A new measuring technique involving concurrent chemical absorption of carbon dioxide and desorption of oxygen is developed for simultaneously evaluating the liquid-phase mass transfer coefficient k~, and the specific area a of sparingly-soluble gas dispersions in stirred tanks containing an aqueous solution of inorganic electrolytes. The method ensures that k L and a are evaluated under consistent hydrodynamic conditions.Results from three different nonviscous systems show that at high agitation power, such that the average bubble diameter is between 0.2 and 2 mm, k L decreases with increasing power input and is dependent on the bubble diameter. This behavior is in contrast to the results of others at lower agitation levels or in nonelectrolytic liquids, but in general agreement with previous results for bubbles of the same diameter range produced in viscous, nonelectrolytic solutions. In the absence of a sufficiently fast chemical reaction in the liquid phase, the gas absorption rate capability of a particular stirred tank design customarily has been characterized by the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient KLa. It would seem preferable, however, to be able to predict K L u from separate correlations for its constituent parameters K L and a since their values are predominantly dependent upon distinctly different phyqicochemical parameters of the system. In previous studies k L has been shown both theoretically (Higbie, 1935; Danckwerts, 1951) and experimentally (Calderbank and Moo-Young, 1961) to be dependent primarily upon liquidphase diffusivity and viscosity. On the other hand, a is dependent primarily upon interfacial tension for pure liquids or nonelectrolyte solutions (Calderbank, 1958) or upon ionic strength in solutions of inorganic electrolytes exhibiting Newtonian rheological behavior (Robinson and Wilke, 1971).
CAMPBELLDirect measurement of k L in stirred tank gas dispersions is not possible. However, given separate evaluations of K L u and a for sparingly soluble gases wherein the major resistance to mass transfer resides in the liquid phase, the liquid-phase mass transfer coefficient k, may be computed No general correlations for either JcL or a applicable to stirred tank gas dispersions in aqueous electrolyte solutions have yet been developed. The purpose of the present study was to develop and to conduct preliminary experimental tests of a new technique by means of which k L and a could be simultaneously evaluated under consistent physico-chemical and hydrodynamic conditions in aqueous electrolyte solutions having a wide variation in both composition and ionic strength.Experimentally, the new technique involves unsteady state desorption of oxygen from an aqueous electrolyte solution containing a controlled, low concentration of hydroxyl ion accompanied by concurrent, pseudo steady state absorption with chemical reaction of carbon dioxide from the sparged gas. The oxygen desorption rate is measured by a dissolved oxygen probe, the response of which, after correction for the diffusional l...