Antibubble column: A mean to measure and enhance liquid–gas mass transfer through surfactant-laden interfaces

Antibubbles are ephemeral objects composed of a liquid core encapsulated by a thin gas shell immersed in a liquid bulk. The gas shell thickness evolves in time, driven by two contributions: gravitational drainage and gas–liquid mass transfer. The low density contrast between the antibubble and the bulk, as well as its weak deformability constitute advantages that are used to measure the mass transfer coefficient (MTC) in a so-called antibubble column, in a time-resolved fashion. Shells made with pure air give low data reproducibility. Consequently, perfluorohexane, a low-solubility gas, was mixed to air to enforce gas desorption from the bulk and obtain reliable data. MTC obtained with various surfactants and concentrations are found to deviate from the Frössling correlation built for fully rigid interfaces: higher MTC are consistent with partially rigid interfaces due to a partial coverage of surfactants along a so-called spherical cap, while lower MTC are consistent with an additional resistance to the transfer of mass due to the presence of surfactants forming a monolayer at high concentration. Finally, the advantages in terms of control and compactness of an antibubble column as compared to a bubble column for liquid–gas mass transfer are demonstrated. Specifically, an antibubble is shown to transfer dozens of times more mass than a bubble that would initially carry the same amount of gas. Antibubbles are therefore shown to provide a new, time-resolved, way to measure MTC, as well as promising route to enhance liquid–gas transfers in multiphase reactors.