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UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA FAKULTI
KEJURUTERAAN KIMIA
CEV452 UNIT OPERATIONS LABORATORY
REPORT MARKING SHEET
2 Introduction 5
3 Aims / Objective 5
4 Theory 5
5 Apparatus 5
6 Methodology/Procedure 10
7 Results 15
8 Sample Calculations 10
9 Discussion 20
10 Conclusion 5
11 Recommendations 5
12 Reference 5
13 Appendix 5
Remarks:
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ABSTRACT
Gas absorption is a process in which the soluble parts of mixture are transferred to a
liquid.Gas absorption is done in a packed column .This report are done as to examine the air
pressure drop across the column as a function of air flow rate for different water flow rates
through the column. When the air pressure drops to certain limit, the phenomena known as
‘flooding’ will occur in which the system can no longer operate as it is. Hence, the ‘flooding
point’ is to be determined as to make sure that the process should be made to operate under
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INTRODUCTION
Gas absorption is a process in which the soluble parts of a gas mixture are transferred to
Therefore there will be mass transfer of the component of the gas from the gas phase to
the liquid phase. The solute transferred is said to be absorbed by the liquid. In gas
desorption (or stripping), the mass transfer is in the opposite direction, of which the
transfer is from the liquid phase to the gas phase. The principles for both systems are the
same. But from here and on, we are only interested in gas absorption.
There are 2 types of absorption processes: physical absorption and chemical absorption,
depending on whether there is any chemical reaction between the solute and the
solvent(absorbent).
When water and hydrocarbon oils are used as absorbents, no significant chemical
reactions occur between the absorbent and the solute, and the process is commonly
used as the absorbent to dissolve an acid gas, absorption is accompanied by a rapid and
irreversible neutralization reaction in the liquid phase and the process is referred to as
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OBJECTIVE
To examine the air pressure drop across the column as a function of air flow rate for
THEORY
is brought into contact with a liquid and during this contact a component is transferred
between the gas stream and the liquid stream. The gas may be bubbled through the liquid,
or it may be passed over streams of the liquid, arranged to provide a large surface through
which the mass transfer can occur. The liquid film in this latter case can flow down the
sides of columns or over packing, or it can cascade from one tray to another with the liquid
falling and the gas rising in the counter flow. The gas, or components of it, either dissolves
in the liquid (absorption) or extracts a volatile component from the liquid (desorption). [2]
In every packed tower with a given size of packing and type , has an upper limit to the
rate of gas flow known as flooding velocity of which the tower cannot operate above the
velocity mentioned earlier. At low gas velocities the liquid flows downward through the
packing uninfluenced by the upward gas flow. As the gas flow rate increases at low gas
velocities the pressure drop starts to rise at higher rate. The liquid accumulation increases
as the gas flow rate is increased . At the flooding point, the liquid will no longer have the
ability to flow down through the pack column and later is blown out with or by the gas.
[3]
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APPARATUS
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Column K1
Vessel B1
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Figure 2: Pressure Adjuster
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METHODOLOGY / PROCEDURES
A) General start-up
3. The valve on the compressed air supply line is opened. The supply pressure is setted
4. The shut-off valve on CO2 gas cylinder is opened. The CO2 gas cylinder pressure is
ensured to be sufficient.
Presssure Drop)
2. The receiving vessel B2 is filled with 50 L of water by opening valve V3 and V5.
3. Valve V3 is closed.
4. Valve V10 and valve V9 are slightly opened. The flow of water from vessel B1
5. Pump 1 is switched on then valve V11 is slowly opened and adjusted to give a water
flow rate of around 1 L/min. Water is allowed to enter the top of column K1, flow
down the column and accumulate at the bottom until it overflows back to vessel B1.
6. Valve 11 is opened and and adjusted to give a water fow rate of 0.5 L/min into
column K1.
7. Valve V1 is opened and adjusted to give an air flow rate of 40L/min into column K1.
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8. The liquid and gas flow in the column 1 are observed , the pressure drop across the
9. Steps 6 to 7 are repeated with different values of air flow rate, where each time is
10. Steps 5 to 8 are repeated with different values of water flow rate, of which each time
3. The valves on the compressed air supply line is closed and the supply pressure is
exhausted by turning the regulator knob counterclockwise all the way.
6. All iquid from receiving vessels B1 and B2 are drained by opening valves V7 and
V8.
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RESULTS AND CALCULATIONS
EXPERIMENTAL CALCULATIONS
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THEORETICAL CALCULATIONS
Data
For 30 L/min
GG = 0.117kg/m2s
𝜇
13.1 (𝐺𝐺 )2 𝐹𝑝(𝑝𝐿 )0.1
𝐿
𝑃𝐺 (𝑃𝐿 − 𝑃𝐺 )
0.001
13.1 (0.117)2 900( 996 )0.1
1.175(996 − 1.175)
= 0.0437
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GL , liquid flowrate per unit column cross-sectional area
GL X p
=
A
1𝐿 1𝑚𝑖𝑛 996𝑘𝑔 1 𝑚3
× × ×
𝑚𝑖𝑛 60 𝑠𝑒𝑐 𝑚3 1000𝐿
0.005027 𝑚 2
𝐺𝐿 = 3.306 kg/m2
𝐺𝐿 𝑝𝑔 0.5
FLV = ( )
𝐺𝐺 𝑝𝐿
(1 L/Min water flowrate at 30 L/Min air flowrate)
= 0.971
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Air flow GG Capacity Flow parameter (x-axis)
Table 4: Air flowrate, Gas flow rate (kg/m2.s) with capacity parameter and flow parameter
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
FLOW PARAMETER
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DISCUSSION
In this experiment, the interest is to examine the air pressure drop across the column
as a function of air flow rate for different water flow rates through the column. The
experiment based on the flow rate of liquid and gas in the packed.
Firstly the water flow rate is kept constant to 1 L/min and the air flow rate is then
recorded after a 1 minute interval. