MEASUREMENTS OF LIQUID-PHASE MASS TRANSFER IN PACKED COLUMNS.

Modern plastic packings have complicated shapes, but a knowledge of their nominal diameter and geometrical area is sufficient for calculating their mass transfer performance in the liquid phase. If different plastic packings have identical nominal diameters, the liquid-phase volumetric mass transfer coefficient k//fa//s for each packing will be roughly the same. It would appear that within an experimental error of plus or minus 30% it is immaterial whether the effective interfacial area is provided by dripping or by wetting. The calculated data which come closest to the experimental values of various workers on different types of plastic packings of 25 mm nominal diameter are those predicted by the Mohunta equation. They lie within the scatter range for the K. Onda equation.