In an attempt to obviate the costly and protracted separation of final
products from powdered catalyst particles in stirred slurry catalytic
reactors, the electrochemical technique was used in the present study to
determine mass transfer in a stirred vessel equipped with different
baffle configurations placed at the tank bottom. Additionally, the
effect of baffle tube diameters, as well as the impeller speed and
geometry were examined. Mass transfer data obtained were correlated
using the governing dimensionless groups from which heat transfer rates
can be deduced by analogy. Results revealed the merits of using tubular
baffles in terms of mass transfer and consequently heat transfer
enhancement. Besides acting as a catalyst support where liquid-solid
diffusion-controlled catalytic reactions, electrochemical reactions,
photochemical reactions, and immobilized enzyme-catalyzed biochemical
reactions take place, a tubular baffle can act also as a built-in
cooler, in case of highly exothermic reactions to avoid hot spots and
catalyst deactivation.