Effect of Gas Flow on Physical Absorption

by Thomas J. Hanratty, Univ of Illinois, Urbana, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Water Quality Issues at Fossil Fuel Plants

Abstract:

Air blowing over a liquid surface can greatly increase the rate of physical absorption of a gaseous component. This increase is associated with the initiation of waves and a change in the dependency of the mass transfer coefficient on Schmidt number. For sufficiently large interfacial stresses the mass transfer coefficient varies linearly with the product of the friction velocity and the Schmidt number raised to the -0.5 power. A remarkable finding is that the proportionality constant is roughly the same for experimental systems with a wide range of scales. This paper reviews these results and work done to interpret them in terms of the properties of the velocity field close to the interface.

Subject Headings: Gas flow | Absorption | Mass transfer | Surface waves | Surface properties | Stratified flow | Overland flow

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