CONVECTIVE MASS TRANSFER

PROBLEM 1. Air at a temperature of 20, and RH of 40% flows over a water surface
at a velocity of 1.5 m/s. Length parallel to flow is 18cm. Average surface temperature
is 16. Estimate the amount of water evaporated per hr/m2 of surface area. Partial
pressure of water vapor at 20 and 40% RH is 0.011 bar and at 16 and saturated,
the vapor pressure is 0.017 bar. Viscosity and density of air are: 18.38 10-6 kg/ms
and 1.22 kg/m3, respectively. Assume D= 0.256 cm2/s.

PROBLEM 2.
Air at a temperature of 25, and RH of 25% flows through a pipe of 20 mm ID with a
velocity of 5 m/s. The inside surface of the tube is constantly wetted with water such
that a thin water film is maintained on the surface. Determine the amount of water
evaporated per m2 of surface area.

DIFFUSION
PROBLEM 3.
Gasoline-

contaminated groundwater has been transported under a house from a nearby gas

station. Two meters below the dirt floor of the house's basement, the concentration of
hydrocarbon vapors in the airspace within the soil is 3x10 -8g/cm3. Estimate the flux
density of gasoline vapor transported into the basement by molecular diffusion. The
diffusion coefficient for gasoline vapor in the air space within the soil is equal to 10 2
cm2/s. Assume that the basement is well-ventilated, so that the concentration of
gasoline in the basement is very small in comparison to the concentration in the soil.
Solution: To calculate the flux density, we use Fick's Law, assuming that the gradient
of concentration with height is linear over the 2 m depth.

c A1 c A2

J DAB

z 2 z1
3 10 8 g / cm 3

200cm

J 10 2 cm 2 / s

J 1.5 10 12 g / cm 2 s
The calculated flux density of 1.5x10-12g/cm2scan be used to calculate the total mass

mJA

flux of gasoline into the basement using

. If the basement floor has an area
2
of 100 m , then the total flux into the basement is

mJA

m 1.5 10 12

4
2
g
2 10 cm

100
m
m 2
cm 2 s

m 0.13g / day

3600 s

hr

24hr

day

UNSTEADY STATE DIFFUSION

PROBLEM 4. A diffusion couple is formed between stainless steel and nickel. The
atmosphere is brought to a temperature of 1500 degrees Celsius and held there for
twelve hours. The initial concentration of nickel in the steel is 0.30 wt%, and the
surface concentration is 0.80 wt%. How long will it take for the steel to reach a nickel
content of 0.50 wt% at a distance of 0.5 mm into the steel? The diffusivity of nickel in
stainless steel is 4.34E-13 m^2/s at 1500 degrees Celsius.
Fick's second law should be used to solve this equation.

Interpolating from the erf function table leads to:

USE OF CORRELATION
PROBLEM 5. A solid disk of Benzoic acid 3cm in diameter is spin at 20rpm and 25C.
Calculate the rate of dissolution in a large volume of water. Diffusivity of benzoic acid
in water is 1.0x10 -5 cm2/sec , and solubility is 0.003 g/cc. the following mass transfer
correlation is applicable:
Sh = 0.62 Re
Where

Sc

1/3

and is the angular speed.

Required:
Solution:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Properties: (dilute solution, use properties of water)

D = 3 cm = 0.03 m
H2O = 997.08 kg/m3
=20 rpm = 1/3 rps
T = 25 C = 298.15 K
DAB = 1.0x10 -5 cm2/s = 1.0x10-9 m2/s
CA1 = 0.003 g/cm3 = 3000 g/m3
@ 298.15K = 0.896x10-3 kg/m s