Sherwood–Rayleigh parameterization for evaporation in the presence of surfactant monolayers

Abstract

Presented here is an experimental investigation of the effects of several surfactant monolayers on evaporation driven by natural convection in the air above a water surface. Experiments were performed in a controlled laboratory setting with tanks of heated water for the following cases: (1) a clean water surface, and for surfaces covered with monolayers of (2) oleyl alcohol, (3) stearic acid, and (4) stearyl alcohol. Evaporation rates were measured using a laser‐based method, and the Sherwood and Rayleigh numbers, Sh and Ra, were computed from the data. Power law scalings of the form Sh = B·Ram were developed for each case which yielded, essentially, m = 1/3 for all four surface conditions. The oleyl alcohol and stearic acid conditions give essentially the same value for B as for the clean surface case. For stearyl alcohol, B is smaller than for all other surface conditions; this result is attributed to the ability of the stearyl alcohol monolayer to inhibit evaporation by blocking the passage of water molecules through the monolayer: the barrier effect. The surface temperature is measured in this work enabling a separation of the effect of surfactants on evaporation due to a reduction in surface temperature from their effect on evaporation due to a true barrier effect. This has not been accomplished heretofore. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 303–315, 2013