Honda (Hung-Ta) Wu

By Honda (Hung-Ta) Wu and Tsair-Wang Chung

Part of the book: Mass Transfer in Multiphase Systems and its Applications

By Honda Wu (Hung-Ta Wu) and Tsair-Wang Chung

The surface tension gradient can result from releasing a surfactant from the liquid film or feeding a vapor into the liquid film, and the interfacial disturbance will be induced by them. The flowing phenomena were termed “Marangoni effect,” and the mass transfer performance was enhanced by the effect. The objective of this study was to apply the Marangoni effect, such as water vapors absorbed by the liquid film of triethylene glycol (TEG) solution, and to analysze mass transfer behaviors with and without surfactants’ addition in the liquid film. The interfacial disturbance resulted from the surface tension gradient was considered in this study, and the mass transfer behaviors for packed-bed absorbers were discussed to elucidate the influence of the Marangoni effect on the absorbers. It was observed that the trends of mass transfer rates could be increased significantly as the surfactant is added into the absorption system. Experimental results showed that feeding a vapor or adding a surfactant with lower surface tension and/or higher volatility in the liquid will result in the surface tension gradient on the gas-liquid interface. The induced flowing disturbance will lead to an increment of mass transfer rate for a gas-liquid contact system.

Part of the book: Heat and Mass Transfer