GAS ABSORPTION OPERATION

Gas absorption is a mass transfer process in which one or

more substances (known as solutes) is/are removed from a
gaseous mixture by contact with a liquid solvent. An example
of gas absorption is the removal of ammonia from air by
contact with liquid water. Ammonia is very soluble in water
whereas air is not. The part of the gas mixture that is not
dissolved in the solvent is known as the carrier gas. In this
example, ammonia is the solute gas, air is the carrier gas
while water is the liquid solvent.
Gas absorption should not be confused with the stripping
operation.
Stripping is a mass transfer operation whereby the
components of a liquid mixture are separated by contact
with a gas. In gas absorption and stripping there are usually
at least three components and usually only one or a few
components are transferrable across the phase boundary.
Figure 1: Schematic diagram showing the difference
between gas absorption and stripping
The term stripping is also known as desorption, and the
componenets of the liquid mixture can be all liquid or liquid
and gas for example after a gas absorption process, the liquid
mixture from the absorber may be subjected to desorption
so as to free the absorbed gas solute and recover the liquid
solvent for reuse.
In proceeding, we shall take a cursory look at the concept of
gas solubility. As is clearly seen in the above definitions of
gas absorption and gas stripping, the solubility of gases in
liquids is basically exploited in the seperation process. So in
order to understand these processes, we must understand
the concept of dissolution of gases in liquids. Solubility is in
general the property of a solid, liquid, or gaseous chemical
substance called solute to dissolve in a solid, liquid, or
gaseous solvent. Thus, gas solubility in liquids is the property
of a gas which affords it the ability to dissolve in a liquid.
Henrys Law is used to quantify the solubility of gases in
liquids. The solubility of a gas in a liquid is directly
proportional to the partial pressure of that gas above the
solvent. This relationship is written as:
=

Where KH is a temperature-dependent constant (L.

atm/mol), p is the partial pressure (atm), and C is
the concentration of the dissolved gas in the liquid
(mol/L). The solubility of a substance fundamentally
depends on the physical and chemical properties of the
 solute and solvent as well as on temperature, pressure
and the pH of the solution.

Some examples of industrial gas absorption processes are

given below:
Table 1 : Examples of Industrial gas absorption processes

EQUIPMENT FOR GAS ABSORPTION/ DESORPTION

Gas absorption and desorption operations can be conducted
using tray columns as in distillation. However, the tray
efficiency for gas absorption operations is much lower (about
ten times lower) for absorption processes compared to
distillation. For this reason, tray columns are seldom used for
absorption processes. A more viable alternative is the Packed
Tower Absorption Column.
 Figure 2: A Schematic of a Packed Tower Absorption
Column

A packed tower is simply a tube or pipe, which is filled with

some sort of packing. The packing consists of particles
about an inch in diameter.
 Figure 3: Types of Tower packings
Raschig ring: The raschig ring tower packing is one of the
most widely used tower packings. It is a piece of pipe which
has been cut into cylindrical segments whose length and
diameter are about the same.
Lessing ring: As shown in the figure above, the Lessing ring is
similar to the Raschig ring but has an extra partitioning
running through it.
Partition ring: The partition ring packing has a hollow
cylindrical shape just like the Raschig and Lessing rings but
with a cross-partitioning running through it.
Other tower packings include the Berl Saddle, Intalox saddle,
Tellerette, Pall ring etc.
The liquid stream is usually fed into the top of the tower
while the vapour is fed into the bottom of the tower thereby
creating a counter-current flow of the two streams thereby
enhancing mass-transfer rates.
The tower packings help to promote good contact between
the phases by dividing the two feed streams into many
parallel interconnected paths. There is need for a device
known as a distributor in packed towers so as to ensure
adequate packing irrigation, else some of the packings in the
tower would not come in contact with the liquid flowing
downwards as shown in the diagram below; Such an
occurrence whereby there is inadequate contact between
the liquid and tower packings due to the liquid not evenly
distributed throughout the tower is known as Channelling.

Figure 4: Liquid distribution and packing irrigation (a)

Without Distributor (b) With Distributor
A typical distributor is shown below;
Figure 5: Weir-trough Liquid Distributor.
Also, there is need for redistributors at every 10-15 feet along
the length of the tower depending on the overall length of
the tower due to the possibility of channelling occurring as
the liquid trickles down the length of the tower.
Stage-wise gas absorption equipment and Continuous gas
absorption equipment.
Stage-wise gas-absorption equipment:
The stage-wise gas absorption equipment basically entails
the Tray Tower Absorption Columns made up of individual
plates which serve as equilibrium stages for the absorption
operation. A Stage in a tray tower constitutes of an
individual tray as well as the entire absorption process which
takes place on that individual tray. The stages (individual
trays and absorption operation on each tray) in a plate
column are arranged in such a way that the liquid and
gaseous phases flow counter currently to each other. Such an
arrangement of stages in series involving counter-current
contacting is known as a Cascade. A schematic diagram of a
Tray Tower absorption column is given below;

Figure 6: A Schematic of a Tray tower gas-

absorption column
A tray column as shown above primarily consists of a vertical
cylindrical shell and a set of tower internals that include (i)
trays or plates on which the gas-liquid contact occurs, (ii)
arrangements for flow of the liquid from one tray to the
lower one through the downcomer, and (iii) inlet and outlet
nozzles for the two phases.
Continuous Gas-Absorption Equipment:
The commonest type of a continuous gas-absorption
equipment is the Packed Tower Absorption Column already
discussed above. The Liquid and gaseous phases are in
continuous intimate contact throughout the length of the
packed tower. The operation is not divided into stages as is
the case with tray columns.
As already stated above the typical tray efficiency for a gas-
absorption operation is very low compared to when it is used
for other operations such as distillation, thus packed column
absorption towers are better favoured for gas-absorption
operations.

