Mass Transfer


The aim of this course is to educate students on mass transfer, where the transfer of a chemical species or substance primarily occurs from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration with the concentration gradient being the driving force. Students learn to write down mass balances, determine the differential equation governing the problem, choose the correct boundary conditions and learn to calculate the distribution of concentration along the motion, as well as mass transfer rates. At the end of the course, students acquire knowledge of the mass transfer in porous materials and solve similar problems.


Objectives

At the end of this course the student will have developed skills to solve: 1. Molecular diffusion problems, calculate diffusion coefficients in gaseous and liquid mixtures. 2. Diffusion problems in various applications including unit operations such as evaporation, distillation, absorption, chemical processes, etc. 3. Problems in porous media.


Prerequisites

Students are strongly encouraged to refresh their basic knowledge on transport phenomena (Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer). We will also use some knowledge from the course “Mass and Energy Balances”.


Syllabus

Individual course includes the following modules: INTRODUCTION: Definition of concentrations, Velocities and special flux rates. Law of Fick. Phenomenological theory of molecular diffusion. Diffusion coefficient: gas, liquid and solid media. Differential equations of mass transfer (balances). Usual initial and boundary conditions. Molecular diffusion: concentration distribution in solids and fluids resting. Steady state and transient molecular diffusion. Exact analytical solutions of standard problems, steady state and transient molecular diffusion. DIFFUSION AND REACTION: Diffusion with homogeneous chemical reaction. Diffusion with heterogeneous reaction. Relative influence of the mass transfer rate and reaction. Diffusion porous materials: Molecular diffusion in porous materials. Knudsen diffusion, Surface diffusion DIFFUSION AND REACTION IN CATALYTIC GRAIN SPECIAL TOPICS IN MASS TRANSFER: Theory of diffusion in gases at low pressure, Knudsen diffusion, diffusion in binary mixtures, diffusion in solid solids, diffusion in porous bodies and diffusion in multicomponent mixtures. CONVECTIVE MASS TRANSFER: Dimensional analysis and similarity. Convection at low and high Reynolds and Peclet numbers. Mass transfer coefficient. Proportions of mass transfer and heat linear momentum. Proportions of Colburn and von Karman. MASS TRANSFER AND POLLUTION IN WATER RESOURCES: STREETER-PHELPS EQUATIONS

COURSE DETAILS

Level:

Type:

Undergraduate

(A-)


Instructors: Dionisiοs Mantzavinos
Department: Department of Chemical Engineering
Institution: University of Patras
Subject: Other Natural Sciences
Rights: CC - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

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