Mass transfer performance is presented for a 76 mm diameter pulsed disc and doughnut extraction column for the toluene-acetone-water system. The experiments were carried out for both mass transfer directions. The mass transfer data are interpreted in terms of the axial diffusion model, thus accounting for continuous phase axial dispersion. The effect of operating parameters on the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficients has been investigated. The results show that the column performance increases with an increase in pulsation intensity. At high pulsation intensity, however, the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient decreases due to the production of very fine dispersed droplets. It was also found that the column performance decreases with both an increase in dispersed phase velocity and a decrease in continuous phase velocity. An empirical correlation for prediction of the continuous phase overall mass transfer coefficient is derived in terms of the overall Sherwood number, Reynolds number and dispersed phase holdup for each mass transfer direction. The prediction of continuous phase overall mass transfer coefficients from the presented correlations is in good agreement with experimental data.

This study examined the mass transfer performance in a pulsed perforated-plate extraction column with diameter of 50 mm using two different liquid systems. Mass transfer coefficients have been interpreted in terms of the axial diffusion model. The effects of pulsation intensity and dispersed and continuous phase velocities on the mass transfer performance have been investigated. Three different operating regimes, namely mixer-settler, transition, and emulsion regimes, were observed when the input energy was changed. Effective diffusivity is substituted for molecular diffusivity in the Gröber equation for prediction of dispersed phase overall mass transfer coefficients. A single correlation is derived in terms of Reynolds number, Eötvös number and dispersed phase holdup for prediction of the enhancement factor in all operating regimes. The prediction of overall mass transfer coefficients from the presented model is in good agreement with experimental results.