Industrial Training Report Research Packed Column

1.0 Introduction Fossil fuels supply more than 90% of the worlds energy needs.
However, the emission gas such as carbon dioxide will cause the greenhouse effect to the environment due to the combustion process of fossil fuels. CO2 gas is produced during the reaction contributes to additional absorption and emission of thermal infrared in the atmosphere and eventually results in the global climate changes. As a result, the elimination of CO2 from combustion process is an important issue for now. There are a number of technologies introduced for the CO2 capture such as absorption, membrane separation, cryogenic and etc. Other than fossil fuels, the CO2 capture of remaining commercial available fuel such as biofuel, coal biomass and natural gas is also our main concern. The main challenge according to CO2 capture technology is to reduce the overall cost by lowering both the energy and the capital cost requirements. Therefore, compromise between cost and efficiency for an available CO2 capture technology is very important. Commercial CO2 capture technology that exists today is very expensive and large energy usage. Besides, they are a number of relatively low cost CO2 mitigation technologies included improving energy supply and end-use efficiency by switching coal or oil to gas where possible, forestation, and inexpensive renewable energy application. Definitely they are sufficient for short term goals, but they will not be the final solution for longterm. 1.1 Objective Owing to the greenhouse gas emits mainly because of mankind activity, especially combustion, which is always happen in industries. Therefore the major effect of this will cause harm to human and also affect the climate change. Hence, the purposes of gas scrubber system introduced to the industries are shown as below: Minimize the greenhouse effect Meet the requirement of Clean Air Act Minimize the losses of solvent Maximize the efficiency of plant and design integrity
1 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower
2.0 Packing
Minimize the consumption of utilities
There is a variety of different packings in shape, size and performance are available and they can be classified into three categories: Random or dumped packings Structured packings Grid packings
Random packings are just dumped into the shell to give the packing pieces a random orientation. Structure packings are stacked in the shell to take the shape of a packed bed. Characteristics of tower packings Besides low cost, the desirable characteristics of packings are described below (Kister, 1992).
a) A large surface area: Interfacial area of contact between the gas and the liquid is
created in a packed bed by spreading of the liquid on the surface of the packing. Smaller packings offer a larger area per unit packed volume, but the pressure drop per unit bed height becomes more.
b) Uniform flow of the gas and the liquid: The packed bed must have a uniform
voidage so that a uniform flow of the gas and of the liquid occurs. The shape of the packing should be such that no stagnant pocket of liquid is created in the bed. A stagnant liquid pool is not effective for mass transfer.
c) Void volume: A packed bed should have a high fractional voidage so as to keep
the pressure drop low.

d) Mechanical strength: The packing material should have sufficient mechanical
strength so that it does not break or deform during filling or during operation under the weight of the bed.
e) Fouling resistance: Fouling or deposition of solid or sediment within the bed is
detrimental to good tower operation. Bigger packings are less susceptible to fouling. Also, the packings should not trap fine solid particles that may be present in the liquid.
Types of tower packings Tower packings are made of ceramics, metals or plastics. Kister (1992) and Larson (1997) identified three generations of the evolutionary process of the random packings.
Random
Structured
Grid
First generation Raschig ring, Lessing ring, Cross-partition ring, Berl saddle, Spiral ring.
Second generation Pall ring (plastic and metal) and its modified versions (like Flexiring, Hy-pac, etc), Intalox saddle and its modifications, etc.
Third generation IMPT (Norton), CMP (Norton, Glitsch), Nutter ring, Jaeger Tripac, Koch Flexisaddle, Fleximax, Norpac, Hiflow,etc
a) First generation random packings (1907 to mid-1950s): These included three
types of packings Raschig rings, Lessing rings and other modifications of the Raschig ring and Berl saddles. These are mostly packed randomly; stacked packings are used in only a few cases.
i.
Raschig ring: This is the oldest type of tower packing introduced by the German chemist F. Raschig in 1907. It is a hollow cylinder having a length equal to its outer diameter. The size of the Raschig ring ranges from inch to 4 inches. These rings are made of ceramic materials (unglazed porcelain), metals or plastics (e.g. high-density polyethylene, HDPE).
3
The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower
Metal or plastic rings are made by cutting tubes of a suitable size. The Raschig ring is probably the most rugged packing and can be used even when a severe bumping or vibrating condition may occur. Other members of the Raschig ring family are: (1) Lessing ring, which is similar to the Raschig ring except that it has a partition along the axis of the ring. The partition increases the surface area but the advantage is rather small in practice. This packing has not been quite popular. (2) The cross-partition ring that has two partitions instead of one in a Lessing ring. (3) The ceramic spiral ring that has an internal helix which creates internal whirl of the gas and of the liquid and enhances the rate of mass transfer. The latter two types are sometimes stacked in one or two layers on the support grid of a randomly packed tower. Although Raschig rings are still in use, the other variations of them are rarely used.
ii.
Berl saddle: The berl saddle is the first modern packing developed in the late 1930s. It is so called because it has the shape of a saddle. A packed bed of Berl saddles has a larger specific surface area (i.e. surface area per unit packed volume) and a smaller voidage than the Raschig ring. Compared to the Raschig ring, the pressure drop is substanitially less because of its aerodynamic shape. It has a rib on one surface that prevents possible overlapping of the surfaces of two adjacent pieces. Berl saddles offer higher capacity and a better performance than Raschig rings but are more expensive.
Raschig ring
Cross-partition ring
Lessing ring
Berl saddle
Figure 1: Various types of first generation random packing ring

b) Second generation random packings (mid 1950s to mid-1970s): The Intalox
saddle may be considered to be the first member of the second generation random packing developed by the Norton Chemical Products Corporation in the early 1950s. It is an improved version of the Berl saddle and offers lesse form friction resistance to gas flow. Because of its particular shape two adjacent pieces of the packing do not nest and hence a stagnant pool of liquid is not created between them. The area of the packing is almost fully utilized for effective contact and mass transfer between the gas and the liquid phases. Similar to the Berl saddle, it offers a larger specific interfacial area and a smaller pressure drop compared to the Raschig ring. However, Intalox saddles are better packing than the Berl saddles. Koch-Glitsch offers a similar ceramic packing under the trade name Flexisaddle. The Intalox saddle and its modified varieties are of ceramic or plastic make. The smooth edges of the Intalox saddle are scalloped and holes inserted to make the super Intalox. This design promotes quick drainage of the liquid, eliminates stagnant pockets and provides more open area, higher capacity and efficiency. Intalox snowflakes, introduced by the Norton Corp. in 1987, is a plastic packing of unique shape having a large number of liquid drip points, causing continuous renewal of the liquid surface and superior mass transfer performance. Pall rings: The pall ring and its modifications evolved from Raschig ring, It is made by cutting windows on the wall of a metal Raschig ring and bending the window tongues inwards. While a bed of saddles offers reduced form friction or drag because of the
aerodynamic shape, pall rings do so by allowing through flow of the gas, because direct passages on the wall are available. Since the interior surface is much more accessible to gas and liquid flow, the capacity and efficiency of the bed are enhanced. Similar packings are marketed by other companies under different trade names. The metal Hy-Pak Tower Packing of the Norton Corp., a slightly modified version of the Pall ring, has two bent tongues in each window and is claimed to have better efficiency. Ceramic Pall rings, which are Raschig rings with a few windows on the wall, have not been very popular.
Intalox saddle
Pall ring
Plastic Pall ring
Metal Flexiring (Koch Engg.)
Norton Hy-Pak ring (metal) Figure 2: Variouss type of second generation random packing ring
c) Third generationrandom packings (mid-1970s-): A pretty large number of metal
and plstic tower packings have been developed since mid-seventies that offer improved performance in terms of lower pressure drop, less weight, larger interfacial area and lesser liquid retention in the bed. Many of these packings evolved from the intalox saddle. The Intalox Metal Tower Packing (IMTP), a random packing developed by the Norton Corp., combines the high volume and even distribution of surface area of a Pall ring and the aerodynamic shape of the intalox saddle. The Fleximax is an open saddle type packing from Koch-Glitsch. Nutter rings have somewhat similar characteristics and are available in both metal and plastic. Several third generation random packings have been the offshoots of the Pall ring. The Cascade Mini-Ring (CMP) is similar to the Pall ring but has a height-todiameter ratio (aspect ratio) of 1:3 compared to 1:1 of the latter. Because of low height, such a packing element has a lower centre of gravity and therefore tends to orient with the circular open end facing the vapour flow. This reduces friction and enhances the mass transfer coefficient and effective surface area. The Chempak or Levapak ring is made by cutting the Pall ring in two halves, exposing the tongues and promoting better performance. The Jaeger Tri-Packs (metal or plastic) resembles the Pall ring but has a spherical shape. This packing offers more void volume and better distribution of surface area. It also prevents interlocking of the pieces in the bed. HcKp (from Koch), NOR PAC (from Nutter Engineering), LANPAC (from Lantec Products) are a few other third generation random packings.
Intalox metal tower packing (IMTP) Nutter ring
Cascade Miniring Figure 3: Various types of third generation random packing ring
d) Structure packings: Structured packings have emerged as the formidable
competitor of random packings since the 1980s (Helling and DesJardin, 1994; Bennett and Kovac, 2000). These are made from woven wire mesh or corrugated metal or plastic sheet. Their major advantages are low gas pressure drop (because of through flow of the gas) and improved capacity and efficiency. The first structured packing, called Panapak, made from thin metal strips to form a honeycomb-like structure did not gain much popularity because if severe maldistribution of liquid. Since the late 1970s and the early 1980s, Glitsch Inc., Sulzer and Nutter Engineering came up with acceptable high efficiency structured packings made of corrugated metal sheets or wire mesh.
Intalox high performance corrugated structured packing (made from thin metal sheets).
Flexeramic corrugated structured packing (Koch Engg.).
Montz B1 Structured packing (Nutter Engg. Corporation).
Sulzer wire-gauge packing CY
Figure 4: Various types of structure packing

