Mass Transfer and Conservation from a Finite Source to an Infinite Media

• Published in: International journal of chemical reactor engineering Vol. 11; no. 2; pp. 657 - 666
• Main Authors: Samimi Abianeh, O., Chen, C. P., Cerro, Ramon L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 05.07.2013
• Subjects: fully mixed droplet evaporation; mass transfer; multi-component droplet; oil fuel dissolution
• ISSN: 2194-5748; 1542-6580
• DOI: 10.1515/ijcre-2012-0056

A theoretical/computational approach has been developed to satisfy mass transfer rates and molar fraction constraints simultaneously when modeling mass transfer from a finite source towards an infinite surrounding media. The procedure is based on using a mass balance of individual molecular species coupled with individual mass transfer rates. Since the surrounding media is assumed insoluble in the finite media, the total number of moles transferred across the interface is computed on the basis of modified molar fractions of the transferring species. Two simple examples are shown: the first is an evaporating droplet in air and the second example is a droplet being dissolved in water. These examples have very large differences in time scales and illustrate the versatility and accuracy of the computational procedure.