FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

ENGINEERING
LABORATORY OF THERMODYNAMIC AND TRANSPORTATION
PROPERTIES-2015721

Authors:
Andres Ricardo Rojas B
Karla Vanessa Ruiz M
Cristian Jose Rondon
Group 1 - Subgroup 3
April 9, 2018

LABORATORY REPORT F3: COEFFICIENT OF DIFUSIVITY

OBJECTIVES

General Objective
● Determine the value of the diffusivity coefficient of a pure liquid substance (acetone)
in air.

Specific Objectives
● Use the Arnold cell to experimentally determine the diffusivity of acetone in air.
● Compare the diffusivity value obtained experimentally with the value reported in the
literature or calculated by the binary diffusivity equation.

Theoretical framework

When a system contains two or more components whose concentrations vary from point to
point, there is a great tendency to mass transfer, minimizing the concentration differences in
the system. The transport of a constituent, from a region of high concentration to one of low
concentration, is called mass transfer.
The speed with which a component is transferred in a mixture depends on the concentration
gradient existing at a given point and direction. Its movement is described by flux, which is
related to diffusivity by means of Fick's First Law for an isobaric and isothermal system.
Fick's law defines the diffusion of component A in an isobaric or isothermal system, like this:

Where JA is the molar flux in the z-direction relative to the average molar velocity, dCA / dz
is the concentration gradient of A in the z direction and DAB is a proportionality factor,
known as mass diffusivity or diffusion coefficient of component A in component B, the
negative sign means that the diffusion occurs in the sense of decrease in concentration.
A more general flow relationship, which is not restricted to isobaric and isothermal systems,
known as Groot's Law, is as follows:

Where c is the overall concentration of the mixture and yA is the mole fraction of A.
Mass diffusivity is a property of the system that depends on the temperature, the pressure
and the nature of the components (properties of the molecules).
In the literature, different analytical methods for calculating diffusivity are reported, each with
some limitations, generally agreeing that the diffusivity varies directly with the temperature
raised to the three media and inversely proportional to the pressure:

In Arnold's cell we have:

Figura 1. Esquema capilar de difusión.

To find the diffusivity of a binary system using the Arnold cell, from the height data for
different times, equation 4 is used.

This equation corresponds to a straight line where the slope is:

METHODOLOGY

Materials and reagents:

● Arnold's cell
● Theodolite (measure liquid level in the capillary)
● Thermometer
● Stopwatch
● Syringe (insert the sample in the capillary)
● Thermostat or resistance for heating (heating the water bath and thus be able to
measure the diffusivity of the substance in air at a T greater than the ambient T)
● Manual agitator (homogenize the bath T)
● Cotton and thin wire (clean the capillary before and after the practice avoiding that
the cotton is inside the capillary)

Process:
Equipment Description:

The Arnold diffusivity cell of the Chemical Engineering Laboratory of the National University
of Colombia - Sede Bogotá, illustrated in figure 2, has the following parts:

● Flow regulating valve: It allows regulating the inflow of air, although it is preferable to
use the second valve for this function.
● Air filter: Performs a preliminary cleaning of the air before it enters the absorption
column.
● Column of absorption: The length of the column, is in this case the most important
variable since it depends on the quality of the air passing through the diffusion tube,
in terms of humidity, it is essential that the air reaches the tube of completely dry
diffusion. The equipment currently has a PVC tube which acts as the absorption
columns.
 ● Flow dampers: After the columns are installed the flow dampers that also serve as
collectors of particles, for this there is a plastic bottle instead of two lateral tubulars.
● Copper coil: From the flow absorber comes the copper coil that will conduct the air
inside the tank in order to homogenize the temperature of the system.
● Cuba: The tank goes with water to a level slightly higher than the diffusion tube.
● Diffusion tube: It is coupled to the tub by means of hose, it has three small tabs to
add the substance to the capillary, take pressure and place a thermometer. The tube
has sufficient length (approximately 62 cm), such that when the air passes over the
capillary it is a normal flow so as to approach the pseudo-stable state.
● Orifice meter and flow regulating valve: The diffusion tube at its outlet end of the air is
coupled to a copper pipe by means of a hose that allows a hermetic seal with the
orifice of the tank through which said tube exits, to This copper pipe is connected to a
flow measuring device: a hole of two millimeters in diameter with pressure taps that
are connected to a differential water manometer.
A valve is installed at the end of the copper pipe and one meter from the meter,
which allows to regulate the flow and pressure in the system.
● Mercury manometer: It allows to measure the manometric pressure at which the air is
circulating in the diffusion tube.
● Bubblemeter: It consists of a test tube with water and soap inside, which will form an
ascending bubble that allows to measure the air flow in the cell.

Equipment diagram

Figura 2. Esquema de la celda de Arnold del Laboratorio de Ingeniería Química (LIQ).

Sample of calculations
The diffusion coefficient, for a gaseous system, can be measured experimentally in a diffusion
cell. It consists of a partially full narrow pipe with pure liquid A, Represents 1, which is
supported to temperature and constant pressure by means of a water bath. A gas B one makes
flow across the open terminal of the pipe; it must have a despicable solubility in the liquid A at
the time that it must be inert chemically to him. The component A vaporiza and it spreads
inside the gaseous phase. The vaporization speed of A, it can be expressed mathematically
in terms of the mass flow or molar.

Represents 1.Diagram of the cell arnold.

Realizing a matter balance across a differential volume along the pipe, obtains the Equation 1.

Equation 1
This relation stipulates a constant molar flow of A in the gaseous phase from Z1 even Z2.
Considering only the plane that happens for Z1 and the restriction that the gas is insoluble in
the liquid A, it is deduced that the flow NBZ is equal to zero along the whole column, in such a
way that the component B behaves like a stagnant gas.
The constant molar flow please constant of A one can describe for the Equation 2.

Equation 2
The flux in gaseous phase must be equal to the flux in the liquid phase, Equation 3.

Equation 3
Equaling 2 and 3 and integrating obtains the Equation 4

Equation 4
This equation corresponds to a straight line, where the slope is described by the Equation 5.

Equation 5
From this equation and having the height information for different times, it is possible to find
the difusividad of a binary system using Arnold's Cell.
COST

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Perry, H., Green, D. (1999). Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook. McGrawHill
[2] Treybal, R. E. (1980). Mass-transfer operations. New York: McGraw-Hill