i.
Corrugated metal sheet structured packing: There are quite a few tower packings of this category. These are fabricated from thin corrugated (or crimped) metal sheets. The surface of a sheet is often made embossed, textured or grooved to promote mixing and turbulence in the falling liquid film and thereby to increase the mass transfer coefficient and efficiency. A bunch of corrugated sheets are arranged parallelly, keeping a suitable gap between the adjacent members to make a packing piece. A number of such pieces are arranged and stacked one after another. A piece of packing above is rotated at a certain angle relative to the piece immediately below it. The height of a piece is typically 8 to 12 inches. The corrugation angle
9
of the sheets varies from 28o to 45o (Fair and Bravo, 1990; Olujic et al., 2001). Perforations are sometimes made on the sheets to provide channels of communication between the two surfaces of a corrugated sheet and to improve wetting of the surfaces. A larger corrugation angle increases the capacity in terms of the liquid load but reduces the mass transfer efficiency.
ii.
Wire mesh structured packings: Sulzer supply three types of such packing marked AX, BX and CY. The packing elements are made of corrugated layers of wire mesh. Sulzer packing type CY has a surface area of about 200ft2/ft3. Similar packings are marketed by Glitsch under the trade name Gempok, and by Norton Corp under the name Intalox High-Performance Wire Gauge Packing. Glitsch also developed Goodloe for which the knitted wire-mesh is used. A cylindrical tube made by knitting multifilament wires is flattened into a ribbon and then made in to a packing by corrugation. It has a surface area above 550ft2/ft3. Montz A packing (Nutter Engineering) is made from perforated wire mesh sheets with a specially contoured corrugation. The surface area is about 150ft2/ft3. This packing is similar to the Sulzer wire mesh packing.
iii. Table 1: Characteristics of a few structured packings Structured packing Material and surface Mellapak Metals, plastics; grooved and perforated Flexipak Gempak Montz MAX-PAC Similar to Mellapak Smooth or lanced Metals, plastics; embossed Metals; smooth; W-shaped perforations 45o Sinusoidal Sharp crimp angle
Crimp angle 45o or 60o
Area About 250m2/m3
Although developed in the late 1970s, the structured packings made visible inroads to separation technology in the late 1980s. The first major application was in air separation columns (Parkinson and Ondrey, 1997). The higher initial cost of such packings is amply compensated by the lesser operating costs because of lesser pressure drop across the bed. As a result, these packings have been very popular for use in vacumn distillation columns. The packings have high efficiency (low HETP) as well. Also, the well-defined geometric shape, particularly of those made from corrugated sheets, makes them amenable to theoretical analysis, modeling and scale-up (Fair and Sticklemayer, 1998). Now, the structured packings are being used for near-atmosphere services as well (Bravo, 1997). Another class of packings; so called grid packings, have been in use since long for high gas/ vapour capacities at a low pressure drop. Table 2: Common structured packings Supplier Sulzer Chemtech Koch Engineering Glitsch Inc. Nutter Engineering Co. Jaeger Products Materials for tower packings The common materials can be use for fabrication of tower packings are ceramic, metals, and plastics. There are few factors to be considered for the selection of a material for tower packings: Ease of fabrication Mechanical strength Corrosion resistance Structured packing Mellapak series Flexipak series Gempak series Montz series MaxPak series Metal grid packing Mellagrid series Flexigrid series C-Grid and EF-25 Grid series Snap-Grid series
Wet ability Ease of cleaning Cost
Ceramic packings declined in popularity since the advent of plastic packings. They are preferred for highly corrosive services; for example, the air-drying tower and SO3 absorption tower in a H2SO4 plant as well as for the operation at elevated temperatures. However, these have limited shapes (normally rings and saddles only), are prone to breakage, and require more downtime for filling, removal and cleaning. Metal random packings offer higher capacity, efficiency and turndown ratio because of a smaller wall thickness and more open area. Metal packings are unbreakable and have higher compression resistance but have less wet ability than that of ceramic rings. For corrosive services, a suitable type of stainless steel is used. Plastic packings are cheap, unbreakable, light, and corrosion-resistance. Common materials are polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, and poly-yinylidine fluoride. Plastic packings may be made into a large number of shapes. It is rather easy to fill them and clean them in situ by water or even stream, thus reducing the downtime to a tenth of that for ceramic packings. The disadvantages of plastics packings are: poor wet ability, brittleness at low temperature or on aging, tendency to degrade in an oxidative environment or when exposed to UV. Plastic packings are more expensive than the ceramic packings.
Capacity and Efficiency of Random and Structured Packing
Figure 5: Comparison of Structured packing and random packing (COLUMN INTERNALS n.d.) From the diagram above, it shows that the capacity of packing will increase when the packing factor decrease while the efficiency will increase when specific surface area of packing increase. Therefore, the result of capacity and efficiency of these two types of packing are shown as below, Table 3: Results of Capacity and Efficiency of Random and Structured Packing Capacity High Efficiency Low Type of packing used Structured and random packing can be used under the requirement when the packing factor and specific surface area decrease. Low High Structured and random packing can be used under the requirement when the packing factor increase and specific area increase too. However, from the figure above, structured packing is more preferable to achieve this performance. Low Low From the figure above, an increase in packing factor and decrease in specific surface will achieve this performance. Thus, random packing is more preferable under this performance.
High
High
In order to achieve this performance, an increase in specific surface area and decrease in packing factor will do. Thus, from the figure above, structured packing is more preferable under this performance.
3.0 Design and specification of a packed-bed tower 3.1 Packed-bed tower overview
Figure 6(a): Schematic diagram of a typical packed-bed tower
Figure 6(b): Diagram of a vapor distributor with packing support
Figure 6(c): Diagram of a trough-type distributor
Figure 6(d): Diagram of a typical perforated pipe distributor
Figure 6(e): Diagram of a liquid redistributor
Figure 6(f): Diagram of a hold-down grib Generally, packed towers are desirable whenever low pressure, whenever low holdup is necessary, and whenever plastic or ceramic construction is required. In addition, some of the newer structured (ordered) packings can provide more theoretical stages per unit of tower height than other tower such as tray tower. Especially in large diameter towers, liquid and vapor distribution are important considerations where others type of towers are lacking of. In large towers, the cost of packing and other required internals, such as liquid
distributors and redistributors can be the cheapest if compared to others tower; for example, cross-flow tray tower. Depth of plastic random packings may be limited by the deformability of the packing elements to 10-15 ft. For metal random packings, this height can be 20-25 ft. For both random and structured packings, the height between redistributors is limited to 20-25 ft. because of the tendency of the phases to lose the function of distribution. There are various kinds of internals of a generalized packed-bed tower are represented in Figure XX, the individual parts of which are described one-by-one: (a) is an example of a typical packed-bed column showing the inlet and outlet connections and a variety of possible packings. Note that both random and dumped packings are present as well as structured (ordered) packings. (b) is a combination packing support and vapor distributor used for beds of random packings. The serrated shape is used to increase the area for vapor flow. (c) is a trough-type distributor that is suitable for liquid rates in excess of 2gpm/sqft in towers 1ft in diameter and larger. In specialized forms, this type of distributor can be used in very large towers where caution must be taken not to ensure levelness of the device. Also, care must be taken not to starve the far notches from their equal share of liquid flow. Trough distributors can be fabricated form ceramic, plastic, or metal materials. (d) is an example pf a perforated pipe distributor, which is available in a variety of shapes. It is a very efficient type over a wide range of liquid rates but suffers from its likelihood of plugging from even minute-size solids in the liquid feed. In some large towers, spray nozzles may replace the perforations. (e) is a device to redistribute liquid, which has a tendency to flow toward the wall. It is sometimes called a wall wiper, and for structured packing elements, it is an integral part of the element.
(f)
is a hold-down grid to keep low density packings in place and to prevent fragile random packings, such as those made of carbon; for instance, from disintegrating because of mechanical disturbances at the top of the bed.
There are two features that should be maximized in packed-bed towers are:
(a) Open areathe average percentage of the cross-sectional area of the tower
not blocked by the packing, and hence available for the flow of vapor and liquid.
(b) Wetted surface areathe number of square feet of packing surface area
available for vapor-liquid contacting, per cubic foot of tower volume. For the larger in the open area of packing, the will be greater the capacity of a tower. The greater the wetted surface area of a packing, the higher the separation efficiency of the tower. For instance, a packing consisting of empty space would have lots of capacity but awful separation efficiency. In another way, a packing consisting of fine sand would have great separation efficiency but very low capacity. Therefore, the selection of packing for a column is a compromise between maximizing open area and maximizing the wetted surface area. Structured packing has about 50% more open area than random packings and two or three times their wetted-surface area. Hence, structure packing has largely replaced packing in the form of rings in many packed towers. In a packed-bed tower, the entire packed volume is used for the vapor-liquid contacting. This is comparable condition where the vapor-liquid contact occurs only on the 5 or 6 in. above the tray deck in a tray tower and the majority of the towers volume is not used to exchange heat or mass between vapor and liquid. Also, the entire cross-sectional area of a packed-bed tower is available for vapor flow while in a tray tower; the area used for the downcomer that feeds the liquid to a tray and the area used for fraining liquid from a tray are unavailable for vapor flow. Procedure of packing a tower
It is not advisable to pack a tower by dropping the packings into the tower from the top. Ceramic packing may break if dumped from above. Also the packings may not get spread uniformly; they may form a heap at the centre. A ring-type packing may roll down the heap and get a preferential horizontal orientation. There are a few common techniques (Figure XX) of installation of random packings. In the wet packing technique, popular with ceramic packings, the tower is filled with water or a suitable liquid and the packing is dumped into it. Plastic packings cannot be filled in this way because they will float in the liquid. Dry packing may be done by lowering the packing in a wire bucket that is led into the column through a manhole (Figure XX). The chute-and-sock method is also used (this technique is very useful for loading a solid catalyst in a reactor).
Figure 47: Techniques of filling a tower with random packings: (a) wet-packing by filling the tower with water, (b) dry-packing by lowering buckers filled with the packing, (c) the chute-and-sock method of packing, and (d) packing through a chute only (Chen, 1984). One rare occasion, a random packing like the Raschig ring is stacked in a column in layers. The flow channels in such a bed are regular and the gas pressure drop becomes less as a result. Structured packings are made in pieces to fit a column of given diameter and are stacked in an appropriate way. 3.2 Design of a packed-bed tower In order to choose a mechanically and commercially feasible scrubber system, the following factors have to be taken into account.
Efficiency Design variables Sizing Operation and maintenance Material used Costs
Efficiency The efficiency of an absorption process in part of the following: The solubility of the pollutant(s) in the scrubbing solvent Pollutant(s) concentration in the airstream being treated Temperature and pressure of the system Flow rates of gas and liquid (liquid/air ratio) Gas-liquid contact surface area Stripping efficiency of the solution and recycling of the solvent
In order to increase the higher absorption efficiency in a wet scrubber, the ability to increase gas-liquid contact will always significant. The absorption efficiency will also be improved in the scrubber if the temperature can be reduced meanwhile the liquid-to-air ratio increased. In addition, the actual design of the tower (diameter, height, depth of packed bed, etc.) will generally depend on the given vapor-liquid equilibrium for the specific pollutant/ scrubbing solvents. The type of tower used as mentioned before will affect the equilibrium as well. However, such data are not always available for all pollutants encountered in industry today. As if the data are available, empirical data will always be superior to theoretical
data for design purposes. Therefore, we can apply a similar type of pollutant having available data to model another system if such empirical data are not available for the corresponding pollutant with an added safety factor built into the design. Design variables Packed tower wet scrubber is commonly implemented in air pollution control installations. The configuration used is somewhat simplified. For example, the tower is packed with 2 in. ceramic Raschig Rings (note: 1 in. = 2.54cm) and the scrubbing liquor (absorbent) used is water. The water is sprayed from top and the slurry is collected at the bottom. The scrubbing liquor spray system is described as a once-through process with no recirculation. It should be noted that in a field installation, this once-through method has the consequence of sending a large flow of water to a treatment facility. This example is applicable for either organic or inorganic air pollutant control. In any absorption process, possible removal efficiency is controlled by the concentration gradient of the pollutant being treated between the gas and the liquid phases. As previously defined, this concentration gradient is the driving force to mass transfer between the phases. Therefore, the solubility of the given pollutant in the gas and liquid phases will determine the equilibrium concentration of the pollutant in the given example. If a pollutant is readily soluble in the scrubbing liquor, the slope m of the equilibrium curve is low. There is an inverse relationship between m and driving force; the smaller the slope, the more readily the pollutant will dissolve into the scrubbing liquor. This represents a high-driving-force system. Theoretical models of flow through a packed tower There have been a number of attempts to develop simplified models of two-phase (the gas and the liquid) flow through a packed bed for a better understanding of the flow phenomena as well as to theoretically determine the pressure drop and the flooding capacity. Any such model visualizes a simplified picture of the bed and of flow through it so as to make it amenable to theoretical analysis. There will be three models cited here.
a) The particle model: The packed bed is visualized as consisting of a number of
spheres of a size calculated on the basis of the void volume of the bed and the surface area of the packing (Figure XX). When the voidage is large (i.e. >0.4), the hypothetical spheres may not even touch each other (as if they remain suspended but stationary). The pressure drop across the bed is a result of drag of the following gas on the spheres. With increasing liquid flow, the void volume in the bed decreases, the size of the hypothetical spheres increases and the pressure drop also increases. In fact, an early version of the model was used by Ergan back in 1952 to develop an equation for pressure drop across a packed-bed of solid. Stichlmair et al. (1989) used this model to predict pressure drop and flooding for both random and structured packings.
b) The channel model: The packed bed is considered to act like a cylindrical block
with a number of uniformly distributed vertical channels in it. The hypothetical channel diameter can be calculated from the voidage and specific area of the packings. The liquid flows as a film along the walls of the cylinders and is subject to shear force at the gas-liquid interface because if the upflowing gas. Billet (1995) used this model to develop equations for gas-phase pressure drop and the condition of beginning of loading of liquid in the bed. Loading starts when the shear force at the interface is large enough to reduce the liquid and vapor velocities at the interface to zero. The flooding conditions were also analytically laid down as and [uL=uLfl and uG=uGfl]
Here uL is the superficial liquid velocity and hL is the liquid holdup in the bed. Billet (1995) and the German group used these criterion to determine the flooding capacity of the bed. The model has been criticized by some people because it visualizes the packing material to form a continuous medium. Nevertheless, it has been used by other people too (e.g. Rocha et al., 1993) to predict packed-bed pressure drop.
c) Percolation model: This model (Hanley, 1994) assumes that a part of the liquid
flowing through the bed gets accumulated in certain locations of the bed causing local blockage or localized flooding. This creates the enhanced pressure drop. The number of flooded locations increases with the increasing liquid rate. In a packed tower, on the other hand, the liquid flowing down through the packing remains in contact with the up-flowing gas at every point of the packed section. Also, the concentration of both phases change continuously. So, a packed column is called continuous differential contact equipment. Sizing of a packed column basically includes the following steps: (i) selection of the solvent; (ii) selection of packing; (iii) determination of the minimum and the actual solvent rate; (iv) determination of the column diameter; (v) determination of the packed height; and (vi) design of the liquid distributor and redistributor (if necessary), packing support and the gas distributor, design of shell, nozzles, column support, etc. (including selection of the materials to be used for the tower internals and to build the tower). The following items and variables should be known or available for design purpose:
(a) Equilibrium data (b) Flow rates and terminal concentrations of the gas and liquid phases
(c) Individual or overall volumetric mass transfer coefficients, sometimes called
capacity coeffecients (ky, kx, KG, KL, Ky, etc.). Design method based on the individual mass transfer coefficients
Figure 48: The parameters on the sizing of the packed tower Consider the packed-bed tower shown above; we use the mole fraction unit of the gas and the liquid-phase concentrations. The flow rates (G and L) are taken on the basis of the unit cross-sectional area [i.e. mol/ (time) (area)] and the specific interfacial area of contact between the gas and the liquid phases, , is taken on the basis of unit packed volume and has the unit of m2/m3 or ft2/ft3. We make a steady state mass balance over a small section of the column of thickness dh. The rate of flow of the solute (with the carrier gas) = Gy mol/ (time) (area). The change in the solute flow rate over the section= d(Gy); this is intrinsically negative in the case of absorption. Let NA be the local flux and ky be the individual gas-phase mass transfer coefficient. Then, the packed volume in the differential section for unit cross-sectional area of the bed= (1) (dh)
Interfacial area of contact in the differential section= () (1) (dh) Rate of mass transfer of the solute= () (dh) (NA) A mass balance over the elementary section of the bed yields () (dh) (NA)= -d(Gy)= -Gdy- ydG (1)
Since the carrier gas is not soluble, the change in the total gas flow rate is also equal to the rate of mass transfer of the solute, i.e. -dG= () (dh) (NA) Substituting Eq. (2) into Eq. (1), rearranging and putting NA= ky(y-yi), () (dh) NA (1-y)= -Gdy Thus, Integrating within the appropriate limits, we get (5) Evaluation of the integral above gives the height of the packing. The integration is not straight-forward, since the interfacial concentration yi is not explicitly known as a function of the variable y. The following steps should be followed in general (McNulty, 1994): (a) Draw the equilibrium curve on the x-y plane for the particular gas-liquid system.
(b) Draw the operating line from the material balance equation.
(2)
(3) (4)
(6) If the liquid mass flow rate (i.e. the rate of flow per unit cross-sectional area) is given, Ls is known. Otherwise, the minimum liquid rate on solute-free basis (Ls)min is to be determined following the procedure detailed in previous section. The
actual liquid rate Ls is taken as a suitable multiple (commonly 1.2 to 2 times) of the minimum rate. The outlet liquid concentration x1 is obtained from the overall material balance.
(c) Take any point (x,y) on the operating line, Figure XX. Using the known values of
kx and ky (or kx and ky), draw a line of slope kx/ky from the point S(x,y) to meet the equilibrium curve at R(xi, yi). So yi is known for the particular value of y. The line SR is called a tie line.
(d) Repeat step (c) for a number of other points on the operating line. If kx and ky or
their ratio are constant, a set of lines parallel to the one drawn in step (c) may be constructed. [Note that very often the mass transfer coefficients combined with the specific interfacial area (i.e. kx and ky), rather than kx and ky, are given or known.] Now we have a set of (y, yi) pair for y2 y y1.
(e) Calculate G= Gs (1+y) at each point. Note that Gs can be calculated from the given
feed gas flow rate.

