The effect of mass transfer on selectivity for heterogeneous reactions

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A simple model based on existing penetration theory solutions is proposed to predict the selectivity for consecutive reactions in gas‐liquid systems. The model is limited to cases of moderate to high selectivity, where the first reaction is much faster than the second. When the reaction greatly increases the mass transfer rate, the model gives about the same selectivity as the film theory, but predicts higher selectivities than the film theory when the enhancement factor ø is small and the reaction is rapid. When ø is small, an appreciable fraction of the gas that is absorbed reacts after surface elements are mixed with the bulk, and this contribution is neglected in the film theory. The model can also be applied to estimate the effect of diffusion on parallel reactions.