Wetted Wall Column:

“A falling-film column is a particular chemical equipment used to achieve mass and heat
transfer between two fluid phases.” It is essentially formed by a vertical tube-shaped vessel: the
liquid stream flows through the inner wall of the tube and the gas stream flows in
correspondence of the centre of the tube

Principle:
A thin film of liquid falling down the inside of a vertical pipe through which the gas flows,
constitutes a wetted wall column.
Measurement of the rate of evaporation of a liquid into the gas stream over known surface
permits calculation of mass transfer coefficient for the diffusion of vapor into gas stream. A
volatile liquid is submitted to flow down the inside surface of a circular tube, while a gas flows
upward or downward through the center of the pipe.
Introduction:
A wet film absorption column (or wetted wall gas) contains, essentially, in a vertical tube
through which a liquid inclines; temporarily a gas rises through it. The gas, when contacting the
liquid, is partially spread in it by means of the mass transfer. This process is usually used to
study the mass transfer between two components in two different phases due to the fact that
there is an interfacial film between such phases in the wet film column, dissimilar other
processes. Wetted wall column is used to study distillation, gas absorption and vaporization
operation of various chemical systems, to obtain data and correlation between components
present in different phases which exist in equilibrium condition during the operation

Diagram:
 Working:
Single tube wetted wall column used in labs for measuring mass transfer coefficient.

In this work, the wetted wall column is used to determine gas/liquid mass transfer coefficients,
which is essential to design absorption towers.

This study investigates the absorption of oxygen from air into deoxygenated water (prepared
by nitrogen sparging) in liquid film- controlled absorption experiment.

A wet film absorption column (or wetted wall gas) consists, essentially, in a vertical tube
through which a liquid descends, meanwhile a gas ascends through it. This is a controlled liquid
film absorption example; so that the liquid film mass transfer coefficient can be determined for
different water flows. The operating principle of the unit is very simple: a water flow is
deoxygenated by a counter-current flow of nitrogen, coming from a cylinder of compressed gas,
not supplied with the unit. The deoxygenated water flow rate is sent into the wetted wall
column where it is spread on the internal wall, where it meets a counter-current air flow, which
is supplied by a compressor.
Water absorbs oxygen from the air thanks to the contact between the two substances.
The oxygen meter allows to measure the dissolved oxygen both after the oxygenation process
and after the deoxygenation process.

 Mass Transfer Coefficient From Wetted Wall Column

A wet film absorption column (or wetted wall gas) consists, essentially, in a vertical tube
through which a liquid descends, meanwhile a gas ascends through it.
The gas, when contacting the liquid, is partially spread in it by means of the mass transfer.
This process is normally used to study the mass transfer between two components in two
different phases due to the fact that there is an interfacial film between such phases in the wet
film column, unlike other processes. It will be assumed that such superficial area corresponds to
the inner surface of such tube, so that the liquid can be in the shape of a thin laminar film.
The Computer Controlled Wetted Wall Gas Absorption Column (CAPC) allows to determine
the liquid mass transfer coefficient and study the existing relation between the mass transfer
coefficient of the liquid film and the mass flow of water. The obtained results can be compared
with the theoretical predictions.
The studied absorption process corresponds to the oxygen-deoxygenated water system, where
the oxygen comes from the air and the deoxygenated air is obtained through a desorption
column, where a water current comes into contact with a nitrogen current.
This is a controlled liquid film absorption example; so that the liquid film mass transfer
coefficient can be determined for different water flows.
 Applications:
 It is generally used as laboratory equipment, for example it measures experimentally the values of
transport coefficient
 It is not used in industrial scale, because it is associated to low values of surface area and liquid hold-
up respect to other typologies of gas liquid contractors.

 Factors Varied in Wetted Wall Column:

 Temperature should be controlled
 Pressure
 Flowrate of Gases or liquids
 Viscosity
 Nominal Flowrates