Unsteady Mass Transfer From Oil Sand Spheres in Convective Streams at Low Reynolds Number

The process of transient mass transfer in and around oil sand spheres was investigated experimentally. Preshaped molded spherical particles of Athabasca oil sands were subjected to hot air streams at atmospheric pressure and constant temperature ranging from 150°C up to 475°C with a uniform stream velocity covering the range 0.15 m/s up to 1.7 m/s and Reynolds number over the range 33–1650. The rate of mass loss due to fluid volatilization for each set of experimental conditions was established and correlated with the residence time in terms of dimensionless groupings.