GAS ABSORPTION

 Mass transfer coefficients describe how fast separations

occur
 Maximum separation is established in Thermodynamics.
 MTC are accurate enough to correlate experimental
results
 Gases to be absorbed and liquid used to absorb them
 Design of cross-sectional area of tower and height of
tower

 Cross-sectional area – fluid mechanics of gas and liquid past

each other (highly emperical)
 Height:
dilute absorption – linear isotherm (solute’s solubility in
liquid is directly proportional to its partial pressure in the
gas)
concentrated absorption – isotherm is nonlinear
 Tower height – mass transfer (molar flows)
 Cross sectional area – fluid mechanics (mass flows)

• Tower packing
• Flows
Tower Packing
 Inert material
 Small pieces dumped randomly or carefully stacked

 Random packing – cheaper and common

 Structured packing – expensive but more efficient
(improved by 30%)
Tower Packing
 Tower packings try to permit both high fluid flow and
high interfacial area between the gas and the liquid

 High fluid flow implies a few large channels through the

tower
 High interfacial area requires many small channels
Random Packing
Structured Packing
Structured Packing
 Structured packing seems to give an interfacial area
between gas and liquid which is about the same through
the random packing.

 It gives more even flows (less bypassing)

Tower Fluid Mechanics
 Liquid and gas flows through towers cannot be arbitrarily
set; it must be adjusted within a narrow, empirically
defined range
Tower Fluid Mechanics
 Imagine a tall glass filled with ice + straw

 Imagine blowing air at the bottom through a straw and

pouring cola into the glass at the same time
Tower Fluid Mechanics
CASE 1
 Pouring cola at a very slow rate
o Cola will run down in only a few places (channeling)

Channeling occurs when the gas or liquid flow is much

greater at some points than at others.

It reduces interfacial area and hence mass transfer

(undesirable)
Tower Fluid Mechanics
CASE II
 Pouring cola at a faster rate
o Cola flows more evenly through the ice

Loading – conditions where relatively even flows begin

When loading begins, the flows may slightly decrease but

increase in gas-liquid area means that mass transfer is fast.

Packed tower must be operated in this condition.

Tower Fluid Mechanics
CASE III
 Blowing air much harder
o Cola can’t flow into the column, but splashes
backward, out of the top of the glass

This condition is called flooding. It reduces mass transfer

and decreases the cola flowing into the glass.
Tower Fluid Mechanics

Liquid flow must be high enough to avoid channeling and

achieve loading.

Gas flow must be low enough to avoid flooding.

In practical applications (handling large gas flows like

600 m3/min), appropriate packing and shape of packed
tower must be chosen/designed to allow flow without
flooding.
Tower Fluid Mechanics
 Flooding

 Case I
imagine at a given gas flow, liquid flow is increased

 Case II
imagine at constant liquid flow, gas flow is increased
Tower Cross-Sectional Area
Absorption of a Dilute Vapor
 molar gas flux G and the molar liquid flux L are both
constants everywhere within the tower

 three key equations:

 a solute mole balance on both gas and liquid
 a solute equilibrium balance between gas and liquid
 a solute mole balance on either gas or liquid
Absorption of a Dilute Vapor
 molar gas flux G and the molar liquid flux L are both
constants everywhere within the tower

 three key equations:

 a solute mole balance on both gas and liquid (operating line)
 a solute equilibrium balance between gas and liquid
(equilibrium line)
 a solute mole balance on either gas or liquid (rate equation)
solute mole balance on both gas and liquid
 for a small tower volume AΔz located at position z in the
tower:

where y – mole fraction in the gas

x – mole fraction in the liquid

When the equation above is divided by AΔz and taking the limit as Δz
approaches zero,
solute mole balance on both gas and liquid
 Rearranging,

 subject to (at z = 0)

where the subscript 0 indicates streams at the top of the tower

 Integrating

 This equation is called the operating line.

solute equilibrium balance
 Since the solute is dilute,

where m is closely related to Henry’s law constant.

 This equation is called the equilibrium line.
solute mole balance on either gas or liquid
 Consider a differential volume AΔz but on the gas only:

where a represents the packing area per volume

Ky is the overall gas phase mass transfer coefficient
 When the equation above is divided by AΔz and taking the
limit as Δz approaches zero,

 Combining the above equation with 10.3-6 and integrating:

 where l is the tower height

solute mole balance on either gas or liquid

 Combining this with the operating line, Eq. 10.3-5

 This can be rewritten in various forms:

 We have implied mass transfer of a solute vapor from a gas

into a liquid such process is called ‘‘gas scrubbing.’’
solute mole balance on either gas or liquid
 Repeating the identical analysis for mass transfer of a
vapor from a liquid into a gas; such a reversed process is
called ‘‘stripping.’’
Alternative Descriptions of Dilute Absorption
 Equation 10.3-12 can be rearranged as

 where HTU is a height of a transfer unit defined as

 and NTU is a “number of transfer units”

 NTUs are a measure of the difficulty of the separation, of the

distance the final streams will be from equilibrium.
 if NTUs are large, the separation is hard
 HTUs give an idea of the efficiency of the equipment.
 a small HTU is a sign of good tower, implying a large interfacial area per vol.
Absorption of a Concentrated Vapor
 G and L are not constant along the tower height
 operating line is no longer linear
 The equilibrium line reflects complex chemistry and so is
normally nonlinear.
 The integration of the rate equation must now be
numerical.
Absorption of a Concentrated Vapor
 mole balance on both gas and liquid

 where G0 is the flux of the nonabsorbing gas and L0 is the

flux of the nonvolatile liquid.
 Combining the above equations and integrating,
Absorption of a Concentrated Vapor
Absorption of a Concentrated Vapor
 mole balance on the gas in a differential tower volume

 substituting G = G0 / (1 - y )

 Rearranging,

 Assumptions:
 absorption of a single vapor from an inert gas into a
nonvolatile liquid
Absorption of a Concentrated Vapor
 Assumptions:
 a single value of mass transfer coefficient can adequately
express the mass transfer in a concentrated solution.