MODELING VOLATILE ORGANIC-COMPOUND STRIPPING IN A ROTATING-DISK CONTRACTOR SYSTEM

A rotating disk contactor (RDC) was used for studying the mass transfer of five volatile organic compounds from the liquid to the gas phase. The observed mass-transfer rates of these compounds were found to be a function of disk submergence and rotational speed. A theoretical model based on the combination of a completely mixed flow reactor and a plug flow reactor was developed. The apparent mass-transfer coefficient (K(app)) is theoretically affected by the disk characteristics (disk size and type), operational conditions (flow rate, disk submergence, and speed), and intrinsic VOC mass-transfer coefficient in the basin. Specifically, under high rotational speeds (0.6-1.5 rad/s), K(app) is a function of speed to the power of 1.5.