Numerical simulation of mass transfer for bubbles in water

This paper presents results for the effect of surfactants on the dissolution rate of bubbles. Most of the results to be presented are for carbon dioxide bubbles. However, a few results will be presented for ethane and helium bubbles. Surfactants have a strong effect on bubble motion. As the dissolution process of bubbles is predominantly convective in nature, the mass transfer is also influenced by surfactant adsorbed onto the bubble interface. Two techniques are used to compute the dissolution rate of bubbles in the presence of surfactants. One technique uses a finite difference method while the other uses a stochastic Lagrangian approach. The results of the computations are used to develop a correlation that relates the Sherwood number of a bubble to its Reynolds number and size. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.