Studies in the vaporization of mercury in irrigated packed beds

Abstract Mass transfer coefficients have been measured for the vaporization of mercury flowing countercurrent to air in irrigated packed beds of spheres and Raschig rings. The measured coefficients increased with gas and liquid flow rates, and were correlated in terms of gas Reynolds number and liquid rate. The mass transfer data for liquid metal irrigation were lower than published data for wetting aqueous systems, due to the non-wetting nature of liquid metals. The lower mass transfer coefficients are believed to be attributed to a lower interfacial area for the non-wetting flow of liquid metals, although direct experimental proof was not obtained. The present results are in agreement with data for zinc absorption in molten lead in packed bed (Warner, 1959) when correlated in terms of the relative velocity and total liquid holdup. The results suggest that for liquid metal irrigated beds, the total hold-up is effective in gas phase transfer processes.