This paper deals with gas–liquid mass transfer in an aerated stirred tank containing Newtonian or shearthinning
fluids. The aim is to demonstrate that, for a given mixing system, an unique dimensionless
correlation gathering all the mass transfer rates (150 kla measurements) can be obtained if and only if the
variability of the rheological material parameters is correctly considered when implementing the theory
of similarity. More particularly, it is clearly illustrated that a too gross simplification in the relevant list
of the parameters characterizing the dependence of apparent viscosity with shear rates leads to pitfalls
when building the -space set. This is then a striking example showing that a robust predictive correlation
can be established when the non-constancy of fluid physical properties ceases to be neglected.