Comparative Investigations on the Effects of Contamination and
Mass Transfer Direction in Liquid-Liquid Extraction
Javad Saien , Maryam Riazikhah and Seyed Nezameddin Ashrafizadeh
Abstract
The influence of different factors on the overall mass transfer coefficient of liquid-liquid extraction was investigated, employing single drop experiments with mass transfer in either direction. The chemical system of toluene-acetone-water was used with the advantage of high accuracy and repeatability when using gas chromatography for analysis . Three different types of surfactants were used as contaminant agents and t heir effectiveness in retarding the mass transfer was appeared in the order : cationic á anionic á non-ionic. A ddition of contaminants did not change the trend of variation with drop size for the concentration range investigated in this study; however, a number of small drops demonstrated rigid behavior at high contaminant concentrations. The rate of mass transfer is greater for dispersed to continuous phase direction. An empirical correlation was developed here in conjunction with a combined model which describes the variations of mass transfer coefficient. The variation of physical properties was also taken into account.