Mass transfer in two-phase nondispersing liquid-liquid contactors with a high-density-difference system

Mass transfer rates of an electrolyte through a turbulent aqueous film in an agitated two-phase nondispersing liquid-liquid contactor were measured using an aqueous electrolyte solution as the light phase and mercury as the heavy phase. The mass transfer data were correlated by the equation

N_{Sh=[0.029 exp(3.3 x 10^-6NReM)] NReW^0.81NScW^0.52}

The mass transfer rates were measured polarographically via the diffusion-limited, electrically driven reduction of quinone at the mercury surface in the contactor. Variables tested were the agitation rate, agitator diameter, phase volume, cell size, and various physical properties (principally viscosity) of the aqueous phase.

The parameters found to be most significant to the mass transfer rate were agitator speed, agitator diameter, and aqueous-phase viscosity. correlation found in the literature is similar to the correlation developed here, but a new form of the intercept term was developed which correlates mass transfer data over a much wider range of Sherwood numbers than that found in the literature.