Experimental data on the average mass transfer liquid film coefficient ( k L) in an aerated tank stirred by Rushton turbine and in bubble column are presented. Liquid media were used as 0.8 M sodium sulphite solution, pure or with the addition of Sokrat 44 (copolymer of acrylonitrile and acrylic acid) or short-fiber carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) for the Newtonian and long-fiber CMC for the non-Newtonian viscosity enhancement and ocenol ( cis-9-octadecen-1-ol) or polyethylenglycol (PEG) 1000 for surface tension change. Volumetric mass transfer coefficient ( k L a) and specific interfacial area ( a) were measured by the Danckwerts’ plot method. Coefficients k L measured by pure oxygen absorption in pure sulphite solution and Newtonian viscous liquids are well fitted by the “eddy” model in the form of k L = 0.448 ( e v/ ρ) 0.25 ( D/ v) 0.5 with a mean deviation of 20%. Surface-active agents (ocenol and PEG) and non-Newtonian additive (long-fiber CMC) reduced k L value significantly but their effect was not described satisfactorily neither by surface tension nor by surface pressure. It is shown that the decisive quantity to correlate k L in the stirred tank and bubble column is power dissipated in the liquid phase rather than the bubble diameter and the slip velocity. Absorption of air did not yield correct k L data, which did not depend on or slightly decreased with increasing power. This is due to the application of an improper gas phase mixing model for absorption data evaluation.