ABSTRACT
A major part of unit operations in the chemical engineering industry involves separating mixtures into their components with changes in stream compositions. These operations are called mass transfer operations, and their driving force is the concentration difference (or gradient). Various methods—such as gas adsorption or stripping, distillation, liquid extraction, absorption, drying, or evaporation—may be employed to influence mass transfer operations. These methods utilize differences in vapor pressure or solubility, not density or particle size. The choice of a specific method depends on the properties of the components and whether they exist in solid, liquid, or vapor phase. Again, these separations can be carried out in batch or continuous systems. Batch operations are always time dependent, while continuous systems often operate under steady-state conditions. A unit operation may be conducted in stagewise contact, as in plate columns or a cascade of vessels, or in differential contact, as in packed or spray columns. The staged units are designed in terms of the number of theoretical equilibrium stages.
In this chapter, the discussion on calculations of mass transfer operations using MATLABⓇ is confined to diffusion, evaporation, absorption, distillation, filtration, and membrane separation. The main objective of this chapter is to provide readers with the knowledge and skills needed for application of MATLAB to mass transfer problems. The MATLAB programs presented in this chapter can be used in undergraduate or graduate courses on mass transfer. Researchers and practicing engineers in the field of chemical engineering can apply these MATLAB programs in analysis, design, and simulation of a mass transfer equipment.
