Mass Transfer of Ozone in Semibatch Stirred Reactor

Abstract

The mass transfer of ozone from the gaseous phase into the aqueous phase plays an important role in determining the efficiency of ozonation. In this study, a mass-transfer model has been developed to simultaneously predict concentrations of the dissolved and outlet gaseous ozone in a semibatch reactor. A model in which the liquid phase is described as well mixed and the gas phase is described as a plug-flow system was used to estimate the mass transfer of ozone in both laboratory and pilot reactors. The self-decomposition of ozone was also incorporated into the model. The mass-transfer coefficient was found to increase with increasing gas flow rate, temperature, and ionic strength in the solution. Using a sensitivity analysis, the partition coefficient α was found to be the most sensitive factor that affects the concentration profile of dissolved ozone. However, the outlet gaseous concentration of ozone is quite insensitive to all physical parameters investigated in this study.