PIU Unit Operations

Tutorial 1 - Gas Absorption

Question one: A mixture of 1500 m3/hr of air and 150 m3/hr of Acetone at a temperature of 20 C and a pressure of 1 atm is washed with water in a 1.2 m diameter packed absorption column. It is desired to reduce the acetone concentration to 0.001 (mol fraction) before discharge to atmosphere. The water rate is 200 kmol / hr. If the overall mass transfer coefficient, Kg.a is 0.0278 kmol/ s.m3; find the height of packing required to perform the desired reduction in acetone concentration. Data: y* = 1.186 x Universal gas constant, R = 82.057x10-3 m3.atm.kmol-1.K-1.

Question Two A mixture of 14,220 m3/hr of air and 590 m3/hr of ammonia is to have the mole percentage of ammonia reduced to 0.1 (i.e. y1 = 0.001) by washing with water in a packed adsorption column. The pressure in the column is to be 1.05 bars. Perfect gas behaviour applies and the conditions of air and ammonia in this system. Henry's law applies for Ammonia in water. The gas and liquid flow rates can be assumed to remain constant throughout the column.

1. What is the log mean molar concentration difference if the water flow rate is 31,000 kg/hr?

2. If the height of packing in the column is 8 metres and the diameter is 2.0 m., what is Kg.a, (in kmol / s .m3)?

3. If the mole percentage of ammonia in the gas leaving the column has to be reduced to 0.05, with the gas and liquid rates remaining the same, what extra height of packing would be required (Kg.a can be assumed to remain the same)? Data: y* = 1.8 x. Volume of 1 kmol of perfect gas under the present conditions is 22.9 m3.

Question Three Benzene is to be absorbed from a benzene-air mixture by the use of non-volatile hydrocarbon oil. The inlet gas contains 2.5% by volume of benzene and the exit concentration is to be 0.01%. Operation of the packed tower is to take place at atmospheric pressure and the total gas feed

rate is 0.2 kg/s. Given that the solvent oil enters the tower solute-free, and that the system may be assumed ideal (i.e. it obeys Henry's law); calculate:

1. The minimum oil flow necessary to affect the absorption duty, Lmin; 2. If the oil flow rate is 0.35 kg/s, what is the height of packing required to perform the desired separation?

Data: (1) The column diameter is 2.8 m. (2) The value of Henry's constant is 0.132 (y* = 0.132x). (3) The molecular weights of air, benzene and the oil are 29, 78 and 250 kg/kmol respectively. (4) Kg.a is related to the liquid flow rate by Kg.a = 0.0275 L0.5.

Question Four: Gas, from a petroleum distillation column, has its concentration of H2S reduced from 0.030 kmol H2S/kmol of inert hydrocarbon gas to 1 per cent of this value, by scrubbing with a tri-ethanolamine water solvent in a counter current tower, operating at 300 K and at 1 bar. H2S is soluble in such a solution and the equilibrium relation may be taken as y = 2x.

The solvent enters the tower free of solute and leaves containing 0.013 kmol of H2S/kmol of solvent. If the molar velocity Gy of inert hydrocarbon gas is 0.015 kmol/m2 s, calculate:

(i) (ii)

The height of the absorber necessary, and The number of transfer units required.

Data: Kga = 0.04 kmol/m3.s.