A statistically robust Wilson-plot methodology for calculating membrane mass transfer coefficients

Abstract

The Wilson-plot method has been used for mass transfer correlations and proved to be suitable for systems operating in steady-state conditions and where the only variable is the fluid velocity. A statistically robust Wilson-plot methodology is suggested and proved to be available to calculate the mass transfer coefficients of hollow fiber membranes. This method combines the linear regression analysis and objective function of F-ratios in the analysis-of-variance (ANOVA) table, or coefficient of determination, R-2. For the objective function of the optimization problem to find the exponent of velocity, the F-ratio is more suitable than the coefficient of determination. With moderate errors in the measured data, membrane mass transfer coefficients are estimated with small confidence intervals. (C) 2008 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.