Analysis of a toluene stripping process: a comparison between a microfabricated stripping column and a conventional packed tower

Abstract Toluene, a volatile organic compound (VOC), was removed from water using a stripping process in both a traditional randomly packed tower and a microfabricated stripping column (MFSC). The MFSC, fabricated using standard Si processing techniques, resulted in overall capacity coefficients, K x a , nearly an order of magnitude greater than the packed tower. This increase is a result of less resistance to mass transfer in the liquid phase due to the reduced thickness of the liquid film that is intrinsic to the design of the device. Experimental data from both the packed tower and the MFSC were in good agreement with both the Onda and Sherwood correlations, e.g., the MFSC followed a power-law relationship with respect to K x a versus flowrate, a result expected for convective mass transfer processes.