The impact on different packing material textures to liquid-side controlled mass transfer for the CO2 absorption into silicone oil is analyzed experimentally. Typical industrially applied textures with bidirectional pyramidal and unidirectional wavy topographies are investigated for a wide range of liquid loads and viscosities. It is found that the texture design has a significant influence on the mass transfer efficiency, e.g. mass transfer intensification up to 80% can be performed by a textured surface compared with a flat inclined plate. Additionally, counter current gas flow affects the mass transfer positively as expected, but the texture impact is significantly higher. Silicone oil is widely used for fluid dynamic analysis. Here, fundamental data and procedures for mass transfer determination are provided for the first time in order to characterize present textures of column internals. (C) 2011 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.