title: Membrane-based gas transfer: an environmental engineering laboratory.
abstract: We propose an educational experience in which students design a membrane gas transfer reactor, construct a bench-scale version in the laboratory, and employ the reactor to measure mass transfer coefficients. The membrane reactor is useful for teaching mass transfer principles because the mass transfer interface is well defined and easily observed. The system can be modeled successfully using straightforward mathematics. The reactor can be designed and constructed by students, using the mathematical model as a basis, providing insight into the physical meaning of model parameters. The proposed membrane system can be readily operated to obtain data that can be employed to develop or modify existing mass transfer correlations. This can provide students with significant insight into the development of mass transfer correlations and how the constants in such correlations are typically determined. These features help promote a deeper understanding of mass transfer principles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Room 317 MRC Building, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA. kilduff@rpi.edu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kilduff
authors.forename: J X
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Komisar
mesh_terms: D000392:Air Movements; D000397:Air Pollution; D019149:Bioreactors; D004463:Ecology / Q000379:methods*; D004738:Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004867:Equipment Design; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories; D008566:Membranes; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D015397:Program Evaluation
chemical_list: D005740:Gases