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The effect of liquid viscosity and modeling of mass transfer in gas–liquid slug flow in a rectangular microchannel
Author(s) -
Yao Chaoqun,
Zhao Yuchao,
Zheng Jia,
Zhang Qi,
Chen Guangwen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.16934
Subject(s) - microchannel , mass transfer , mass transfer coefficient , chemistry , viscosity , slug flow , bubble , absorption (acoustics) , saturation (graph theory) , analytical chemistry (journal) , thermodynamics , flow (mathematics) , chromatography , two phase flow , materials science , mechanics , composite material , physics , mathematics , combinatorics
Both chemical (by adding 0.05 M NaOH) and physical absorption of CO 2 into aqueous glycerol solutions with viscosity up to 45.6 mPa·s in a microchannel are investigated. The concentration distribution pattern, absorption time, and mass transfer coefficient are analyzed and discussed. A new concentration distribution pattern is observed with the lowest concentration locating at the channel center. It is shown for the first time that k L / D CO 2 0.5 presents a positive relationship with liquid viscosity, which is explained by the essential role of the mass exchange between the liquid film and bulk liquid slug. This mass exchange may lead to a rise in k L when increasing the liquid viscosity under some cases in chemical absorption. A mass transfer model is successfully applied to predict the bubble size evolution in physical absorption. The model also shows about 10–46% of the mass transfer contribution from liquid films before saturation.