(f) Calculate the value of the integrand fro a set of suitably spaced values of y.
Evaluate the integral in Eq. (5) graphically or numerically. The height of the packing can also be determined using other types of individual mass transfer coefficients (kx, kG, kL, Ky, Kx, etc.). The design equations given below can be derived following the above procedure.
(7) The height of the packing for a stripping column can be obtained in a similar way. But here y2>y1 and the gas-phase driving force at any point is yi-y. So the design equation corresponding to Eq. (5) becomes (8)
Figure 49: The flooding curve Design method based on the overall mass transfer coefficient If we express NA in terms of the overall mass transfer coefficient [NA= Ky(y-y*)], Eq. (4) becomes (9) Here y* is the gas-phase concentration (in mole fraction) that is capable of remaining in equilibrium with a liquid having a bulk concentration x. The required packed height is obtained by integration of the equation between the two terminal concentrations. (10) Graphical or numerical integration of the right-hand side of the above equation is simpler than that of Eq. (5). Plot the operating line, take any point (x,y) on the operating line, draw a vertical line through it and extend up to equilibrium curve to reach the point y*. If the values of the integrand for suitably spaced values of the variable y are calculated, the integral can be evaluated graphically or numerically. Design equations similar to Eq. (7) can be obtained when the overall coefficient is given.
(11) The locations of x, y, yi, y*, xi, x* are schematically shown in Figure XX. Design equations based on the overall coefficients for a stripping operation can be easily derived from above. Design method based on height of a transfer unit By using Eq. (5) and rewrite it in the following form (12) Where yiBM is the log mean value of yB [= (1-y)] defined as follows: (13) [Note that we are dealing with binary gas mixture in which B is the carrier gas (nondiffusing), and yB= (1-y); the suffix M means log mean.] The gas-phase mass transfer coefficient often varies as (G)0.8. Also, the Colburn-Drew mass transfer coefficient, ky= kyyiBM, remains independent of the prevailing driving force (but the coefficient ky depends upon the concentration through yiBM). As a result, the quantity G/ky(1-y)iM remains fairly constant over the packed section of the bed although the total gas mass flow rate, G, varies. Chilton and Colburn (1935) called this quantity height of a transfer unit based on the individual gas-phase coefficient or the height of an individual gas-phase transfer unit, denoted by HtG. Taking this quantity out of the integral sign, we may rewrite Eq. (12) as (14) Where
and
The following table summarizes the expressions for the various forms of HTUs and NTUs.
Figure 7: The NTUs and HTUs
Packed-bed mass transfer data for gas-liquid systems are often reported in terms of the height of a transfer unit. For a particular gas-liquid system, HTU depends upon the type of packing and the gas and the liquid flow rates. The HTU data on typical systems maybe obtained from the manufacturer of a particular packing. Some qualitative physical significance can be attributed to the HTU and the NTU. The HTU indicates inversely the relative ease with which a given packing can accomplish separation for a particular system. For a good packing (especially the one that provides more specific interfacial area of contact), the value of HTU is less and the packed height required for a specified degree of separation is smaller. The number of transfer units (NTU), on the other hand, indicates the difficulty of separation. The greater the extent of separation desired, the less will be the driving force available (particularly near the top of the column in case of absorption and near the bottom of the column in case of stripping), and the larger will be the NTU. A quantitative significance can be attributed to NTU in certain limiting cases. For example, in the case of absorption of a dilute gas [when (1y)*M/ (1-y)= 1], if the operating and the equilibrium lines are nearly straight and parallel, (y-y*) is approximately constant. So (15) If we consider one overall gas-phase transfer unit, i.e. if we put NtOG= 1 in the above equation, (y1-y2) (y-y*)av. Thus, a single transfer unit corresponds to the height of packing over which the change in gas concentration is approximately equal to the average driving force. If the equilibrium relation is linear with slope m (i.e. y *= mx or y= mx*) the heights of the individual and overall transfer units are related as follows (The derivation of these equations is left as an exercise). (16 a) (16 b)
The relations may be considerably simplified if the solute concentrations are low. For example, putting and We have ,
Where = L/ mG (= L/mG) is the absorption factor, and = mG/ L (= mG/ L) is the stripping factor. 3.3 Column diameter of a packed-bed tower Basically, the design of a packed-bed tower for a particular service involves a number of things such as the selection of solvent, the selection of the type and size packing, the determination of column diameter and height of packing, and the design of column internals.. So far as column internals are concerned, there is no well-defined procedure. It may be done by using the limited information available in the open literature and the manufacturers catalogue. In this section, we discuss one very important item of design; for example, the determination of the diameter of a packed column. There are broadly two approaches. One of the approaches; based on the determination of the flooding velocity by using the Eckerts GPDC chart, proceeds as follows. (i) From the total liquid and gas flow rates (either specified or calculated by material balance) the abscissa (i.e. the flow parameter, Flv) is evaluated. (ii) The value of the ordinate is obtained from the flooding curve and the mass flow rate of the gas at flooding is calculated. (iii) The operating gas flow rate is normally taken as 70 to 80% of the flooding velocity to guard against inherent errors in the flooding curve and also to keep some flexibility in the design to take care of any sudden surge in the gas flow rate. Once the design gas flow rate is fixed, the tower diameter and the pressure drop across the bed may be estimated. The latter is obtained from the same chart. An algebraic correlation fro the Eckerts flooding curve (and a dozen similar equations) has been given by Piche et al. (2001).
[G in lb/ft2.h; Fp in ft-1; in lb/ft3; in cP; gc in ft.lbf/lbm.s2] The second approach does not use the flooding curve at all because of its limited accuracy and applicability. The allowable pressure drop in the bed is taken as a basis of design and the Strigles GPDC chart is used directly. The value of the flow parameter is calculated and the capacity parameter corresponding to the allowable pressure drop is obtained from the chart. The column diameter is now easy to determine. The pressure drop at flooding for the particular packing can be calculated from the Kister and Gill equation. The gas velocity at flooding can also be calculated from these results. A step-by-step procedure is outlined in Ludwig (1997). A few practical values of the allowable pressure drop, P/L [(inch water)/ (ft packing)], (Ludwig,997) are: low to medium pressure column operation: 0.4-0.6; absorption or similar systems: 0.25-0.4 for non-foaming systems, 0.1-0.25 for foaming systems; atmospheric pressure distillation: 0.5 to 1.0 inch; vacuum distillation: 0.1-0.2. The recommended sizes of packing for different column diameters are: Dc<1ft, dp<1 inch; Dc= 1-3 ft, dp= 1-3/1 inches; Dc>3 ft, dp= 2-3 inches. Normally, dp/Dc ranges between 1/20 and 1/10. Limited data and information on pressure drop calculation for a bed of structured packings are available (Fair and Bravo, 1990; Strigle, 1994; Olujic et al., 2001). For the first generation random packings, the flood point pressure drop is about 2-2.5 inch water per foot of packed bed; for Paul rings, it is 1.5 inch per foot. For most modern packings, it is 0.5-1.5 inch per foot. Manufacturers of packings generally supply the pressure drop and flooding characteristics of their products as plots of P versus F s [=sG(G)0.5]. It may be noted that the quantity Fs is also taken as a measure of the capacity parameter or factor for flow through a packed tower at low-to-moderate pressure when G<<L. If enough data are available in the companys catalogue, it is desirable that the flooding point or pressure drop is determined by interpolation of the available data.
In order to maintain proper vapor distribution through the bed, the operating bed pressure drop should not be less than 0.1 inch water/ft. In a column operating near atmospheric pressure, the superficial gas velocity normally remains below 1m/s; the liquid velocity remains around 1cm/s. Common ranges of values of the more important packed-bed parameters are given in Table 41. Table 4: Ranges of a few important packed-tower parameters Random packing nominal size Bed voidage Dc/20 to Dc/10, Dc= column diameter 70 to 90% (more for structured packings)
Open area of packing support 70 to 85% or more (for gas/ liquid flow) Re-distribution of liquid Gas pressure drop Operating velocity Minimum wetting rate After 3 to 10 tower diameter (10 to 20 ft) Less than 0.5 inch water per foot bed depth 70 to 80% of flooding velocity 0.5 to 2gpm/ft2 for random packings; 0.1 to 0.2 gpm/ft2 for structured packings
3.4 Packing height of a packed-bed tower The concept of the analysis of a packed column is mainly on the method of transfer units. This method is more appropriate because the changes in compositions of the liquid and vapor phases occur differentially in a packed column rather than in stepwise fashion as in tray column.In this method, height of packing required can be evaluated either based on the gas-phase or the liquid-phase. The packed height (z) is calculated using the following formula: z=NxH Where,
N = number of transfer units (NTU) - dimensionless H = height of transfer units (HTU) - dimension of length The number of transfer units (NTU) required is a measure of the difficulty of the separation. A single transfer unit gives the change of composition of one of the phases equal to the average driving force producing the change. The NTU is similar to the number of theoretical trays required for tray column. Hence, a larger number of transfer units will be required for a very high purity product. The height of a transfer unit (HTU) is a measure of the separation effectiveness of the particular packings for a particular separation process. As such, it incorporates the mass transfer coefficient that we have seen earlier. Basically, the more efficient the mass transfer (i.e. larger mass transfer coefficient) the smaller the value of HTU. The values of HTU can be estimated from empirical correlations or pilot plant tests, but the applications are rather restricted. ["Principles of Unit Operations" 2nd Ed., Foust et al, p.391]
Figure 8: The mass flow diagram of the packed tower Determination of the packed height can be based on either the gas-phase or the liquidphase. For the gas-phase, we have: z = NOG x HOG
KY is the overall gas-phase mass transfer coefficient. "a" is the packing parameter that we had seen earlier (recall the topic on column pressure drop, e.g. Table 6.3) that characterize the wetting characteristics of the packing material (area/volume). Normally, packing manufacturers report their data with both K Y and "a" combined as a single parameter. Since KY has a unit of mole/ (area.time.driving force), and "a" has a unit of (area/volume), the combined parameter KY a will have the unit of mole/ (volume.time.driving force), such as kg-mole/ (m3.s.mole fraction). As seen earlier, other than mole fraction, driving force can be expressed in partial pressure (kPa, psi, mm-Hg), wt%, etc. y1* is the mole fraction of solute in vapor that is in equilibrium with the liquid of mole fraction x1 and y2* is mole fraction of solute in vapor that is in equilibrium with the liquid of mole fraction x2.
Figure 9: Mole fraction solute in vapor versus mole fraction solute in liquid (y1 - y1*) is the concentration difference driving force for mass transfer in the gas phase at point 1 (bottom of column) and (y2 - y2*) is the concentration difference driving force for mass transfer in the gas phase at point 2 (top of column). [Point P (x, y) as shown is any point in the column. The concentration difference driving force for mass transfer in the gas phase at point P is (y - y*) as shown previously, this time no subscripts are shown. ] NOTE: Both equilibrium line and operating line are straight lines under dilute conditions. Alternatively, equilibrium values y1* and y2* can also be calculated using Henry's Law (y = m x, where m is the gradient) which is used to represents the equilibrium relationship at dilute conditions. Thus, we have: y1* = m x1; y2* = m x2 Similarly for the liquid-phase we have: z = NOL x HOL
