Rational design of packed saturators

The paper describes the development of a mathematical model for predicting the mass transfer efficiency of packed saturators used for dissolved air flotation. The first part of the paper deals with the equilibrium condition, i.e. the maximum attainable air concentration with a packed saturator at 100% transfer efficiency. The second part derives a kinetic model based on concentration-driven diffusion and the Lewis-Whitman two-film theory. The transfer rate constant across the laminar liquid film and the wetted packing area are estimated with the Onda correlations. The model is finally used to demonstrate the effects of hydraulic loading, packing depth, packing size and temperature on saturator efficiency.