Heat and Mass Transfer: Fundamentals & Applications

Fourth Edition
Yunus A. Cengel, Afshin J. Ghajar
McGraw-Hill, 2011

Chapter 14
MASS TRANSFER

Mehmet Kanoglu
University of Gaziantep

Copyright © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 Objectives
• Understand the concenration gradient and the physical
mechanism of mass transfer
• Recognize the analogy between heat and mass transfer
• Describe the concenration at a location on mass or
mole basis, and relate the rate of diffusion to the
concentration gradient by Fick’s law
• Calculate the rate of mass diffusion through a plain
layer under steady conditions
• Predict the migration of water vapor in buildings
• Perform a transient mass diffusion analysis in large
mediums
• Calculate mass transfer by convection
• Analyze simultaneous heat and mass transfer
2
INTRODUCTION
Whenever there is an imbalance of a commodity in a medium, nature tends to
redistribute it until a “balance” or “equality” is established. This tendency is often referred
to as the driving force, which is the mechanism behind many naturally occurring
transport phenomena.
The commodity simply creeps away during
redistribution, and thus the flow is a diffusion
process. The rate of flow of the commodity is
proportional to the concentration gradient
dC/dx, which is the change in the concentration
C per unit length in the flow direction x, and the
area A normal to flow direction.

kdiff is the diffusion coefficient of the medium, which is a measure of how fast a
commodity diffuses in the medium, and the negative sign is to make the flow in the
positive direction a positive quantity (note that dC/dx is a negative quantity since
3
concentration decreases in the flow direction).
The diffusion coefficients and thus diffusion rates of gases
depend strongly on temperature.
The diffusion rates are higher at higher temperatures.
The larger the molecular spacing, the higher the diffusion rate.
Diffusion rate: gases > liquids > solids

4
ANALOGY BETWEEN HEAT AND MASS
TRANSFER
We can develop an understanding of mass transfer in a short time with
little effort by simply drawing parallels between heat and mass transfer.

Temperature
The driving force for mass transfer is
the concentration difference.
Both heat and mass are transferred
from the more concentrated regions
to the less concentrated ones.
If there is no difference between the
concentrations of a species at
different parts of a medium, there will
be no mass transfer.

5
Conduction
Mass is transferred by conduction (called diffusion) and convection only.
Rate of mass Fick’s law
diffusion of diffusion

DAB is the diffusion coefficient (or mass

diffusivity) of the species in the mixture
CA is the concentration of the species in the
mixture

6
Heat Generation
Heat generation refers to the conversion of some form of energy such
as electrical, chemical, or nuclear energy into sensible thermal energy
in the medium.
Some mass transfer problems involve chemical reactions that occur
within the medium and result in the generation of a species throughout.
Therefore, species generation is a volumetric phenomenon, and the
rate of generation may vary from point to point in the medium.
Such reactions that occur within the medium are called homogeneous
reactions and are analogous to internal heat generation.
In contrast, some chemical reactions result in the generation of a
species at the surface as a result of chemical reactions occurring at the
surface due to contact between the medium and the surroundings.
This is a surface phenomenon, and as such it needs to be treated as a
boundary condition.
In mass transfer studies, such reactions are called heterogeneous
reactions and are analogous to specified surface heat flux. 7
Convection
Mass convection (or convective mass transfer) is the mass transfer mechanism
between a surface and a moving fluid that involves both mass diffusion and bulk
fluid motion.
Fluid motion also enhances mass transfer considerably.
In mass convection, we define a
concentration boundary layer in an
analogous manner to the thermal boundary
layer and define new dimensionless
numbers that are counterparts of the
Nusselt and Prandtl numbers.
Newton’s law
of cooling

Rate of mass
convection

hmass the mass transfer coefficient

As the surface area
Cs − C a suitable concentration difference
8
across the concentration boundary layer.
MASS DIFFUSION
Fick’s law of diffusion states that the rate of diffusion of
a chemical species at a location in a gas mixture (or
liquid or solid solution) is proportional to the
concentration gradient of that species at that location.

1 Mass Basis
On a mass basis, concentration is expressed in
terms of density (or mass concentration).

The density of a mixture at a location is equal to the

sum of the densities of its constituents at that location.

The mass fraction of a species ranges between

0 and 1, and the sum of the mass fractions of
the constituents of a mixture be equal to 1. 9
2 Mole Basis
On a mole basis, concentration is expressed in terms of molar concentration
(or molar density), which is the amount of matter in kmol per unit volume.

