Kinetics of Pb evaporation from Pb-Sn liquid alloy in vacuum distillation

In this work, the kinetics of Pb evaporating from Pb-Sn alloy has been investigated. The experiments were performed in the temperature range 1200 K–1400 K and the pressure of 10 Pa. The results indicated that the evaporation of Pb follow first order kinetics. The overall mass transfer coefficients of lead evaporation from Pb-Sn alloy are 2.68 × 10−6 m s−1, 5.01 × 10−6 m s−1 and 1.92 × 10−5 m s−1 at 1200 K, 1300 K and 1400 K, respectively. Additionally, the apparent activation energy of lead evaporation from molten Pb-Sn alloy was calculated. It revealed that the mass transfer of lead in the vapor phase is not rate limiting in the vacuum distillation. The Pb evaporation from Pb-Sn alloy was mix-controlled by vaporization and liquid mass transfer. The mass transfer in the liquid phase is a major rate-limiting step under the present experimental conditions.