Enhancement of interphase mass transfer by a pulsed electric field

Studies on mass transfer of benzoic acid from drops dispersed into a continuous phase of mineral oil with high viscosity have been conducted in the presence of a pulse high voltage electric field (150 Hz, peak voltages up to 23 kV). The effects of the pulsed electric field on interfacial mass transfer, in terms of peak voltages and power consumption, have been investigated in this particular liquid-liquid two-phase system at two different drop phase flow rates and at the ambient temperature. The total mass transfer efficiency was significantly enhanced in the presence of the high voltage pulsed electric field. The results indicate that the application of the pulsed electric field to the drop dispersion process does not change the fundamental mass transfer mechanisms and the mass transfer during drop free fall can also be described by the existing mass transfer models. The results obtained in this work is also compared with those obtained in the presence of a d.c. electric field, which indicates that the pulsed electric field is more energy efficient in terms of power consumption over the d.c. electric field.