Abstract:
This work was undertaken to investigate simultaneous mass and heat transfer in the wetted wall column. Three different tower diameters and four tower heights for each tower diameter were used. Various inlet air temperatures were employed with a constant water temperature. The experimental data was spread over a wide range of air and water flow rates with counter-current flow conditions existing in the towers. Equations for both heat and mass transfer using an approximate and rigorous method each were developed to ascertain the relative size of any end effect occurring in the towers. The KyYblm value was shown to be constant for a given tower diameter, liquid and gas flow rates. The data was analysed using the Gilliland and Sherwood d/x values, the Chilton and Colburn j factors and the Nusselt hd/k values, and were found to give the best results with the d/x and hd/k values plotted against gas Reynolds Number relative to the liquid surface velocity. The results obtained for the mass transfer data showed that the mass transfer was dependent on liquid and gas flow rate, inlet air temperature, tower height and tower diameter. The heat transfer results were not correlated due to the scatter of the data, but a dependence was shown on gas flow rate, inlet air temperature, tower height and tower diameter.