Solution of the linearized equations of multicomponent mass transfer: I

The linearized equations of diffusion in a multicomponent system with flow and chemical reaction are shown to reduce to a set of equivalent binary diffusion equations. The concentrations and fluxes in a multicomponent system are described by linear combinations of appropriate solutions to the binary diffusion equation for steady and unsteady diffusion and convective mass transfer, laminar or turbulent. The rate of transfer of each component in a nonreacting n component system is a linear combination of the n‐1 independent driving forces with proportionality constants which depend upon the multicomponent diffusion coefficients and appropriate binary mass transfer coefficients, while the concentration profile of each component is a linear combination of appropriate binary concentration profiles with proportionality constants which depend upon the multicomponent diffusion coefficients and the characteristic displacement from equilibrium of each component. The linearized theory is exact for small changes in concentration but needs further testing when the concentration changes and fluxes are large.