Behaviour of liquid-liquid two-phase flow pattern and mass transfer with combined incorporation of fully pulsatile flow and variable volume of air suspension

摘要

The application of fully pulsatile flow in liquid-liquid two-phase extraction contributes to augment the interfacial mass transfer. Further, the inclusion of air at the top of the central test section combined with pulsatile flow augments the extraction or the mass transfer process. Toluene-water is chosen as an organic-aqueous two-phase liquid-liquid system with acetic acid as the transfer species which is added in dilute quantities 10 percentage by volume to the organic phase and the transfer of the same to the aqueous phase is recorded with the help of refractive index (RI) measurements. The RI is converted to an overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient with the help of a formula derived for the system. Experiments have been conducted for pulsatile flow with T junction having no air at the top and with variable volume 5, 10, 12, and 14 cm~3 of air at the lop of the cross junction. The results of mass transfer coefficients were compared and it was found that inclusion of air combined with flow pulsation leads to a higher degree of extraction in comparison to without pulsation and pulsatile flow with no air at the top. Also, the in-phase mode of pulsation with 2.5 Hz of frequency leads to enhanced extraction and a broader plug flow regime.