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Behaviour of liquid-liquid two-phase flow pattern and mass transfer with combined incorporation of fully pulsatile flow and variable volume of air suspension

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Abstract

The application of fully pulsatile flow in liquid-liquid two-phase extraction contributes to augment the interfacial mass transfer. Further, the inclusion of air at the top of the central test section combined with pulsatile flow augments the extraction or the mass transfer process. Toluene-water is chosen as an organic-aqueous two-phase liquid-liquid system with acetic acid as the transfer species which is added in dilute quantities 10 percentage by volume to the organic phase and the transfer of the same to the aqueous phase is recorded with the help of refractive index (RI) measurements. The RI is converted to an overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient with the help of a formula derived for the system. Experiments have been conducted for pulsatile flow with T junction having no air at the top and with variable volume 5, 10, 12, and 14 cm3 of air at the top of the cross junction. The results of mass transfer coefficients were compared and it was found that inclusion of air combined with flow pulsation leads to a higher degree of extraction in comparison to without pulsation and pulsatile flow with no air at the top. Also, the in-phase mode of pulsation with 2.5 Hz of frequency leads to enhanced extraction and a broader plug flow regime.

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Abbreviations

k i :

Experimental run, [dimensionless]

h i :

Length of toluene plugs in the test window, [m]

n i :

Number of toluene plugs in the test window, [dimensionless]

L T P :

Average plug length, [m]

U s w :

Inlet superficial velocity of aqueous phase i.e. water, [\(\frac {m}{s}\)]

k o v a :

Overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient, [\(\frac {1}{s}\)]

d N :

number of moles per second, [\(\frac {mol}{s}\)]

U s t :

Inlet superficial velocity of organic phase i.e. toluene, [\(\frac {m}{s}\)]

L P l u g :

Length of toluene plug, [m]

Q w :

Flow-rate of the aqueous phase i.e. water, [\(\frac {m^{3}}{s}\)]

Q T :

Flow-rate of the organic phase i.e. toluene, [\(\frac {m^{3}}{s}\)]

C T :

Concentration of acetic acid in organic phase [m3 of acetic acid/ m3 of pure toluene]

a :

Specific inter-facial area, [\(\frac {m^{2}}{m^{3}}\)]

\(C_{w}^{*}\) :

Equilibrium concentration of acetic acid in water in equilibrium with the bulk concentration of acetic acid in toluene \(C_{w}^{*}=m\cdot C_{T}\) (where m is the slope).

C T,in :

Initial concentration of acetic acid in organic phase, [m3 of acetic acid/ m3 of pure toluene] at the inlet.

C w,in :

Initial concentration of acetic acid in aqueous phase, [m3 of acetic acid/ m3 of pure water] at the inlet of the central test section.

C w,out :

Outlet concentration of acetic acid at the aqueous phase [m3 of acetic acid/ m3 of pure water]

A :

Cross-sectional area of the tube/central test section, [m2]

L :

Length of the central test section/tube, [m]

Q T o t a l :

Qw + QT, (Total volumetric flow rate), [\(\frac {m^{3}}{s}\)]

f T :

Frequency of the toluene pump, [Hz]

f W :

Frequency of the water pump, [Hz]

η T P :

Mean frequency, [dimensionless]

η :

Frequency of the toluene plugs in the experimental run, [dimensionless]

ρ :

Density of the phase [\(\frac {Kg}{m^{3}}\)]

μ :

Viccosity of the phase, [Pa-sec]

\(\sum \) :

Summation, [dimensionless]

λ T :

Amplitude of toluene, [m]

λ w :

Amplitude of water, [m]

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Acknowledgment

The author wants to thank the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur for providing the research facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India

    Abir Chakravorty

  2. National Fertilizers Limited, Noida, India

    Ashish Kumar

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India

    Subhrajit Mukherjee

Authors
  1. Abir Chakravorty
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  2. Ashish Kumar
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Correspondence to Abir Chakravorty.

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Supporting Information

Please refer to Supporting Information document regarding details for sequential steps in image analysis, and typical flow patterns exhibited during experimentation.

First author is Abir Chakravorty and second authors are Ashish Kumar and Subhrajit Mukherjee

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Chakravorty, A., Kumar, A. & Mukherjee, S. Behaviour of liquid-liquid two-phase flow pattern and mass transfer with combined incorporation of fully pulsatile flow and variable volume of air suspension. Heat Mass Transfer 56, 2619–2633 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-020-02885-y

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