Convective Diffusion and Adsorption in a Swarm of Spheroidal Particles
Authors |
F.A. Coutelieris, V. Burganos, A.C. Payatakes |
Publication Year |
1995 |
Journal Name |
AIChE J. |
Volume |
41 |
Pages |
1122-1134 |
Citations |
17 |
Research Area |
Modelling of Transport Processes |
Abstract:
The problem of mass transfer from a Newtonian fluid to a swarm of spheroidal
adsorbers under creeping flow conditions is considered using the spheroid-in-cell model
to represent the swarm. The flow field within the fluid envelope for the Kuwabara type
of boundary conditions is obtained from the analytical solution of Dassios et al. (1994).
The complete convective difision equation is used to describe mass transport within
the envelope so that moderate and strong di@sional terms can be taken into account.
A new set of boundary conditions is used that respects mass flux and concentration
continuity across the outer surface of the cell and maximizes the applicability of the
spheroid-in-cell model in the convection-to-difision transition regime. The resulting
elliptic problem in two dimensions is solved numericalb. Results for the upstream and
downstream concentration profiles reveal that tangential diffusion is very significant and
should not be neglected for moderate and low Peclet number values. Also, the classical
Levich-type of formulation, which is theoretically valid for very weak difiswnal terns
only, can in practice be modified to predict with fair accuracy the overall Shenvood
number and the adsorption efficiency of prolate and oblate spheroids-in-cell even in
moderate Peclet number cases.