Journal of Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Technology

Journal of Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Technology

Microscopic modeling of mass transfer in LLE systems using VOF approach

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Sepideh Roshdi 1
Norollah Kasiri 2
1 Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
2 Computer Aided Process Engineering Center, School of Chemical Oil, and Gas Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology, Narmak, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/jogpt.2023.386913.1112
Abstract
Liquid-liquid extraction is one of the main separation processes which has many applications in different industries. Among different influencing parameters on Liquid-liquid performance, the surface tension effect was investigated in the present study. The mass transfer of a single droplet was simulated using the volume of fluid approach coupled with a single-field mass transfer approach.  Due to the high computational time, the moving reference frame approach was supplemented to computational codes in parallel processing mode assuming static droplet and moving zone. The results showed that with the reduction of surface tension coefficient, while the other parameters were kept constant, the regime change from spherical to oscillating occurred, the velocity decreased. In addition, along with an additional reduction in the surface tension coefficient, the droplet breakage happened. Despite a considerable reduction in terminal velocity, the reduction in mass transfer was not observed due to the interfacial area increase which enhanced mass transfer while velocity reduction negatively disturbed it. The concentration contour plots of droplets in various surface tension coefficients were reported in different droplet regimes starting from circulating to breakup.
Keywords
Volume of fluid
mass transfer
Liquid-Liquid extraction
moving reference frame
surface tension
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Journal of Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Technology
Volume 10, Issue 2
August 2023
Pages 125-137