Three‐component mass transfer in liquid‐liquid extraction with the system glycerol‐acetone‐water. Part 2: Calculation and experimental investigation of three‐component mass transfer in a countercurrent extraction column

Abstract This article describes the effects which occur during three‐component mass transfer in liquid‐liquid extraction between saturated and undersaturated phases of the system glycerol‐acetone‐water. The description is based on experiments in a countercurrent spray column. The physical modelling starts with the balance equations of phase flows, taking into account the variation of concentrations and mass flow rates along the column axis as well as backmixing effects. In addition, recent findings on the mechanisms of mass transfer in saturated and undersaturated phasses, deduced from theoretical and experimental results, were used to formulate mass transfer coefficients. These are valid for the region near the interface of drops in a fluid and are inserted into the balance equations. A comparison between experiments and calculations of the observed phenomena is presented.