Separation Process-II

Ch.E-306
Absorption

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HIERARCHY OF SEPARATION TECHNOLOGIES

Physical Separations Easy

Decantation, Coalescing, Filtration, Demisting

Evaporation
Single Effect, Multiple Effect

Distillation
Simple, Azeotropic, Extractive, Reactive

Difficulty
Extraction Of
Simple, Fractional, Reactive
Separation
Absorption/Adsorption
Pressure Swing, Temperature Swing

Crystallization
Melt, Solvent

Membranes
MF, UF, NF, RO
Difficult
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 MOTIVATION

Gas absorption is the Chief Method for

controlling industrial air Pollution

MTO-CHT-301-KSK-MS-JAVED 3
 WHAT IS GAS ABSORPTION???
• It is a unit operation used in the chemical industry to separate gases
by washing a gas mixture with a suitable liquid.
• The transfer of material from a gas (absorbate) to a liquid (absorbent)
Example:
i. Include removal and recovery of NH3 in fertilizer manufacturing
ii. Control of SO2 from combustion source

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 Basic Terminologies
• The species transferred to the liquid phase are referred as absorbate.
• A substance that absorb/hold the absorbate is referred as absorbant.
• The operation of removing the absorbed solute from the solvent is
called stripping.

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Which Gases Are Absorbed???
Acidic Basic

CO2 NH3

H2 S

SO2

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GAS TREATING IN MAJOR
INDUSTRIAL PROCESSESS

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 Absorbing Liquids???
The choice of a liquid absorbent depends on the concentrations in the feed gas
mixture and on the percent removal desired

Physical Chemical
Nonvolatile & Non-Reactive liquid Fast & reversible chemical reaction with
the impurity
Impurity concentration in the feed gas is Impurity concentration in the feed gas is
High (10-50)%. low (1-10)%.

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Example (Removal of H2S)
• Ethylene glycol >>> Conc. feed stream
• Mono ethylene amine >>> Lower feed conc.
• Aqueous NaOH >>> Traces in feed stream

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Fundamental Principles
• The fundamental physical principles for the gas absorption are;
1) The solubility of the absorbed gas
2) The rate of mass transfer.

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 Purpose of Gas Absorption

Gas Purification >>> removal of air pollutants from exhausts gases.

Product Recovery >>> to recover the various components for further
use and to make the process economical.

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Absorber

Packed Spray
column column

Plate Bubble
column column
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• Gas absorption is usually carried out in vertical
counter current columns.

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Features of Absorption Column
• Working/Operation:
The solvent is fed at the top of the absorber, whereas the gas mixture
enters from the bottom.
• The absorbed substance is washed out by the solvent and leaves the
absorber at the bottom as a liquid solution .

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• Solvent Recovery: The solvent is often recovered in a subsequent
stripping or desorption operation.
• The recovery step is essentially the reverse of absorption.

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Choice of Solvent
• GAS SOLUBILITY : (high)
The gas solubility should be high, thus increasing the rate of
absorption and decreasing the quantity of solvent required.
Solvent with a chemical nature similar to the solute to be
absorbed will provide good solubility.
• VOLATALITY : (less)
The solvent should have a low vapor pressure to reduce loss
of solvent in the gas leaving an absorption column.

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• COST : (Economical)
The materials of construction required for
the equipment should not be unusual or expensive.
• VISCOSITY : (Low)
Low viscosity is preferred for;
 rapid absorption rates
low pressure drops on pumping
good heat transfer characteristics.

>>>Furthermore, The solvent should be non-toxic,

non-flammable and chemically stable.
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The most important step in design of
tray absorber is;
>>> the determination of number of
trays.

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Steps to find NTP
(1) Gas feed rate
(2) Concentration of gas at inlet and outlet of the tower
(3) Minimum liquid rate; actual liquid rate is 1.2 to 2 times the
minimum liquid rate.
(4) Equilibrium data for construction of equilibrium curve

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Graphical Method
• Overall material balance on tray tower:
Gs(YN+1 -Y1) = Ls(XN -X0) >>>> operating line
• If the stage (plate) is ideal, (Xn, Yn) must lie on the equilibrium line,
Y*=f(X).
• Top plate is located at P(X0, Y1) and bottom plate is marked as
Q(XN, YN+1) in X-Y plane.
• A vertical line is drawn from Q point to D point in equilibrium line at
(XN, YN).
• From point D in equilibrium line, a horizontal line is extended up to
operating line at E (XN-1, YN).
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• The region QDE stands for N-th plate.
• We may get fraction of plates.
• In that situation, the next whole number will be the actual number of ideal
plates.
• If the overall stage efficiency is known, the number of real plates can
be obtained;
𝑆𝑡 𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖 𝑐𝑖 𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 =
𝑁o. 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠/No. 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠

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Work Problem…..

It is desired to absorb 95% of acetone by water from a mixture of

acetone and nitrogen containing 1.5% of the component in a
countercurrent tray tower. Total gas input is 30 kmol/hr and water
enters the tower at a rate of 90 kmol/hr. The tower operates at 27ºC
and 1 atm. The equilibrium relation is Y=2.53X. Determine the number
of ideal stages necessary for the separation using graphical method.

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 Absorption
(Packed Column Design)
Tower Packing
• Inert
• Provides high fluid flow and high interfacial area between the gas and
the liquid.

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 Structural Packing Random Packing
• Packing is carefully arranged. • No proper arrangement.
• More expensive • Cheaper
• More efficient • More common

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Problems with high gas flow
• Channeling: the gas or liquid flow is much
greater at some points than at others
• Loading: the liquid flow is reduced due to the
increased gas flow; liquid is held in the void
space between packing
• Flooding: the liquid stops flowing altogether
and collects in the top of the column due to
very high gas flow

MTO-CHT-301-KSK-MS-JAVED 27
• Point K is the loading point
• Point L is the flooding point for the given
liquid flow.

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Importance of Mass transfer Coefficients
• Mass transfer coefficients are useful because they describe how fast
these separations occur.
• Mass transfer coefficients are accurate enough to correlate
experimental results from industrial separation equipment.
• Therefore, they provide the basis for designing new equipment.

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Simplified Design of Packed
Absorber

• Use generalized flooding and pressure drop correlation graph.

(Sherwood Flooding graph)

Gas absorption depends directly on mass transfer coefficients.

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Sherwood Flooding Correlation Graph

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Steps to find Absorber [Area/Dia]
1. Calculate the abscissa

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2. Calculate flooding pressure drop

Packing factor F: It is inversely proportional to the

packing's size.
Conventionally, pressure drop is taken 0.2- 0.6 inches
of H2O per foot.
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Characteristics of common Packing's

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3. Use graph to find ordinate

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4. Find gas flow rate, G’
• Equate the ordinate expression and the value found from the
Sherwood correlation graph to get G’.

= Value from the graph

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5. Calculate actual G’ per unit area
Calculate actual gas flow rate per unit area as a fraction of the gas flow
rate at flooding.

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6. Calculate Packed bed Area
Calculate packed bed diameter on the actual gas
flow rate per unit area in the system

Eventually, diameter can be

found.

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Work Problem

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