Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Absorption Systems
Examples:
HCN and aqueous NaOH
HCl / HF and aqueos NaOH
NH3 and H2SO4
Scrubbing Examples
In
NFC, some plants use ammonia gas,
chlorine gas etc. These gases are vented to
atmosphere through stacks.
APPCB limits for release of these gases into
atmosphere to prevent pollution.
Hence, to reduce the concentration of these
gases to the limits, these gases are absorbed
into a liquid. This is called scrubbing.
Solubility of gas
Absorption is based on the solubility of
gas in a liquid
With the increase in temperature, solubility
of a gas in liquid decreases
Absorption is done at lower temperature
Desorption/Stripping is done at higher
temperature
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Absorber/Stripper Cycle
Selection of solvent
Gas Solubility
High solubility of a gas in the solvent is preferred,
utilizing low quantity of solvent.
Absorbent should not dissolve carrier gas.
Similar chemical nature of solute and absorbent
(solvent) gives a good solubility.
If chemical reaction takes place between solute and
solvent, rate of absorption is extremely high. But the
reaction should be reversible to recover solvent
during desorption
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Selection of solvent
Volatility
Low volatility or low vapor pressure of the solvent
enhances the adsorption operation as solvent loss with
carrier gas is very small
Viscosity
For better absorption, a solvent of low viscosity is
required. In mechanically agitated absorber, greater
amount of power is required for high viscous solvent and
flooding is also caused at lower liquid and gas flow rates
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Selection of solvent
Corrosiveness
Non-corrosive or less corrosive solvent reduces
equipment construction cost as well as maintenance cost
Cost
The solvent should be cheap so that losses will be
insignificant and should be easily available.
Toxicity and Hazard
Solvent should be non-toxic, nonflammable, nonhazardous and should be chemically stable.
Steam is generally used in desorption as stripped solute can be
recovered very easily by condensing steam leaving desorption tower
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Absorbers
To achieve gas absorption, main requirement is
that gas should be brought in intimate contact
with the liquid.
Feed (i.e. gas mixture) is introduced at the
bottom and the solvent (i.e. liquid) is given at the
top.
The absorbed gas with the solvent leave at the
bottom and unabsorbed gas leaves at top.
Packed columns
Plate/tray columns
Other absorption equipments are, spray column,
agitated contactor, venture scrubber, etc
Plate columns have less efficiency.
Hence,most commonly used are Packed
Columns.
Tray columns
Packed Columns
A packed tower is a
pipe/column filled with
some packing.
Suited to applications
where high gas removal
efficiency is required
Exhaust gas is relatively
free
from
particulate
matter
Packings
Packing materials are utilized to provide large interfacial
area of contact between two phases.
These are made from either of ceramics, metals or
plastics.
A number of packing materials with various size, shape
and performance are available
Design depends on corrosiveness of gas & scrubbing
liquid, size of absorber, static pressure drop and cost
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Types of packings
Random or dumped Raschig rings, lessig rings,
berl saddles, intalox saddle & pall rings
Structured - low gas pressure drop and improved
efficiency. Corrugated metal sheet packing and Wire
mesh packing
Grid - used for high gas or vapor capacities at low
pressure drop. Mellagrid series; Flexigrid series;
Snap grid series
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Random Packings
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Mellagrid
F-grid
Nuttergrid
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Packing characteristics
Liquid Distributors
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Gas Distributors
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Equilibrium curve
When two phases are brought into contact they
eventually reach equilibrium.
For ex., water in contact with air evaporates until the air
is saturated with water vapour, and the air is absorbed
by the water until it becomes saturated with the
individual gases.
In a mixture of gases, the degree to which gas is
absorbed depends on solubility of gas in liquid.
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Notes on Absorbers
Note that the operating line for an absorber is above
the equilibrium curve. For a given solute concentration
in the liquid, the solute concentration in the gas is
always greater than the equilibrium value, which
provides the driving force for the separation.
Also note that the OL is linear. This results because of
the form of the operating line where L/G is a constant.
L and G are based upon the nonvolatile solvent and
insoluble carrier gas, respectively, which do not
change.
If we had used mole fractions and total gas and liquid
rates, the OL would be curved.
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Notes on Strippers
The OL will be the same as that used for absorbers.
The difference, compared to an absorber, is that the
equilibrium curve will be above the operating line.
Otherwise, the design approach for strippers is the
same as that for absorbers.
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