KX is the overall liquid-phase mass transfer coefficient and "a" is the packing parameter seen earlier. Again, normally both KX and "a" combined as a single parameter. Likewise, x1* is the mole fraction of solute in liquid that is in equilibrium with the vapor of mole fraction y1 and x2* is mole fraction of solute in liquid that is in equilibrium with the vapor of mole fraction y2. Refer to Figure 134 for finding values of x1* and x2* from the equilibrium line. Alternatively, x1* = y1 /m and x2* = y2 /m. (x1* - x1) is the concentration difference driving force for mass transfer in the liquid phase at point 1 (bottom of column) and (x2* - x2) is the concentration difference driving force for mass transfer in the liquid phase at point 2 (top of column). Table 5: Typical example of a packed-bed data-sheet (Basic design information and parameters)
3.5 Consideration Packing factor The Eckert chart contains a parameter Fp that characterizes the packing and is called packing factor (another notation Cf can be used to denote the same quantity). The packing factor introduced by Lobo in 1945 used to be taken as a p/3 (ap= surface area of the packing per unit volume; = void fraction of the packed bed). The packing factor could be calculated from these two properties of a packing. It was later found that the pressure drop and flooding data could be better correlated if the packing factor was taken as an empirical quantity. In fact, it is now taken to be so and is determined by experimental measurement of pressure drop across a packed bed and using the generalized pressure drop correlation discussed below. The values of Fp for different packings are supplied by the manufacturers. The packing factor and a few other characteristics of several random packings are given in the table below. The packing factor inversely indicates the capacity of a packing; the specific surface area indicates its mass transfer efficiency. It is intriguing that the values of the packing factor of the same packing obtained from different soruces are found to vary. Table 6: The information of particular packing
Liquid holdup In order to facilitate mass transfer on the packed-bed surface, there must be a reasonable liquid holdup in the bed. However, excessive holdup increases pressure drop over the bed and is also undesirable if the liquid is heat-sensitive. Generally, it ranges from a few percent to about 15% of the bed volume. There are two types of liquid holdup (expressed as volume of liquid per unit bed volume) have been defined. Static holdup: It is the amount of liquid remaining in unit volume of the bed after the bed is drained for a reasonable time. It is insignificant compared to the total holdup. Operating holdup (hLo): It is the difference between the total holdup and the static holdup when the bed is in operation. The is another term dynamic holdup to denote the scenario. Several correlations for estimation of the quantity are available (Kister,1992). A recent correlation (Engel et al., 1997) for hLo (volume fraction of the bed) given below is claimed to have an error within 16% for most systems.
Minimum wetting rate (MWR) It is the liquid throughput below which the film on the packing surface breaks up reducing the wetted area. A liquid rate below MWR is too small to wet all the packing surface. The effective interfacial area of the gas-liquid contact decreases and the efficiency of mass transfer decreases as a result. Among the many correlations available for its prediction, the one due to Schmidt (1979) has been found to work very well.
Minimum liquid rate for random packings is reported to lie in the range 0.5-2 gpm/ft2 (1.25-5 m3/m2h); for structured packing it is 0.1-0.2 gpm/ft2 (0.12-0.25 m3/m2h).
Flooding in a packed tower Knowledge of the hydrodynamic and mass transfer characteristics of a packed bed tower such as the influence of the flow rate of the gas and of the liquid on pressure drop, liquid holdup and the gas- and the liquid-phase mass transfer coefficients in the bed is essential for the design of such a device. Bed pressure drop and the phenomena of loading and flooding The liquid distributed on the top of a packed bed trickles down by gravity. Flow of the gas is pressure-driven and the pressure is generated by a blower or a compressor. The gas undergoes pressure drop as it flows through the bed because (i) both skin friction and form friction, (ii) frequent changes in the flow direction, and (iii) expansion and contraction. When the packing is dry (there is no liquid throughput), the maximum area for flow of the gas is available. However, when a liquid flows through the bed, a part of the open space of the bed is occupied by the liquid (called liquid holdup in the bed) and the area available for gas flow decreases. This is the reason where the increasing liquid throughput results in the increasing pressure drop of the gas. Typical gas flow rate vs. pressure drop curves on the log-log scale for a dry bed (no liquid flow) and for two constant liquid rates are qualitatively shown in the figure below.
Figure 10: Pressure drop curves on the log-log scale The plot is linear for a dry bed. For an irrigated bed, such a curve is nearly linear with a slope of about 2 in the lower region (i.e. P varies nearly as the square of gas rate). The
slope of the straight section, however, decreases slightly at higher liquid rates. If the gas rate is increased at a constant liquid rate, the drag of the gas impedes the downward liquid velocity. The liquid holdup in the bed increases as a result. This steady increase in the pressure drop continues till the point B (Figure XX) is reached. At the point B and beyond, the upflowing gas interferes strongly with the draining liquid. Over the region BC, accumulation or loading of the liquid starts. The point C is called the point of incipient flooding. If the gas flow rate is further increased, the liquid accumulation rate increases very sharply. Liquid accumulates more in the upper region of the bed almost preventing the flow of gas. This phenomenon is known as flooding. The bed becomes flooded (point D) when the voids in the bed become full of liquid and the liquid becomes the continuous phasea case of phase inversion. The definition of flooding, suggested by Bravo and Fair (Kister, 1992) states that: It is a region of rapidly increasing pressure drop with simultaneous loss of mass transfer efficiency. The visual and physical symptoms of flooding are: (i) accumulation of a layer of liquid at the top of the bed, (ii) a sharp rise in pressure drop, (iii) a sharp rise in liquid holdup in the bed, and (iv) a sharp fall in mass transfer efficiency. While the operation of the column becomes very unstable over the region CD and the mass transfer efficiency drops significantly, some researchers have reported a reasonably stable operation beyond the point D. This is because beyond the point D, the column operates like a bubble column with gas-liquid upflow. Prediction of pressure drop and flooding In order to come out with a complete design of packed towers, the prediction of the flooding point and pressure drop is essential. Charts, correlations and theoretical models have been proposed for this purpose. Every packing has its own geometrical and surface characteristics. Pressure drop per unit bed height as well as the flooding characteristics are also different for individual packings even when all other parameters including nominal packing size remain the same. However, it is not very realistic to work out separate carrelations for pressure drop (and for mass transfer) for packings of different
types and sizes. Instead efforts were made to develop a generalized pressure drop correlation (GPDC) that would be applicable to all kinds of random packings. The idea of a GPDC was first introduced by Leva (1954). The major variables and parameters that determine the pressure drop and flooding characteristics are: (i) the properties (density, viscosity and surface tension) of the fluids and (ii) the packing type and its features (size, voidage and surface area and surface properties). A number of charts and correlations have been proposed by the US School (led by Leva, Eckert, Strigle, and Kister, to name a few; see Kister, 1992) during the last fifty years. A second group of charts and correlations have been proposed by the German School (led by Mersman, Stichlmair, Billet and others; see Billet, 1995). Some of the correlations have a semi-theoretical basis and include adjustable constants specific to a group of packing. Recently, Piche et al. (2001) reviewed all important correlations proposed for the flooding point coming from US and German Schools. These researchers also proposed a new correlation developed by using artificial neural network (ANN) technique to 1019 data sets reported by different workers.
Figure 11: Eckerts curve The GPDCs proposed by Eckert (1975 and before) of the erstwhile Norton Company have been widely used for packed tower design. The 1970-version (Figure XX) gives a
number of constant pressure drop curves and a flooding curve. It works well with most first generation packings but not for several second generation packings and smaller modern packings. Eckerts 1975 version omitted the flooding curve because such a curve always has a doubtful accuracy. For first generation packings, the packing factor is high (generally above 60ft-1) and the pressure drop is P/L 2 inches of water per foot packed height at incipient flooding. Eckerts chart wa). Eckerts chart was further refined by Strigle (1994) using a data bank of 4500 pressure drop measurements on beds having different types and sizes of packings as well as using different liquids and gases. The Strigles version (Figure XX) is now most popular for packed tower design (Larson and Kister, 1997). The error in pressure drop prediction is claimed to be within 11% for normal ranges of operation. It has a flow parameter as the abscissa and a capacity parameter as the ordinate.
Figure 12: Strigles curve Flow parameter, Capacity parameter, in ft/s Interestingly, the abscissa and the ordinate of the Strigles chart resemble the corresponding quantities of Fairs flooding chart for a tray tower. The flow parameter Flv, represents the square root of the ratio of liquid and vapor kinetic energies. The ordinate
describes a balance between forces due to vapor flow (that acts to entrain swarms of liquid droplets) and the gravity force that resists entrainment (Kister, 1992). Here F p is a characteristic parameter of the packing, called the packing factor. The quantity Cs, which is akin to the Souders-Brown constant, may be corrected for changes in interfacial tension and viscosity, if necessary. [ in dyne/cm, in cP] Strigles chart also excluded the curve for pressure drop at flooding. However, the curve for P/L= 1.5 inches water per foot is considered to represent the incipient flooding condition. Kister and Gill (1991) proposed the following correlation for flood point pressure drop in terms of the packing factor. (inch water/ft; FP in ft-1) Robbin (1991) proposed another set of correlations for pressure drop prediction over a wide range of operating conditions. For dry bed pressure drop at nearly atmospheric pressure, he suggested the following equation. (inch water/ ft) Here G is in lb/ft2.h, and G is in lb/ft3. The above equation has an important application. The dry bed packing factor Fpd of any packing, which is now considered an empirical quantity, can be calculated from the above equation by measuring the pressure drop across an esperimental packed bed. However, the packing factors for dry and irrigated beds are likely to be different. The dry bed pressure drop can also be calculated using the Erguns equation. 3.6 Mass transfer efficiency A parametric study of carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption performance into an aqueous solution of monoethanolamine (MEA) in the spray column was carried out experimentally over wide ranges of process conditions. The performance of the spray was interpreted in terms of the overall mass transfer coefficient, KGae and was found to vary
with process parameters, including gas flow rate, liquid flow rate, CO2 partial pressure, MEA concentration, CO2 loading, and size of spray nozzle. The performance of the spray column was compared to that of a packed column and showed a promise for CO2 capture application. The mass transfer performance was determined in terms of the volumetric overall mass transfer coefficient by using the following equation
Where GI is inert gas flow rate in kmol/m2.hr, P is total pressure on the system in kPa, Z is column height in m, yCO2,G and y*CO2 are mole fraction of CO2 in gas stream and equilibrium mole fraction of CO2, and YCO2,G is mole ratio of CO2 in gas stream.
(a) CO2 partial pressure (kPa)
(b) Gas flow rate (MEA concentration)
(m3/m2.hr)
(c) Gas flow rate (liquid flow rate)
(d) CO2 loading (mole CO2/ mole
MEA) (m3/m2.hr)
(e) Liquid flow rate (CO2 loading)
(f) liquid flow rate (CO2 loading) (m3/m2.hr)
(m3/m2.hr)
Figure 13: Effect of parameters on the performance
Effect of parameters on the performance of the packed-bed tower

