Review article number 50 - The Maxwell-Stefan approach to mass transfer

The limitations of the Fick's law for describing diffusion are discussed. It is argued that the Maxwell-Stefan formulation provides the most general, and convenient, approach for describing mass transport which takes proper account of thermodynamic non-idealities and influence of external force fields. Furthermore, the Maxwell-Stefan approach can be extended to handle diffusion in macro- and microporous catalysts, adsorbents and membranes. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.