AGITATION AND AERATION

SAMPLE PROBLEMS

1.) Estimate the diffusivity for oxygen in water at

25ᵒC. Compare the predictions from the Wilke-
Change and Othermer-Thakar correlations with
the experimental value of 2.5x10-9 m2/s.
Convert the experimental value to the
corresponding to a temperature of 40ᵒC?
2.) Derive the relationship between the overall
mass-transfer coefficient for liquid phase KL and
the individual mass transfer coefficients, kl and
kg. How can this relationship be simplified for
sparingly soluble gases?
3.) Estimate the mass transfer coefficient for the
oxygen dissolution in water 25ᵒC in a mixing
vessel equipped with flat blade disk and sparger
by using Calderbank and Moo-Young’s
correlations.
4.) A cylindrical tank (1.22 m diameter) is filled with
water to an operating level equal to the thank
diameter. The tank is equipped with four equally
spaced baffles whose width is one tenth of the
tank diameter. The tank is agitated with a 0.36 m
diameter flat six blade disk turbine. The impeller
rotational speed is 2.8 rps. The air enters through
an open-ended tube situated below the impeller
and its volumetric flowrate is 0.00416 m3/s at
1.08 atm and 25ᵒC.
Calculate the following properties and compare
the calculated values with those experimental
data reported by Chandrasekharan and
Calderbank (1981): Pm = 697 W; H= 0.02; kLa =
0.0217 s-1
a) Power requirement
b) Gas hold up
c) Sauter-mean diameter
d) Interfacial area
e) Volumetric mass-transfer coefficient
5.) To measure the kla, a fermenter was filled with
10 L of 0.5M sodium sulfite solution containing
0.003 M Cu++ ion and the air sparger was turned
on. After exactly 10 minutes, the air flow was
stopped and a 10 ml sample was taken and
titrated. The concentration of the sodium sulfite
in the sample was found to be 0.21 mol/L. The
experiment was carried out at 25ᵒC and 1 atm.
Calculate the oxygen uptake and kLa
6.) Estimate the volumetric mass-transfer
coefficient kLa for the gas-liquid contactor
described in example 9.4 by using the correlation
for kLa in this section.
7.) A cylindrical tank (1.22m diameter) is filled with
water to an operating level equal to the tank
diameter. The tank is equipped with four equally
spaced baffles, the width of which is one tenth of
the tank diameter. The tank is agitated with a
0.36m diameter, flat blade disk turbine. The
impeller rotational speed is 4.43 rps. The air
enters through an open ended tube situated
below the impeller and its volumetric flow rate is
0.0217 m3/s at 1.08 atm and 25ᵒC. Calculate
a) Power requirement
b) Gas hold up
c) Sauter mean diameter
d) Interfacial area
e) Volumetric mass-trasnfer coefficient

Calculate the following properties and compare

the calculated values with those experimental
data reported by Chandrasekharan and
Calderbank (1981): Pm = 2282 W; H= 0.086; kLa
= 0.0823 s-1
8.) Estimate the volumetric mass transfer
coefficient kLa for the gas liquid contactor
described in Problem 9.4 by using the correlation
for kLa and compare the results with the
experimental value