a) Effect of CO2 partial pressure. KGae decreases with CO2 partial pressure. By
considering mass flux of CO2 absorption (NCO2), an increase in CO2 partial pressure leads to an increasing amount of CO2 transferred into liquid phase. However, the increasing mass flux occurs in a lower extent compared to the change in partial pressure, causing KGae to reduce as partial pressure increases. This may be caused by the restricted diffusion and amount of reactive MEA in the liquid phase. The mass transfer may be mainly controlled by CO 2 reaction in the liquid, thus resulting in only a small change in the amount of CO 2 absorbed as the partial pressure increases.
b) Effect of gas flow rate. KGae increases with gas flow rate to a certain point and
then remains constant. This suggests the gas-phase controlled mass transfer takes place at low gas flow rates and the liquid-phase controlled mass transfer takes over at high gas flow rate. In general, as the gas flow increases the amount of CO 2 molecules available for the absorption increases. This would lead to a higher mass transfer flux. However, the overall rate of gas absorption is not only dependent upon the gas flow rate, but also the liquid flow rate and availability of reactive MEA in the liquid which as seen in this case controls the rate of mass transfer after the gas flow rate reaches the point.
c) Effect of liquid flow rate. KGae increases with liquid flow rate. This is because
increasing the liquid flow increases effective interfacial area (ae), between liquid and gas. Note that KGae increases more rapidly at low flow rates compared to at high flow rates. The rapid increase was caused by (1) a reduction in size of spray droplets from larger diameter to smaller diameter, thus resulting in an increase in droplet surface area per unit volume of dispersed liquid and (2) an increase in number of droplets produced by the nozzle and also the surface area available for mass transfer. At the high liquid flow rate, the reduction in droplet size by the increasing liquid flow is insignificant, leaving the increasing number of spray
droplets to be the primary factor that defined the lower increase in mass transfer performance.
d) Effect of MEA concentration. KGae increases with MEA concentration. This is
due to the fact that the increasing MEA concentration yields a higher amount of the active MEA available to diffuse towards the gas-liquid interface and react with CO2. This finding differs from the behavior observed in the packed column in that the KGae of packed column decreases by 5% for every molarity of MEA increasing. Such decrease in KGae is caused by an increase in solution viscosity. This shows that the solution viscosity is more influential on the effective area in the spray column than in the packed column.
e) Effect of CO2 loading. KGae decreases with CO2 loading. This is due to the fact
that as the CO2 loading increases the amount of active MEA decreases, causing the KGae to decrease.
f) Effect of nozzle size. It was found that KGae of a larger nozzle is lower that of a
smaller nozzle at the low end of liquid flow rate. This is because the spray of the lager nozzle is not fully developed, resulting in a lower effective area (ae). As the liquid flow rate increases, the spray is more fully developed with the smaller liquid droplets that offer higher ae, causing the KGae to increase accordingly. 3.7 Packed-bed tower internals Bed limiter Table 7: The information of bed limiter Bed limiter Structured packing bed limiter (Noninterfering) Random packing bed limiter (Noninterfering) Diameter Specification All column Minimizes interference of high diameters performance liquid distributors Contour
All column diameters
Requires no vessel attachments Minimizes interference of drip point from high performance liquid distributors
48
Random packing bed limiter Structured packing bed limiter/ Liquid distributor support
All column diameters
Fastens to vessel wall For use with traditional distributors Supports tubular, channel or trough type liquid distributors Used for large diameter columns to reduce structural components Provides limited uplift resistance
All column diameters with structured packing
Support plates Every packed-bed will need a support. However, there are some factors to be considered in choosing the design of a packing support which is compatible to the corresponding packed-bed. It must physically retain and support the packed-bed under operating conditions in the column including but not limited to packing type and size, design temperature, bed depth, operating liquid holdup, material of construction, corrosion allowance, and material buildup in the bed and surge conditions. It must have a high percentage of free area to allow unrestricted counter-current flow of down coming liquid and upward flowing vapor. The specified flow rate at the time of order placement will not limit the capacity of the packing they retain. Generally, a gas-injection type support is available for random packings due to the separation passages for liquid and vapor flow so that the two phases do not compete for the same opening. Packing elements are retained with specific slot openings while the contour of the support provides a high percentage of open area. On the other hand, structure packings allow itself to be supported by a simple open grid structure due to the inherent construction of the packing.
Table 8: The information of packing support Support plates Structured packing support grid Random packing gas injection support plate Random packing gas injection support plate Light duty random packing support plate Diameter All column diameters Specification Supports all sheet metal or wire gauze packings Contour
36 in. [900 mm] Gas injection design
12-48 in. [3001200 mm] 4-36 in. [100-900 mm]
Gas injection design
Low hydraulic loading, low support strength requirements
Table 9: The information of liquid collector Liquid collector Deck style Diameter All diameters Specification For total or partial liquid draw-off Suitable to feed a liquid distributor or trayed section below 40 in. [1000 Permits thermal mm] expansion Total or partial liquid draw 25-40% open area 30 in. [760 mm] High vapor capacity Low pressure drop Can be used for drawoff or collection of liquid between packed-beds Contour
Trough style
Chevron vane
Distributor Low flow rate ( 20gpm, 50m3/m2h) Distributor Channel distributor with bottom orifices Channel distributor with drip tubes Tubular distributor Trough distributor with enhanced baffle plates Pan distributor with V-Notch risers Trough distributor with drip tubes Re-distributor availability Yes Yes No No No No Turndown ratio 2:1 2:1 2:1 (5:1 if sufficient column height) High turndown ratio is available 2:1 (10:1 when using multilevel orifices at each discharge conductor) 2.5:1 Flow rate 2-16gpm/ft2 (5-40 m3/m2h) 0.3-12gpm/ft2 (0.75-30 m3/m2h) 0.3-8gpm/ft2 (0.75-20 m3/m2h) 0.3-8gpm/ft2 (0.75-20 m3/m2h) 1-8gpm/ft2 (2.5-20 m3/m2h) 0.3-20gpm/ft2 (0.75-50 m3/m2h) Contour
Pipe-arm distributor with orifices
No
1.5-10gpm/ft2 (4-25 m3/m2h)
High flow rate ( 20gpm, 50m3/m2h) Distributor Deck distributor Pan distributor Pan distributor with bottom orifices Deck distributor with bottom orifices Trough distributor with bottom orifices Trough distributor with weirs Spray nozzle distributor Enclosed channel distributor for offshore applications Re-distributor availability Yes Yes No Turndown ratio 2:1 2:1 2.5:1 Flow rate 4-80gpm/ft2 (10-200 m3/m2h) 2gpm/ft2 (5 m3/m2h) 1-30gpm/ft2 (2.5-75 m3/m2h) 1-50gpm/ft2 (2.5-120 m3/m2h) 1-20gpm/ft2 (2.5-50 m3/m2h) 2-40gpm/ft2 (5-100 m3/m2h) 0.2-50gpm/ft2 (0.5-120 m3/m2h) 1-30gpm/ft2 (2.5-75 m3/m2h) Sample
Yes
2.5:1
No
2:1
No
2.5:1
No
2:1
No
4.0 Carbon Dioxide Capture System Equipments
Figure 14: Carbon Dioxide Capture System Split flow configuration (Vozniuk 2010)
Figure 15: Carbon Dioxide Capture System (Alstom and American Electric Power to Bring CO2 Capture Technology to Commercial Scale by 2011 2007)
By comparing both figures above, it could provide the information about the essential equipment being used in the carbon dioxide capture system. Below are the list of the equipments being used and their function, Table 10: Essential Equipment of Carbon Dioxide Capture System Essential Equipment Absorber (Packed Bed Scrubber) Heat Exchanger Desorber/Stripper/Regenerator Condenser Pump Reboiler Reflux Drum/Liquid Separator Solvent Cooler
Table 11: Optional Equipment of Carbon Dioxide Capture System Optional Equipment Semi Lean Flash Drum Semi Lean Cooler Reclaimer Feed gas cooler
Table 12: Function of equipments Equipment Absorber Function It is function as the place to allow the feed stream components, such as hydrogen, sulfur, carbon and others come in contact with the solvent that absorb CO2 Solvent cooler It is function as a tools to cool down the solvent that recycle back from desorber in order to allow more absorption of CO2 Heat Exchanger The type of heat exchanger being used is shell and tube. For the hot stream, it is consist of the solvent that already absorb CO2 and leave the absorber. On the other hand, the cold stream consists of solvent that required cooling down to allow more absorption of CO2. Therefore, it is function as the tools to heat up the solvent leave the absorber but before entering desorber and cool down the solvent before reuse again to absorb CO2 in absorber at the same
time Flue gas cooler It is the place allows the hot feed stream being cooled by cooling water so as to achieve acceptable absorption efficiency. Desorber In the desorber, the CO2 will be emerged and also allow removing of water and traces of solvent. The CO2 being released will become concentrated with water before proceed to transportation and storage Reboiler It is function as a tool to boil the water that being removed in the desorber and transfer back to the desorber to drive the separation process. At the same time, the solvent that being separated in the desorber will recycle back to the absorber for absorption of CO2 Condenser It is a device to reduce a gas or vapour into liquid. Beside that, it is operated by removing the heat from the gas or vapour, once the heat being eliminated, the liquefaction will occur. Reflux Drum It is a device to separate water from reflux when distilling particular substance. Beside that, it also provides more time for the operator to respond if they have exceeded the condensers capacity. Furthermore, it also provides a place from which noncondensable vapors may be vented. Water wash It is a place to balance water in the system and to remove any solvent droplets or solvent vapour carried over in order to prevent excess emissions of solvent together with vent gas. Reclaimer Semi Lean Flash Drum It is a device used to remove the solids and degradation product. It is a device used to recover solvent under split flow configuration of carbon dioxide scrubbing process. The purpose of introducing it can reduce the reboiler duty. Semi Lean Cooler Its function same as solvent cooler.
4.1 Troubleshooting Absorber Table 13: Troubleshooting of Absorber(Amine Basic Practices Guidelines 2007) Problem: Differential pressure consistently low (normally 0.1-0.2 psi/tray) Cause Consequence Action Possibly tray damage Poor efficiency, offMechanical repair spec treated gas Problem: Differential pressure gradual increase Cause Consequence Action Possible fouling Flooding, poor Cleanout, identify root cause (eg. efficiency, off-spec Corrosion) treated gas Problem: Differential pressure sudden increase, erratic action Cause Consequence Action Foaming, flooding Poor efficiency, liquid Add antifoam (discriminately), carryover, general plant upset reduce gas and/or liquid rates, check relative gas/amine temperatures to determine likelihood of hydrocarbon condensation, check feed gas for entrained hydrocarbon Problem: Low feed gas flow rate Consequence Action Reduced amine Reduce amine flow, supplement demand, potential reduction in mass feed gas with recycle or clean gas if warranted
Cause Upstream process change
Cause Upstream process change Cause Change in controller status or supply
transfer due to weeping Problem: High feed gas flow rate Consequence Action Increase amine demand, Increase amine flow possible jet flooding Problem: Low amine Flow rate Consequence Action Potential reduction in Adjust conditions determining rate acid gas recovery
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pressure Cause Change in controller status of supply pressure Problem: Low feed gas temperature (normally 80-120 F) Cause Consequence Action Change in upstream Reduced acid gas Increase temperature of feed gas process and/or ambient conditions Cause Change in upstream process and/or recovery in extreme and/or amine cases Problem: High feed gas temperature Consequence Action Potentially reduced acid Decrease feed gas temperature, or gas recovery increase amine flow rate to Problem: High amine Flow rate Consequence Action Increased utility Adjust conditions determining rate consumption
ambient conditions improve heat balance Problem: High lean amine temperature (90-130F) Cause Consequence Action Change in upstream Potentially reduced acid Increase lean amine cooling process and/or ambient conditions gas removal due to poor equilibrium at high absorber temperature. Excessive moisture in treated gas, with potential downstream condensation and resultant corrosion/fouling Problem: Low lean amine temperature Consequence Action Potentially reduced acid Reduce lean amine cooling or gas removal from high viscosity or low rate of supply heat
Cause Change in upstream process and/or ambient conditions
reaction Problem: Low lean amine/feed gas temperature Differential (normally lean amine at least 10 F hotter than feed gas)
Cause Change in upstream process and/or ambient conditions
Consequence Condensations of hydrocarbon, potentially resulting in foaming and/or
Action Increase lean amine temperature
Cause Overcirculation
emulsification Problem: Low rich amine loading Consequence Action Excessive utility Reduce amine circulation rate consumption Problem: High rich amine loading Consequence Action Reduced acid gas Increase amine circulation rate removal, corrosion
Cause Undercirculation
Flash drum Table 14: Troubleshooting of flash drum(Amine Basic Practices Guidelines 2007) Problem: High pressure (45-65 psig for no rich amine pump while 0-25 psig with Cause Excessive hydrocarbon in rich amine rich amine pump) Consequence Action Regenerator foaming, SRU Correct absorber operation, upset or fouling clean up amine, add antifoam, skim hydrocarbon from flash drum Cause System venting to atmosphere or relief system Problem: Negative pressure Cause Consequence Action Relief stack draft causing a Air may be drawn into Adjust relief system vacuum on the system flash drum and contaminate the amine or
Problem: Low pressure Consequence May not get into the regenerator
Action Find the source of leaking
pressure to hold positive pressure on drum

