MASS-TRANSFER IN SINGLE OIL-CONTAINING MICROPOROUS HOLLOW FIBER CONTACTORS

Studies were made of mass transfer in a single hydrophobic microporous hollow fiber (HF) contactor in two operating modes: bound membrane and supported liquid membrane. Two aqueous film mass-transfer coefficients, k8and kt, on the shell and lumen sides were obtained with an extraction system of water/iodine/n-heptane. The values of ktwere in reasonable agreement with previous correlations, whereas the k8values were given by two empirical correlations for laminar and turbulent flows. These transfer coefficients for the oil-containing hydrophobic HFs were smaller than the literature values for solid tube flows by a factor of 10-15%. The membrane-transfer coefficient had a tendency to decrease with an increase in the inner-to-outer diameter ratio of the HF. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.