Top face Bottom face
Catalyst particles are entrapped in the center of a porous membrane material. The purpose of this is to protect the catalyst so that it can be recovered and reused. This structure shown below is immersed in an aqueous solution containing a proprietary reactant called component A. Component A can only diffuse through the top and bottom faces of this structure. The dimensions of the top face and the bottom face are same (10cm x 10cm). The thickness of the top membrane is 0.1cm and the thickness of the bottom membrane is also 0.1cm. Furthermore component A is instantaneously consumed by the catalyst at a constant rate of 144 mg/hour when it enters the compartment where the catalyst is located.
If the effective diffusivity of component A in this application is 2 x 10-5 cm2/s in the membrane calculate the concentration of component A in the surrounding solution that is needed to maintain the consumption rate. (You may assume the surrounding solution is well mixed and thus void of any concentration boundary layers)
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