New York University Tandon School of Engineering

Department of Civil and Urban Engineering

CE-UY 3223, Fall 2016

1.

Problem Set 3
Due Thursday, September 29, 2016

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an odorous gas that can be stripped from solution in a process
similar to that described for ammonia. The reaction is the following:
H" S H & + HS (

Ka1 = 0.86 x 10-7

(a) Sketch the a-diagram for H2S. Include the (i) axes titles, (ii) the location of pKa1, and
(iii) the curves and formulae for a0 and a1.
(b) Find the fraction of hydrogen sulfide in the H2S form at (i) pH 6 and (ii) pH 8.
(c) Which pH would you use to operate your H2S stripping system?
(d) At the pH you selected in part (c), what is the % of total hydrogen sulfide removed
from water in an air stripping tower that has reach equilibrium conditions. Assume the
H2S partial pressure in air is 0.0002 atm, the initial total hydrogen sulfide concentration
in the water (i.e., [H2S]t,0 (aq)) is 20 ppm, and the Henrys Law constant (KH) for H2S is
0.1 M atm-1.
2.

The worlds population 10,000 years ago has been estimated at about 5 million.
(a) What exponential rate of growth would have resulted in todays population, which is
estimated to be 7.2 billion?
(b) The current population growth rate is actually estimated to be 1.13%. Using this growth
rate and todays world population (and assuming continued exponential growth) what is
the predicted world population in 100 years?
(c) Some experts have hypothesized that human population will never become as large as
you calculated in part (b), and that a logistic growth model with a carrying capacity of
15 billion people better approximates population growth. Using the logistic growth
model and assuming the growth rate constant, R0, is 1.13% when the population, N0,
is 7.2 billion calculate how many years it will take for the population to reach 10
billion people.

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