Department of Chemical Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

CL 205:Mass Transfer Operations I

Solution key of Quiz I February 9, 2015

1. The steady state flux of molecular diffusion in binary fluid is expressed as

 
NA

DAB c

NA

NA +NB
− xA2
NA = ln   (1)
z NA + NB NA
−x
NA +NB A1

where

DAB = 2.137 × 10−6 m2 /s

z = 2 mm = 0.002 m
xA1 = 0.1
xA2 = 0.2

The pressure is 1000 kPa or 106 Pa and temperature is 25◦ C or 298 K. As the gas
mixture follows ideal gas law, P V = nRT , one obtains

n P 106
c= = = = 0.4036 kmol/m3
V RT (8314) (298)

As the flux of N2 (gas B) is 20% of the flux of O2 (gas A) in opposite direction, we have
NB = −0.2NA and hence
NA NA
= = 1.25
NA + NB NA − 0.2NA
The eq.(1) takes the form
 
DAB c 1.25 − xA2
NA = (1.25) ln
z 1.25 − xA1
−6
(2.137 × 10 ) (0.4036) 1.25 − 0.2
= (1.25) ln
0.002 1.25 − 0.1
−5
= −4.904 × 10

Hence the flux of diffusion of oxygen is 4.904 × 10−5 kmol/(m2 s). The negative sign
indicates the direction of flux i.e. from 20 vol% to 10 vol%.

Page 1 of 2 Please go on to the next page. . .

Solution Key of Quiz I CL 205:Mass Transfer Operations I February 9, 2015

2. It is known that mass diffusivity of a solute in a liquid solution is directly proportional

with its temperature, DAB ∝ T , hence
 
DAB  DAB 
=
T 55◦ C T 25◦ C
  
DAB 
DAB |55◦ C = (T |55◦ C )
T 25◦ C
(273 + 55) (1.2 × 10−8 )
=
(273 + 25)
= 1.32 × 10−8

Hence the diffusivity at 55◦ C is 1.32 × 10−8 m2 /s.

3. Fill in the blanks

(a) True driving force for diffusion is activity or chemical potential

(b) Momentum diffusivity is also known as kinematic viscosity
(c) Schmidt number is the ratio of momentum diffusivity and mass (or molecular) diffusivity
(d) Heat Transfer analog to Schmidt number is Prandtl number
(e) Sherwood number is 3.41 for a laminar falling liquid film. If mass diffusivity is
1.2 × 10−8 m2 /s and film thickness is 0.1 mm then the mass transfer coefficient
(kL ) is 4.092 × 10−4 m/s
(f) Higbieqproposed that the mass transfer at any fluid surface can be expressed as
kL = Dπθ AB
. The name of his theory is Penetration theory

Page 2 of 2 End of Solution Key