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Cause Hydrocarbon carryover from absorber
cause an explosive mixture Problem: High flash gas rate Consequence Action Foaming and reduced acid Correct absorber operation, gas absorption (possible violation), foaming in regenerator (SRU upset) clean up amine, add antifoam, skim hydrocarbon from flash
drum Problem: High hydrocarbon level (normally 0-5 % level above amine) Cause Consequence Action Insufficient skimming Amine foaming, SRU Increase skim rate, check upset gas and liquid absorber operation hydrocarbon carryunder Cause Water leaking into system, absorbers returning amine inventory, absorber level problem, imbalance in amine flows Cause Dehydrating amine system, absorber upset and holding up or losing amine, foaming in absorbers or regenerators, or system losses Problem: Low amine level Consequence Action Flash gas or liquid Add amine or condensate hydrocarbon carryover in rich amine to regenerator due to low residence time for gas or liquid hydrocarbon separation (SRU upset) to plant, find leak or loss Problem: High amine level Consequence Action Amine carryover into gas Remove some amine from system, diluting amine strength plant. Check amine strength
Lean/rich exchangers
Table 15: Troubleshooting of lean/rich exchangers(Amine Basic Practices Guidelines 2007) Problem: High rich amine temperature Consequence Action Flashing and corrosion in Check amine flows, exchangers and possibly bypass hot lean regenerator inlet amine flows Problem: Low rich amine temperature Consequence Action Poor stripping in Check all temperatures for regenerator and/or increased reboiler steam demand Problem: High pressure Consequence Reduced circulation, reduced heat transfer, high lean amine temperature and low regenerator feed preheat poor performance (fouling), clean exchangers
Cause Low fuel rate
Cause Exchanger fouling
Cause Fouling, equipment of failure
Action Locate the point of high pressure drop
Regenerator/Stripper/Desorber Table 16: Troubleshooting of Regenerator(Amine Basic Practices Guidelines 2007) Problem: Low or decreasing reflux drum pressure Cause Consequence Action Failed pressure controller, Upset of or shutdown of Determine cause for loss loss of reboiler heat containment downstream sulfur unit, shutdown of feed or heating medium, install reflux purge and clean water backup to control corrosion. Minimize velocities by optimizing steam consumption.
source, loss of feed, loss of release to atmosphere, unit
Problem: High or rising reflux drum pressure Cause Consequence Action Downstream unit Relief, unit shutdown, Reduce feed, reduce problems, blocked outlet line, failed pressure controller, flooded vessel, excessive reboiler duty, hydrocarbon contamination reduced heat input, increased lean loadings, decreased throughput, or upset accelerate amine degradation reboiler duty, drain hydrocarbons from flash drum, raise reflux liquid gas product, drain hydrocarbon liquid from reflux drum, shutdown and clean overhead line Problem: High top pressure for conventional condenser/drum overhead systems Cause Condenser fouled and plugged on the process side, condenser fouled on the cooling media side, loss of cooling media (normally 5-15 psig) Consequence Upset of downstream sulfur unit, foaming and excessive entrainment, relief, unit shutdown, acceleration of amine loadings, reduce Action Reduce feed, reduce reboiler duty, drain hydrocarbons from flash drum, steam overhead line, drain hydrocarbons from clean overhead line
downstream unit shutdown temperature, steam out
degradation, increased lean reflux drum, shutdown and throughput Problem: Sudden loss of rich amine feed rate Cause Consequence Action Loss of flash drum or Loss of throughput, loss of Check rich flash drum contactor levels, flow control failure, plugging from corrosion products or salts, high regenerator pressure treating capability, SRU upset level control, check contactor level control and flows, check rich amine feed circuit or plugging in valves, orifices filters or exchangers. Remove heat stable salt anions and sodium, remove degradation products
(reclaim), check for hydrocarbons to regenerator Problem: Gradual decline in rich amine flow rate Cause Consequence Action Declining rich amine flash Loss of throughput, loss of Balance flows in and out drum level resetting flow, plugging from corrosion products or salts, leaks or open drains treating capability of system. Check for contactor foaming or upset. Check for maintenance activity (filter changes, equipment draining). Balance reflux purges and makeup water rates. Problem: Sudden loss of acid gas product rate Cause Consequence Action Loss of feed, loss of Loss of throughput, loss of Restore feed. Restore reboiler heat input, downstream unit shutdown, plugged overhead line, pressure controller failure, loss of containment, tower internals malfunction Problem: Sudden increase in acid gas product rate Cause Consequence Action Hydrocarbon intrusion into Amine carryover, Skim rich amine regenerator, foaming, tower internals upset/shutdown of downstream sulfur unit flash/reflux drums for hydrocarbon, change treating capability, relief, unit shutdown reboiler heating media. Steam out of otherwise heat overhead line; raise reflux or pump around return temperature
malfunction carbon filter Problem: Lean loading exceeds spec/treated gases and liquids fail to meet spec Cause Consequence Action Insufficient reboiler heat Off-spec products, Increase reboiler heat input caused by: insufficient heating media excessive corrosion input, decrease circulation, increase amine strength,
supply, over-circulation, fouled lean/rich exchangers, fouled reboiler, loss of regenerator level, leaking lean/rich exchangers when rich amine exceeds lean amine pressure, caustic contamination
remove heat stable salt anions and sodium, clean fouled exchangers, check sodium level
Problem: Little or no tower pressure drop Cause Consequence Action Loss of feed, loss of High lean loadings to off- Determine reason for loss reboiler heating media, tray blowout, tower spec products, unit shutdown downstream of feed, determine reason for loss of heating media
internals malfunction sulfur unit shutdown Problem: occasional sudden rise in tower pressure drop then returning to Cause Foaming, hydrocarbon intrusion from flash drum, hydrocarbon refluxed to tower, reboiler heat input flunctuations, tower internals malfunction normal Consequence Amine and/or hydrocarbon carryover into downstream sulfur unit, high lead loadings leading to offspec products, tray blowout Action Determine
composition of reflux to stop amine loss, if high in amine stop purge of reflux to stop amine loss, if high in hydrocarbon increase purge Test feed and bottoms for foaming tendency, add antifoam until pressure drop is normal Monitor carbon filter, change if
63
necessary Skim rich amine flash drum and reflux drum for hydrocarbon Ensure proper levels are maintained in rich flash and reflux drum, check level instruments Check reboiler heating medium control for flunctuating pressure, temperature, or flow Reduce feed rate Reduce heat input
Problem: Gradual buildup or sudden permanent buildup of tower pressure drop Cause Consequence Action Reduced throughput, high Buildup of Discontinue corrosion products causing tray plugging, damage Excessive corrosion rates caused concentrations in reflux, insufficient heat input leading to excessive lean loadings, under-circulation leading to excessive
lean loadings leading to off-spec products, increased energy consumption, reduced circulation leading to higher corrosion rates, increase filtration costs and increased plugging
antifoam additions and change carbon filters to prevent antifoam buildup and foaming episodes Remove heat stable Remove amine salts anions and sodium degradation products (reclaimer) Shutdown and chemical or water wash
64
by high ammonia/amine higher rich loadings,
rich loadings, high heat stable salt anion content Excessive particle accumulation caused by poor filtration, increased filter pore size to control filter replacement cost, filter replacement, accumulation of particles in rich amine
tower Reduce filter pore size. Clean rich amine flash drum bottom Add additional filtration upstream of regenerator Keep lean loadings minimal, keep rich loadings at or below recommended levels
flash drum Problem: Low top temperature for conventional condenser/drum overhead Cause Insufficient heat input, too cold reflux or pumparound return temperatures, reflux level or pumparound flow control valve failure, excessive rich loadings, tower internals malfunction Problem: High top temperature for conventional condenser/drum overhead Cause Too high heat input, loss of reflux or pumparound cooling media, too low loadings system Consequence Overtax overhead system leading to excess water loss and poor downstream sulfur unit feed, increase amine in reflux water by entrainment and/or vaporization, increase
system Consequence Increased lean loadings leading to off-spec products
Action Raise reboiler heat input. Raise reflux or pumparound return temperatures. Raise condenser cooling media temperature
Action Reduce reboiler duty Re-establish condenser/pumparound cooler cooling media Reduce circulation
corrosion rates throughout regenerator, accelerate amine degradation, excess energy costs
Reflux Drum Table 17: Troubleshooting of Reflux Drum (Amine Basic Practices Guidelines 2007) Problem: Acid gas product/Reflux temperature reads below 90 F (normally 90Cause Too much cooling media, too cold cooling media, insufficient heat input, reflux level control problem, pumparound temperature control problem 130 F) Consequence Plugged overhead line with hydrates of NH3 Action Confirm instrument Cut cooling media
readings rate or raise its temperature Raise reboiler heat input
Reflux Pump Table 18: Troubleshooting of Reflux Pump(Amine Basic Practices Guidelines 2007) Problem: Loss of reflux Consequence Increased amine strength leading to heat/mass transfer problems or pumping problems, loss of levels reducing circulation and throughput
Cause Control failure, loss of feed, loss of reboiler heating media, leaks, plugging, loss of cooling media, fouled or plugged overhead exchanger, pump failure
Action Check controller,
insure correct valve trim and metallurgy unit Determine if heating media lost,
66
Determine if feed
lost, correct upstream
correct supply problem Determine if cooling media lost or restricted Cause Controller problems, insufficient reboiler heat input, plugging, pump problems Problem: Reflux ratio too low Consequence High lean loadings leading to off-spec product Action Check/repair Raise reboiler heat Clear plugging in
controller input
reflux system Problem: Loss of pumparound flow Cause Consequence Action Loss or decline in heat Excess water to Increase heat input input, increase in rich loadings, loss of cooling media, leaking draw tray, insufficient makeup water, too large purge rates, coolant side of exchanger fouled downstream sulfur unit, increase in pressure which raise temperatures which accelerates corrosion, erratic amine strengths to reboiler Increase lean Restore cooling Compute water circulation media flow balance and adjust purge/makeup Clean pumparound cooler Problem: Increase in pumparound flow Cause Consequence Action Improper water balance, Erratic amine strengths, Compute water too low tower top temperature setting, condenser leak plugged overhead lines balance and adjust purge/makeup rates Raise tower top Analyze chloride
temperature
level of amine, shutdown and repair condenser
Lean amine cooler Table 19: Troubleshooting of lean amine cooler(Amine Basic Practices Guidelines 2007) Problem: High temperature (Normally 90-130 F) Cause Consequence Action Cooler bypass open, Close cooler bypass, Reduced removal exchanger fouling, loss of cooling water efficiency Hydrocarbon vaporization in liquid/liquid contactors calculate heat transfer coefficients and clean exchangers, check cooling water supply, rapid loss of cooling may be an indication of mechanical problems Cause Cooler bypass closed, loss of heat to regenerator Problem: Low temperature Consequence Condensation of hydrocarbons in absorbers Action Open cooler bypass Check regenerator
bottoms temperature for deviation Cause Fouling, equipment failure Problem: High Pressure Consequence Reduced circulation or high lean amine temperature leading to offspec product, reduced heat transfer Action Locate the point of high pressure drop
Reboiler Table 20: Troubleshooting of reboiler(Amine Basic Practices Guidelines 2007)

