Mass transfer performance in cocurrent extraction has been studied in a 5.08 cm I.D. Karr reciprocating plate column. A model for cocurrent mass transfer in a reciprocating plate column, which uses some of the same concepts that have proven useful in the development of a countercurrent mass transfer model, was experimentally confirmed. The indicator colour change method, which employs an instantaneous chemical reaction in the presence of an indicator, was developed to determine the mass transfer rate in cocurrent extraction and has proven very useful in avoiding the additional mass transfer which is always encountered in the sampling and analysis of exit streams. The local mass transfer rate in the column was also investigated by this method. The time-averaged pressure drop for single phase (water) flow was measured in the column and has been compared with a quasi-steady model.

Master of Engineering (ME)