AbstractThe earlier work of Calderbank and Moo‐Young (1961) dealing with the liquid‐phase mass transfer coefficient in gas‐liquid dispersions is examined. Their well‐known empirical correlations for small and large bubbles which are free to move under gravity are theoretically derived. The analyses are based on the approach for natural convection mass transfer, and include the case where the fluid is non‐Newtonian. The predictions of the models are compared with reported experimental data and cor