Experimental investigation and numerical simulation of mass transfer during drop formation

The solvent extraction features mass transfer between drops and the surrounding immiscible liquid. Previous study indicated that drop formation plays an important role in extraction because 10–50% of total mass transfer occurs in this stage. It is necessary to have thorough understanding about the mechanism of mass transfer between the drop phase and continuous phase during drop formation. In this work, the level set approach was adopted to capture the interface, and unsteady mass transfer during drop formation was formulated and numerically simulated in an axisymmetric cylindrical coordinate system by solving the fluid motion coupled with mass transfer equations. Drop formation time and mass transfer parameters from the numerical simulation were compared with experimental data in the MIBK–acetic acid–water solvent extraction system. The numerical predictions were found in good agreement with the experimental measurements.