The effects of Reynolds number, Schmidt number and power law index (n) on the mass transfer characteristics of a single spherical bubble rising in an incompressible power law fluid have been investigated numerically for the 2-D axisymmetric and steady flow over the ranges of conditions as 5 ≤ RePL ≤ 100, 1 ≤ Sc ≤ 1000 and 0.7 ≤ n ≤ 2. Based on the present numerical results, a simple mass transfer correlation is developed to estimate the value of Sherwood number in a new application. Furthermore, the variation of the local Sherwood number over the surface of the bubble has also been analyzed to delineate the effects of Reynolds number, Schmidt number and power law index (n) on mass transfer from a bubble, thereby showing the extent of mass transfer from the front and the rear parts of the bubble. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.