10
Special Case: Ideal Gas Mixtures
At low pressures, a gas or gas mixture can conveniently be approximated as
an ideal gas with negligible error.
The total pressure of a gas mixture P is equal to the sum of the partial
pressures Pi of the individual gases in the mixture..
Here Pi is called the partial pressure of species i,
which is the pressure species i would exert if it
existed alone at the mixture temperature and volume
(Dalton’s law of additive pressures).
Then using the ideal gas relation PV = NRuT where Ru
is the universal gas constant for both the species i
and the mixture, the pressure fraction of species i
can be expressed as

The pressure fraction of species i of an ideal

gas mixture is equivalent to the mole fraction
of that species and can be used in place of it
in mass transfer analysis. 11
EXAMPLE 14-1 Determining mass
fractions from mole fractions
EXAMPLE 14-2 Mole Fraction of Dissolved Air
in Water
16
Fick’s Law of Diffusion:
Stationary Medium Consisting of Two Species
Fick’s law of diffusion

Here jdiff, A is the (diffusive)

mass flux of species A (mass
transfer by diffusion per unit
time and per unit area normal
to the direction of mass
transfer, in kg/s·m2) and
is the (diffusive) molar flux
(in kmol/s·m2). 17
Binary diffusion coefficient or
mass diffusivity, DAB: The constant
of proportionality in Fick’s law. 18
1. The diffusion coefficients, in general, are highest in gases and lowest in
solids. The diffusion coefficients of gases are several orders of magnitude
greater than those of liquids.
2. Diffusion coefficients increase with temperature. The diffusion coefficient
(and thus the mass diffusion rate) of carbon through iron during a hardening
process, for example, increases by 6000 times as the temperature is raised
from 500°C to 1000°C. 19
Diffusion of water
vapor in air

Ordinary diffusion: The primary driving mechanism of mass diffusion is the

concentration gradient, and mass diffusion due to a concentration gradient is
known as the ordinary diffusion.
Temperature gradients in a medium can cause thermal diffusion (also
called the soret effect), and pressure gradients may result in pressure
diffusion.
Forced diffusion: An external force field such as an electric or magnetic
field applied on a mixture or solution can be used successfully to separate
electrically charged or magnetized molecules (as in an electrolyte or ionized
gas) from the mixture.
Knudsen diffusion: When the pores of a porous solid such as silica-gel are
smaller than the mean free path of the gas molecules, the molecular
collisions may be negligible and a free molecule flow may be initiated.
Surface diffusion: When the size of the gas molecules is comparable to the
pore size, adsorbed molecules move along the pore walls.
Brownian motion: Particles whose diameter is under 0.1 m such as mist
and soot particles act like large molecules, and the diffusion process of such
particles due to the concentration gradient is called Brownian motion. 20
EXAMPLE 14-4 Gas Leak from a Vessel
through a Rubber Plug
EXAMPLE Determining mass
transfer by convection
EXAMPLE Determining convection mass
transfer coefficient
MASS CONVECTION
Now we consider mass convection (or convective mass transfer), which is the
transfer of mass between a surface and a moving fluid due to both mass diffusion
and bulk fluid motion.
The analogy between heat and mass convection holds for both forced and natural
convection, laminar and turbulent flow, and internal and external flow.
Mass convection is also complicated because of the complications associated with
fluid flow such as the surface geometry, flow regime, flow velocity, and the variation
of the fluid properties and composition.
Therefore, we have to rely on experimental relations to determine mass transfer.
Mass convection is usually analyzed on a mass basis rather than on a molar basis.

Concentration boundary layer: In mass

convection, the region of the fluid in which
concentration gradients exist.
30
In internal flow, we have a concentration
entrance region where the concentration
profile develops, in addition to the
hydrodynamic and thermal entry regions.
The concentration boundary layer
continues to develop in the flow direction
until its thickness reaches the tube center
and the boundary layers merge.
The distance from the tube inlet to the
location where this merging occurs is
called the concentration entry length Lc,
and the region beyond that point is called
the fully developed region.

31
A Schmidt number of near unity
(Sc = 1) indicates that momentum
and mass transfer by diffusion are
comparable, and velocity and
concentration boundary layers
almost coincide with each other.

32
The relative thicknesses of velocity, thermal, and
concentration boundary layers in laminar flow:

These relations, in general, are not applicable to turbulent boundary layers

since turbulent mixing in this case may dominate the diffusion processes.
33
34
 Newton’s law
of cooling

rate of mass convection

average mass
transfer coefficient

35
 hmass is the mass transfer coefficient
DAB is the mass diffusivity.
The Nusselt and Sherwood numbers
represent the effectiveness of heat
and mass convection at the surface,
respectively.

The Sherwood number can be obtained

from the Nusselt number expression by
simply replacing the Prandtl number by
the Schmidt number.
For natural
convection
mass transfer 36
37
 Natural
convection
mass transfer

Applicable to both temperature- and/or

concentration-driven natural convection flows.