Problem: Low reboiler temperature Cause Consequence Loss of reboiler heating High lean loadings leading media, fouling of reboiler or lean/rich exchangers due to excessive corrosion rates, failure of reflux/pumparound control leading to overcooling, loss of contaminant to off-spec product, emission of toxic gases to atmosphere
Action Confirm initial and
final state and flows of heating media and calculate duty to exchanger Compute tower Compute required heat balance heat requirement and compare to available heat Compute reboiler and lean/rich exchanger heat transfer coefficients to determine fouling. Clean exchangers if fouled. Isolate leak Remove heat stable Remove amine
salts and anions degradation products (reclaim) Problem: High reboiler temperature Cause Consequence Action Tower overhead or acid Increased corrosion rates Clear overhead line gas product line plugged or pressure control problem, too hot heating leading to filter plugging and equipment fouling and plugging, corrosion pressure restrictions Confirm temperature and
media, too high heat input, hydrocarbon incursion causing higher pressure, high heat stable salt anion and sodium content, improper circulation of amine through reboiler, improper design of reboiler, high amine degradation product levels
damage leading to reboiler failure, decreased throughput, acceleration of amine degradation
pressure of heating media, adjust as needed Skim rich flash drum/reflux drum for hydrocarbons Decrease reboiler Remove heat stable Remove amine Evaluate heat heat input salt anions and sodium degradation products transfer equipment for coefficient and hydraulics Clean reboiler and/or lean/rich
exchangers Problem: Loss of heating media flow Cause Consequence Action Controller failure, loss of Loss of treating capability, Restore supply of supply, condensate system bottleneck off-spec product heating media Lower condensate system pressure
Reclaimer Table 21: Troubleshooting of reclaimer(Amine Basic Practices Guidelines 2007) Problem: Low steam rate Consequence Action Low boil up, extended Increase steam flow until reclaiming run bumping or violent boiling
Cause Improper setting, or controller malfunction
is heard, then reduce slightly Cause Improper setting, or controller malfunction Problem: High steam rate Consequence Action Bumping, carryover of Decrease steam flow until salts into regenerator, inability to clean up MEA Problem: High feed rate Consequence Carryover of salts into regenerator, inability to clean up MEA Problem: Low feed rate Consequence Exposed tubes may cause thermal degradation of amine on hot tube surface Problem: Low temperature Consequence Action Thermal degradation of End the batch run, stop MEA, possible corrosion steam flow, or, if steam, pressure is problem reduce it as appropriate bumping of violent boiling is no longer heard Action Re-adjust level
Cause Improper set point or controller malfunction
Cause Improper set point or controller malfunction
Action Re-adjust level
Cause High steam pressure (above about 90 psig) or salt concentration in reclaimer too high
4.2 Maintenance plan for Carbon Dioxide Capture System Table 22: Maintenance Plan of Carbon Dioxide Capture System(Example Packed Bed Wet Scrubber Agency Operation & Maintenance Plan n.d.) Daily Check all the indicators, such as pressure drop indicator, temperature indicator
and others to ensure that they are not out of the normal operating range. If one of them out of the normal operating range (to be specified by the facility), corrective action is recommended to be taken within 8 hours to return the parameter to normal. Conduct observation of the stack and areas adjacent to the stack to determine
if droplet reentrainment is occurring. The sign of droplet reentrainment may include fallout of solid-containing droplets, discoloration of the stack and adjacent surfaces, or a mud lip around the stack. If the droplets reentrainment is occurring, corrective action is recommended to be taken within 8 hours. Weekly Check liquid pressure gauges on supply headers to the scrubber to monitor for problems such as nozzle pluggage, header pluggage and nozzle erosion. Pluggage problem are indicated by higher than normal pressure and erosion problem indicated by less than normal pressure. If the liquid pressure is out of normal operating range (to be specified by the facility), corrective action is recommended to be taken within 8 hours. Quaterly (quarter of a year) Conduct a walk around inspection of the entire system to search for leaks. If there is leaking detected in the system, the appropriates action is recommended to be taken within 8 hours Semi-annually Conduct an internal inspection of the system to search for signs of: Corrosion and erosion Solids deposits in the equipments Plugged or eroded spray nozzles If any of these condition exists, the appropriate action is recommended to be taken within 8 hours
5.0 Cost Estimation Scrubbing Reagent Below are the estimated specification and the market price of the scrubbing reagent. Table 23: Estimated specification of Scrubbing Reagent Specification Operating Temperature (C) Operating Pressure (bar) Inlet Solvent Flow Rate (kgmole/h) MEA content in amine (mass %) Total usage (kgmole/month) Monoethanolamine (MEA) 40 1 148000 29 28416000 Potassium Carbonate (K2CO3) 40 1 148000 28416000
Table 24: Market Price of Scrubbing Reagent Scrubbing Reagent Monoethanolamine (MEA) Potassium Carbonate (K2CO3) Primechem Malaysia Sdn Bhd RM 6.50 / kg Best Chemical Co. (S) Pte Ltd RM 6.80 / kg RM 5.90 / kg
6.0 Recommendation From the technology available to capture carbon dioxide, there are still a lot of improvements to go in order to enhance the performance of Carbon Dioxide Removal Process. Therefore, there are some modifications can be made, such as produce a hybrid system, which is the combination of advantages of two or more different technologies. For example, combination of membrane technology and absorption technology result in gas absorption membrane. Beside that, algae can remove carbon dioxide as well. Therefore, plantation of algae near the source of CO2 can be one of the solutions for the climate change issues. In addition, adsorption technology and cryogenics need to be developed further in order to increase their performance before being commercialized since it is cheaper compare with absorption technology. On the other hand, it is the same goes to scrubbing reagent. So that, it may produce better scrubbing reagent for carbon dioxide removal by increasing its capacity. Furthermore, there are some research mention that room temperature ionic liquid can be used as the scrubbing reagent as well but still under research phase. Therefore, it got potential to classify as scrubbing reagent in the future.
7.0 Conclusion As a conclusion, packed bed scrubber is the type of scrubber that most often used in the carbon dioxide capture system. Inside the packed bed scrubber, the internals involved are spray nozzle, packing, packing support and mist eliminator. However, the scrubbing reagent being used depends on the concentration of carbon dioxide in the feed stream, which means using of physical solvent for higher concentration of carbon dioxide in feed stream and chemical solvent for lower concentration of carbon dioxide. Beside that, by conducting this project, it has met the objective of understanding the purpose of gas scrubber system being used in the industry. However, it is still under development stage to enhance its performance even there is a lot of CO2 capture already exists in the world. This is because the carbon dioxide being produced more than the amount that can be absorbed by the technology. Therefore, the best solution in preventing the greenhouse gas effect effeciently is still an unknown.
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9.0 Appendices Appendix A: Learning Outcome Academic From this industrial training, the learning outcome from the aspect of academic are shown as below: Learn about the process need to be go through in order to fabricate some of the equipments, such as pressure vessel and heat exchanger Learn about the types of machine involved to fabricate a particular product Learn about the components that used together with fabricating a particular product, such as flanges, gasket and others Learn about the safety and precaution when working in the engineering factory Learn more about welding process, such as welding tools, the way of welding working, welding consumables parts and others Learn about the side factors need to be considered in order to accomplish the particular product
Learn one of the major problem faced by the industry, which is the effect of greenhouse gas
Learn the way available to solve greenhouse gas effect of industry Learn the flow of carbon dioxide scrubbing process and some different flow configuration in order to achieve cost effective
Learn the transport and storage of carbon dioxide under carbon dioxide capture and storage technology
Learn the consideration that involved in order to choose the best option for the scrubbing process, such as scrubbing reagent, packed bed scrubber internals and others
Learn the problem that may occur in the system and the action to fix it
Non-academic From this industrial training, the learning outcome from the aspect of non-academic are shown as below: Learn about the culture and principle of the company in working Learn the way of communicate with supplier Experience the working life as a research engineer Experience the working environment of an engineering company, which is team work environment Learn better way to manage the workload given in order to be punctual Experience the realistic side of a company during working
Expose to the strategy of a company in order to go through numerous challenges and survive in this competitive era
Realize the important of action and planning in the way to achieve the target Being shared with the success story of the company and realize the process in order to develop the company from nothing become better
Comment During this industrial training, overall is good. This is because the tasks given involved different attribute can be learned, such as experience on building up a pilot plant and research on the renewable energy technology. Beside that, looking deep into the equipments already fabricated and process already used in the factory in order to look for further improvement, such as filter vessel and plasma arc welding. Then, it does help us learn a lot from the aspect of academic and non-academic as an eye opener to the industry.
However, there are some recommendations as well. Firstly, the company may provide more practical work instead of research work. For example, arrangement of intern student to experience about the welding process, which mean work on our own hand under a qualified welder by using the waste material. The benefit of this practical work is providing more knowledge for the way of welding, such as the angle of welding, welding joint and others instead reading on the guideline only. Beside that, we can know better about the proper consequence of welding from the aspect of quality. Furthermore, we may work in this industry in the future, so that, we can perform as well instead of only know the knowledge. Hence, thats all my comment and recommendation regarding to this industrial training and I did appreciate this opportunity to join the training programme provided. Thank you.
Appendix B: Advanced Research and Development Pathways Below are the future pathways of the research on carbon dioxide capture technology in order to achieve improvements, such as reduce energy consumption for solvent recovery stage, potential scrubbing reagent and others, Solid Adsorbents Metal-organic Frameworks Functionalized Fibrous Matrices
Poly (ionic liquid)
Structured fluid absorbents CO2 hydrates Liquid crystals Ionic liquid
Non-thermal regeneration method Electrical Swing Adsorption Electrochemical methods
Remarks: Before proceeding to the advanced research topic, there are some researches still need to be done, which are the controlled system needed for the carbon dioxide capture system, the control loop, the complete cost estimation of carbon dioxide capture system.

