Problem 1/03:

25 points in total

Absorption of SO2 in water

In the 1970s, when a lot of new flue gas purification processes were developed, one of the ideas
to separate sulphur dioxide from waste gases was the simple physical absorption in water. Your
task is to determine the number of transfer units in a pilot plant absorption column, if pure water
is used as a washing agent!
From an oxygen free inlet gas with a total flow of 192m/h at 20C and 1bar total pressure 90%
of the SO2 is to be reduced. The inlet concentration of SO2 in the inlet is 21,1g/m.
In the absence of oxygen the equilibrium of SO2 between water and the gaseous phase at 20C is
reported to:
X (kgSO2/kg inert H2O)
Y (kgSO2/kg inertgas)
Mwaste gas = 0,028kg/mol

0,001
0,01

0,0015
0,018

MSO2 = 0,064kg/mol

0,002
0,026

0,003
0,044

Mwater = 0,018kg/mol

Solution guide line :

a)

Sketch a counter current flow absorption process with all influents and effluents and a
regeneration!
3 points

b)

Transfer the equilibrium data from mass load to molar load, draw a X-Y-diagram with the
equilibrium line and the operating line for the minimum flow of water! Determine the
minimum flow!
12 points

c)

Assume, that the real flow of water is 25% higher than the minimum flow and calculate
the number of transfer units by a numerical integration method!
10 points

Problem 4/11:

25 points in total

Improving the Heat of Combustion of Biogas by Absorption of CO2 in NMP

Instead of burning biogas in a block type power plant it can be injected into the net for natural
gas, if the content of methane is increased to 95%. Your task is the layout of an absorption tray
column for reduction of CO2 in a volume flow of biogas of 720mi.N./h from 45 vol% to 1,5vol%
with N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone (NMP) at 30C and 20bar! The regenerated NMP contains a load
of 0,0025mol/mol CO2!
Minert biogas = 0,016kg/mol

MCO2 = 0,044kg/mol

MNMP = 0,099kg/mol

Solution guideline:
a)

Sketch the counter current flow absorption process with all influents and effluents and a
regeneration!
3 points

b)

Draw a X-Y-diagram with equilibrium line and operating line for the minimum flow of
NMP at 30C and 20bar! The Henry-coefficients are to calculated analogues to the
Antoine equation:
A: 23,3317ln(N/m)

B: 2868,39K

C: +78,20C

Assume ideal gas law in the gaseous phase! Determine the minimum flow of NMP and
estimate the number of theoretical trays in case of 20% increase in the molar flow of
NMP! Calculate the mass flow of NMP! (for total number of points accurate diagram
200mm * 250mm required!)
13 points
c)

Complete the calculation by determination of the NTU! The total mass transfer resistance
is on the gaseous side only!
9 points

Problem 1/10:

25 points in total

Absorption of BTX
With further decrease of resources of natural gas the importance of gasification of coal or
biomass will grow rapidly. From synthetic natural gas (SNG) basic chemical materials will be
produced or just separated e.g. aromatic hydrocarbons in form of BTX. The molar fraction of
BTX in SNG is around 1.5%.
Your task is the estimation of the theoretical number of trays in an absorption tray column by
construction in a X/Y-(load)-diagram in order to get basic information about the separation
process! Take benzene as a placeholder for BTX and a high boiling washing oil (hydrocarbon the partial pressure of the hydrocarbon in the gaseous phase is negligible) as absorption agent.
The temperature is constant at 25C at ambient pressure and the mixture between benzene and
the high boiling hydrocarbon can be assumed as an ideal mixture. The high boiling hydrocarbon
is regenerated by distillation and therefore the inlet molar fraction of benzene in the washing oil
is 0,5mol%! The separation efficiency (recovery) should be 90%!
Solution guideline:
a)

Sketch the absorption process (with regeneration of the hydrocarbon by distillation)!

3 points

b)

Determine the molar load of benzene in the gas inlet and in the liquid inlet and the vapour
pressure of benzene at 25C (Antoine equation)! Calculate the molar fraction (and load)
in the gaseous phase for different molar fractions (and load) in the liquid phase (0.05; 0.1
and 0.15) under the assumption of an ideal mixture. Draw the equilibrium line in an X/Ydiagram!
A: 20,7937ln(N/m)

B: 2788,51K

C: -52,36C
10 points

c)

Draw the operating line of the minimum liquid flow! Calculate the minimum ratio of
liquid to gaseous molar flow! The real ratio is 1.5 times higher than the minimum ratio!
Estimate the number of theoretical trays in the column by a step-to-step construction.
12 points

Formulas
~y p
~
total = p partial = x p vapour

Mass Balance:

& liquid X + N
& gas Y = N
& liquid X + N
& gas Y
N
inert
i, in
inert
i, in
inert
i, out
inert
i, out
1atm = 1,0325bar = 103250Pa = 760Torr = 760mm Hg

=
Lmin

G (Yin Yout )
= the minimal liquid flow
[Yin {Yin ( K 1) + K }] X in

Yout =

g
N& solute
N& g

inert _ gas

Xin

g
N& solute
Yin =
g
N& inert
_ gas

Xout =

~
X =

x
1 x

also

~
X
x=
~
1+ X

and

~
Y =

g
N& solute
l
N& solvent

y
1 y

also

~
Y
y=
~
1+ Y