38
39
40
41
 Summary
• Introduction
• Analogy Between Heat and Mass Transfer
• Mass Diffusion
• Boundary Conditions
• Steady Mass Diffusion Through a Wall
• Water Vapor Migration in Buildings
• Transient Mass Diffusion
• Diffusion in a Moving Medium
• Mass Convection
• Simultaneous Heat and Mass Transfer

42
 Additional Slides

Mass Diffusion (Conduction)

43
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
(1) specified species concentration, which corresponds to specified temperature
(2) specified species flux, which corresponds to specified heat flux.

44
Solubility: The maximum amount of solid that can
be dissolved in a liquid at a specified temperature.

Henry’s constant H: The product of the

total pressure of the gas mixture and the
proportionality constant.

45
1. The concentration of a gas dissolved in a liquid is
inversely proportional to Henry’s constant. The larger
the Henry’s constant, the smaller the concentration of
dissolved gases in the liquid.
2. Henry’s constant increases (and thus the fraction of
a dissolved gas in the liquid decreases) with increasing
temperature. Therefore, the dissolved gases in a liquid
can be driven off by heating the liquid.
3. The concentration of a gas dissolved in a liquid is
proportional to the partial pressure of the gas. The
amount of gas dissolved in a liquid can be increased by
increasing the pressure of the gas. This can be used to
advantage in the carbonation of soft drinks with CO2
gas.

46
An approximate relation in this case for
the mole fractions of a species on the
liquid and gas sides of the interface is
given by Raoult’s law:

The concentration of the gas species i in the

solid at the interface Ci, solid side is proportional to
the partial pressure of the species i in the gas
Pi, gas side on the gas side of the interface and
is expressed as

Permeability: The product of the solubility of a

gas and the diffusion coefficient of the gas in a
solid. It is a measure of the ability of the gas to
penetrate a solid.

DAB is the diffusivity of the gas in the solid. Permeability is inversely

47
proportional to thickness and has the unit kmol/s·bar.
STEADY MASS DIFFUSION THROUGH A WALL
Many practical mass transfer problems involve the diffusion of a species through a
plane-parallel medium that does not involve any homogeneous chemical reactions under
one-dimensional steady conditions.

diffusion resistance
48
of the wall
The rate of mass diffusion through a plane wall is
proportional to the average density, the wall area,
and the concentration difference across the wall, but
is inversely proportional to the wall thickness.

molar diffusion resistance

of the wall in s/kmol

49
Steady one-dimensional mass transfer
through nonreacting cylindrical and
spherical layers

On a molar basis

50
Noting that 1 kmol of an ideal gas at the
standard conditions of 0°C and 1 atm
occupies a volume of 22.414 m3, the
volume flow rate of the gas through the
wall by diffusion can be determined from

51
EXAMPLE 14-5 Diffusion of Hydrogen through
a Spherical Container
54
 More Additional Slides

Mass Diffusion (Conduction)

Some useful Concepts
Learn (1) Solubility, (2)
Concetration of Species at the
55
interface
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
(1) specified species concentration, which corresponds to specified temperature
(2) specified species flux, which corresponds to specified heat flux.

56
Solubility: The maximum amount of solid that can
be dissolved in a liquid at a specified temperature.

Henry’s constant H: The product of the

total pressure of the gas mixture and the
proportionality constant.

57
1. The concentration of a gas dissolved in a liquid is
inversely proportional to Henry’s constant. The larger
the Henry’s constant, the smaller the concentration of
dissolved gases in the liquid.
2. Henry’s constant increases (and thus the fraction of
a dissolved gas in the liquid decreases) with increasing
temperature. Therefore, the dissolved gases in a liquid
can be driven off by heating the liquid.
3. The concentration of a gas dissolved in a liquid is
proportional to the partial pressure of the gas. The
amount of gas dissolved in a liquid can be increased by
increasing the pressure of the gas. This can be used to
advantage in the carbonation of soft drinks with CO2
gas.

58
An approximate relation in this case for
the mole fractions of a species on the
liquid and gas sides of the interface is
given by Raoult’s law:

The concentration of the gas species i in the

solid at the interface Ci, solid side is proportional to
the partial pressure of the species i in the gas
Pi, gas side on the gas side of the interface and
is expressed as

Permeability: The product of the solubility of a

gas and the diffusion coefficient of the gas in a
solid. It is a measure of the ability of the gas to
penetrate a solid.

DAB is the diffusivity of the gas in the solid. Permeability is inversely

59
proportional to thickness and has the unit kmol/s·bar.