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Zeotropic mixtures exhibit a temperature glide between the dew and bubble points during condensation. This glide has the potential to increase system efficiency when matched to the thermal sink in power generation, chemical processing, and heating and cooling systems. To understand the coupled heat and mass transfer mechanisms during phase change of high-glide zeotropic mixtures, a comprehensive investigation of the condensation of ammonia and ammonia/water mixtures in small diameter channels was performed. Condensation heat transfer and pressure drop experiments were conducted with ammonia and ammonia/water mixtures. Experiments on ammonia were conducted for varying tube diameters (0.98 < D < 2.16 mm), mass fluxes (75 < G < 225 kg m⁻² s⁻¹) and saturation conditions (30 < Tsat < 60°C). Zeotropic ammonia/water experiments were conducted for multiple tube diameters (0.98 < D < 2.16 mm), mass fluxes (50 < G < 200 kgm⁻² s⁻¹) and bulk ammonia mass fraction (xbulk = 0.8, 0.9, and > 0.96). An experimental methodology and data analysis procedure for evaluating the local condensation heat duty (for incremental ∆q), condensation transfer coefficient (for pure ammonia), apparent heat transfer coefficient (for zeotropic ammonia/water mixtures), and frictional pressure gradient with low uncertainties was developed. A new heat transfer model for condensation of ammonia in mini/microchannels was developed. Using the insights derived from the pure ammonia work, an improved zeotropic condenser design method for high-temperature-glide mixtures in small diameter channels, based on the non-equilibrium film theory, was introduced. The key features of the improved model were the consideration of annular and non-annular flow effects on liquid film transport, including condensate and vapor sensible cooling contributions, and accounting for mini/microchannel effects through the new liquid film correlation. By understanding the behavior of these mixtures in microchannel geometries, highly efficient, compact thermal conversion devices can be developed.

Photocatalysis is a green technology that has been widely used in wastewater treatment. In this work, mass transfer processes in corrugated photocatalytic reactors were characterized both experimentally and through computer simulations. For the experimental work, various drum rotational speeds, reactor liquid volumes and number of corrugations were studied to elucidate their effects on mass transfer phenomena. The mass transfer rate was found to increase with increasing rotational speed. Liquid volumes in the reactor significantly affect the mass transfer rate when 20% of the surface area of the drum was immersed. A higher mass transfer rate was found using the drum with 28 corrugations, which had the lowest mass transfer coefficient when compared to the drums with 13 and 16 corrugations. In the computer simulations, velocity and concentration fields within the corrugated reactors were modelled to explore the characteristics of mass transfer processes. The mass transfer coefficients predicted by the simulations were lower than those measured experimentally due to mass transfer limitations occurring between the corrugation volume and bulk solution in the simulations. Based on mass transfer characteristics, it was determined that the drum with 28 corrugations was the most efficient photocatalytic reactor, and had the lowest mass transfer coefficient among those studied.

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The demand for accurate bitumen-pentane mass transfer data was the main motivation behind this research. Difficulties such as complex phase behavior, high viscosity and opacity of the hydrocarbon invariably lead to failure of conventional techniques to measure mass transfer coefficients involving heavy oils. To address this issue, X-ray transmission tomography has been employed for such measurements. The initial set of experiments in this study measured the free mutual diffusion coefficient of pentane-Athabasca/bitumen, as well as pentane-atmospheric residue. In addition, forced mass transfer between pentane and both bitumen and atmospheric residue was studied. Forced mass transfer between pentane and these two heavy oils followed a similar pattern when normalized and the pattern is consistent with prevailing understanding. However, mass transfer rates between pentane and Athabasca atmospheric residue are one order of magnitude smaller than for the corresponding bitumen case. Impacts on the effectiveness of proposed production and refining processes are discussed. / Chemical Engineering

Thesis (PhD) -- University of South Australia, 1994