MODELING MOISTURE TRANSPORT ACROSS PORCINE SKIN USING REACTION ENGINEERING APPROACH AND EXAMINATION OF FEASIBILITY OF THE TWO-PHASE APPROACH

Abstract

The present study is an amendment to previous approaches to modeling moisture transport across porcine skin. The previous models were semi-empirical or based on the Fickian liquid diffusion equation. Effective liquid diffusivity was dependent on sample thickness, masking its dependence on temperature. From the modeling perspective, this can be a drawback. Therefore, use of two simultaneous equations to represent liquid and vapor transport would be fundamentally correct. A source term representing phase change has been introduced and their parameters established experimentally and correlated using the reaction engineering approach. The two-phase approach was implemented previously to model moisture transport for drying of porous biological materials. The current study checks the feasibility of this approach for modeling moisture transport across skin. A comprehensive model for moisture transport across skin could be of significance to researchers working in the areas of transdermal drug delivery, toxicology, and process applications such as leather drying.