Factors Affecting the Selection of Solvents in Gas-

Absorption Operations
The general factors affecting the selection of an appropriate
solvent for gas-absorption operations are given thus;
i. Solubility: A choice solvent is one which will
dissolve the solute gas without substantially
dissolving the carrier gas. In the gas mixture, there
may be two or more solutes with similar chemical
attributes and it is required to remove only one of
them, in such a scenario we would require a solvent
that is selective towards the particular solute that
we desire to remove. A practical example of this is
 in the sweetening of natural gas by removing H2S
from it. Natural gas contains both CO2 and H2S
which are similarly soluble in a good number of
solvents. However, to preferentially remove H2S,
we would need a solvent such as N-methyl
diethanolamine (MDEA) that would dissolve most
of the H2S while dissolving only very little of the
CO2.
ii. Volatility: A good solvent should have a low
volatility so as to minimize solvent-loss due to the
solvent being vaporized and carried along by the
carrier gas.
iii. Viscosity: A good solvent would have a low
viscosity so that it flows easily and would not
require so much agitation for effective phase
contact.
iv. Corrosiveness: A solvent should be non-corrosive
or less-corrosive so as to minimize the equipment
and maintenance costs for the gas-absorption
operation.
v. Cost: An ideal solvent should not be so expensive
that the overall economy of the process becomes
foreboding.
vi. Hazard and Toxicity: A less hazardous and non-
toxic or less-toxic solvent is generally desired for
gas-absorption operations.

CALCULATIONS FOR DETERMINING MINIMUM

SOLVENT RATE
In gas-absorption process design, one of the most vital
decision to make after selecting the appropriate solvent is to
determine the minimum solvent rate required to achieve the
desired operation. Minimum solvent rate simply means the
lowest permissible flow rate of the solvent that can perform
the desired separation.
An approach for calculating the minimum solvent rate is
presented below in example 1
Example 1:
In a petrochemical plant, a gas containing 4% cyclo-hexane
and 96% inert has to be treated with a non-volatile
absorption oil in a packed tower. It is required to remove 98%
of the cyclo-hexane of the feed gas. The feed solvent is free
from cyclo-hexane. If the feed gas rate is 80kmol per hour,
calculate the minimum solvent rate. The equilibrium relation
is given as
.
=
+ .

SOLUTION
In the above problem, Cyclo-Hexane is the solute, The Inerts
make up the carrier gas and the non-volatile absorption oil is
the solvent.
Y refers to mole ratio of the solute in the gas phase and is
given by

=

Where y is the mole fraction in the gas phase (usually given
in % as seen above in the problem statement)
In the same vein, X refers to mole ratio of the solute in the
liquid phase and is given by

=

Where x is the mole fraction in the liquid phase.
Also, X1 and Y1 refer to the solute mole ratios at the bottom
of the absorption tower while X2 and Y2 refer to the solute
mole ratios at the top of the absorption tower. X and Y refer
to the solute mole ratios at all other points in the absorption
tower other than at the top or bottom.
The following equilibrium data are calculated from the given
equilibrium relation in the problem statement.

X 0 0.01 0.03 0.05 0.07 0.09 0.12

Y 0 0.00198 0.00586 0.0097 0.0113 0.0168 0.0219

Given: Feed gas rate = 80 kmol/h; concentration of cyclo-

hexane, y1 = 0.04 (mole fraction at bottom of tower where
the feed gas enters the tower
Rate of input of the solute (cyclo-hexane) = (80)(0.04) = 3.2
kmol/h; Rate of input of carrier gas without solute Gs = 80
3.2 = 76.8 kmol/h.
98% of the solute is absorbed, and 2% leaves the tower with
the carrier gas.
.
= = = .
.
= (. ) = .
Also X2 = 0 (the feed solvent is solute-free). Therefore (X2, Y2)
= (0, 0.000834)
Now, we would plot the equilibrium data calculated from the
equilibrium relationship as tabulated above.

Figure 7: Graphical plot for determining

minimum solvent rate
The point (X2, Y2) is located at a point Q on the plot and a
tangent is drawn from the point Q to touch the equilibrium
curve at a point P known as the pinch point as shown above.
Line QP extended is known as the operating line of the
absorption operation when the minimum solvent rate is
used.
The slope of line QP is (Ls/Gs) min = 0.19. Where (Ls)min is the
minimum solvent rate on a solute free basis.
Given that Gs = 76.8 kmol/h;
Therefore, the minimum liquid solvent rate, (Ls)min =
(76.8)(0.19) = 14.6 kmol/h