Overall mass-transfer coefficients in non-linear chromatography

In case of mass transfer where concentration differences in both phases must be taken into account, one may define an over-all mass-transfer coefficient basd on the apparent over-all concentration difference. If the equilibrium relationship is linear, i.e. in cases where a Henry´s law relationship can be applied, the over-all mass-transfer coefficient will be concentration independent.

However, in mass-transfer operations, a linear equilibrium relationship is in most cases not a valid approximation wherefore the over-all mass-transfer coefficient becomes strongly concentration dependent as shown in this paper. In this case one has to discard the use of over-all mass-transfer coefficients and calculate the rate of mass transfer from the two film theory using the appropriate non-linear relationship to calculate the equilibrium ratio at the interface between the two films.