Gas–liquid mass transfer enhancement by catalyst particles, a modelling study

Abstract

In this paper we studied the effect of catalyst particles on the enhancement of the gas–liquid mass transfer due to a first order heterogeneously catalyzed reaction. The enhancement factor was obtained by solving the liquid side unsteady reaction-diffusion equation accounting for the presence of the particles. The results are compared with an analytical model that was derived assuming a homogeneous distribution of the particles in the liquid film. It was found that the enhancement factor increases with increasing catalyst concentration and increasing rate of reaction, as expected. As the particle diameter is increased, the enhancement factor decreases due to an increasing degree of diffusion limitation.The results of the homogeneous model match well with the results of the numerical simulations within a 10% error. Therefore it is concluded that the homogeneous model can be used to predict the enhancement of the mass transfer due to the presence of catalytic particles.