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1.0 Introduction Fossil fuels supply more than 90% of the worlds energy needs.

Minimize the consumption of utilities

the pressure drop low.

e) Fouling resistance: Fouling or deposition of solid or sediment within the bed is

a) First generation random packings (1907 to mid-1950s): These included three

The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

4 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

Figure 1: Various types of first generation random packing ring

Plastic Pall ring

Metal Flexiring (Koch Engg.)

6 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

7 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

Intalox metal tower packing (IMTP) Nutter ring

8 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

Flexeramic corrugated structured packing (Koch Engg.).

Montz B1 Structured packing (Nutter Engg. Corporation).

Sulzer wire-gauge packing CY

Figure 4: Various types of structure packing

The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

Crimp angle 45o or 60o

Area About 250m2/m3

11 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

Wet ability Ease of cleaning Cost

12 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

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14 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

Figure 6(a): Schematic diagram of a typical packed-bed tower

Figure 6(b): Diagram of a vapor distributor with packing support

15 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

Figure 6(c): Diagram of a trough-type distributor

Figure 6(d): Diagram of a typical perforated pipe distributor

Figure 6(e): Diagram of a liquid redistributor

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17 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

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21 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

a) The particle model: The packed bed is visualized as consisting of a number of

22 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

23 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

24 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

feed gas flow rate.

27 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

28 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

Figure 7: The NTUs and HTUs

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30 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

31 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

33 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

34 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

35 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

36 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

37 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

38 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

39 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

(a) CO2 partial pressure (kPa)

(b) Gas flow rate (MEA concentration)

45 The Realization of a Packed-bed Tower

(c) Gas flow rate (liquid flow rate)

(d) CO2 loading (mole CO2/ mole

(e) Liquid flow rate (CO2 loading)

(f) liquid flow rate (CO2 loading) (m3/m2.hr)

Figure 13: Effect of parameters on the performance