Hydrodynamics and mass transfer in an absorber under controllable interface disturbance

The hydrodynamics and kinetics of CO2 absorption by water when the interfac e is disturbed by partially immersed disks that execute torsional oscillati ons or uniform unidirectional motion (rotation) was studied. It is shown th at interface disturbance and generated surface flows enhance mass transfer by a factor of 2.5 and lead to extremum dependences of the mass transfer co efficient on the area and thickness of the insoluble film covering the wate r surface. The surface flows generated by disks at the gas-liquid interface were examined. Two types of surface flows that differ by their direction a nd the nature of driving forces are revealed. The role of these flows in en hancing mass transfer at small Re numbers was elucidated.