THE INFLUENCE OF ELECTRIC-FIELDS ON THE INTENSITY OF RECTIFICATION

The rectification of binary mixtures of ethanol-water and acetone-wate r was studied for the case of static, alternating and pulsed electric fields. It was found out that as electric discharge occured in a gas r egion the increase of mass transfer could be mainly due to electric wi nd turbulizing of the vapour phase. In this case the intensity of rect ification mass transfer was to 1.7 times higher than under free condit ion. For the first time the rectification in the regime of electrohydr odynamical (EHD) spraying of liquids was investigated. To do this, the conditions of atomization by an electric field of conductive liquids with high surface tension are determined and realized in the rectifyin g column. The regime of EHD spraying of liquid was the most efficient one for the rectification in imposed electric fields. The mechanism of electric fields effects on mass transfer and the role of process para meters in these effects are discussed in detail. The new methods and e quipment for the realization of mass transfer processes in gas-liquid systems were developed and investigated. It was shown that the EHD mas s transfer apparatus has better diffusive and hydrodynamic characteris tics compared with packed, pipe and cascade tray fractionating columns .