Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.83, No.2, 328-335, 2005
Determination of diffusional characteristics of the transfer of a adnsorbable gaseous solution within a porous environment. Application to the case of water vapour within beech wood
An experimental method is proposed to characterize the diffusional transfer of adsorbable gaseous solute medium in a porous medium. Three types of experimental measurements are used to successively access to the solute apparent diffusivity in the gas phase, in the adsorbed phase and to check whether the hypothesis of the thermodynamic equilibrium between the gas phase solute and the adsorbed solute is verified during the transient transfer process. This methodology is applied to a longitudinal section of a beech wood sample for the water transfer in the wood hygroscopic domain.