sulfur dioxide (A) is absorbed into water in a packed column. At a certain location,
the bulk conditions are 50°C, 2 atm, y Ab = 0.085, and x Ab = 0.001. Equilibrium data
for SO2 between air and water at 50°C are given as
ySO2  29.74 xSO2  6733xSO
2
2

Experimental values of the mass transfer coefficients are as follows.

Liquid phase: kc = 0.18 m/h
Gas phase: kG = 0.040 kmol/h-m2-kPa
(a) Using mole-fraction driving forces, compute the mass-transfer flux by
assuming an average Henry's-law constant and a negligible bulk-flow effect.
(b) Determine the relative magnitude of the two resistances and the values of the
mole fractions at the interface
10. At one point in an absorption column the bulk compositions were found to be
x A  0.0 and y A  0.08 . The corresponding interfacial compositions estimated to be
x Ai  0.025 and y Ai  0.04 . If the overall mass transfer coefficient for the liquid phase
is 50 kmol/m2·h·(mole fraction), determine the percentage resistance to mass transfer
 for gas phase. Assume that the equilibrium relationship for the gas and liquid phases
can be described by Henry’s law.
11. In an apparatus used for studying absorption of sulfur dioxide by water, the overall
mass transfer coefficient K G was found to be 0.3 kmol SO2/m2·h·atm. Assuming that
40% of the resistance to mass transfer is in the gas phase, calculate the overall mass
transfer coefficient base on liquid concentration. The system temperature was 30 ºC
and the pressure was maintained at 1 atm.
12. Using the same data as in the problem 11, calculate the overall mass transfer
coefficients K x' and K x , the flux and the percent resistance in the gas film.
13. The solute A is being absorbed from a gas mixture of A and B in a wetted wall tower
with the liquid flowing as a film downward along the wall. At a certain point in the
tower the bulk gas concentration y AG  0.38 mol fraction and the bulk liquid
concentration is x AL  0.10 . The tower is operating at 298 K and 101.3 kPa and the
equilibrium data are as follows:
xA yA xA yA
0 0 0.20 0.131
0.05 0.022 0.25 0.187
0.10 0.052 0.30 0.265
0.15 0.087 0.35 0.385
The solute A diffuses through stagnant B in the gas phase ad then through a non
diffusing liquid. Using correlation for dilute solutions in wetted wall tower, the film
mass transfer coefficient for A in the gas phase is predicted as k y  1.465  103 kmol
A/s·m2·mol frac and for the liquid phase as k x  1.967  103 kmol A/s·m2·mol frac.
Calculate the interface concentrations y Ai and x Ai , and the flux N A .

14. Use the same equilibrium data and the film coefficients k y' and k x' as in the problem
7. However, use the bulk concentrations of y AG  0.25 and x AL  0.05 . Calculate the
following:
(a) Interface concentrations y Ai and x Ai , and flux N A .
(b) Overall mass transfer coefficients K y' and K y , and flux N A .
(c) Overall mass transfer coefficients K x' and K x , and flux N A .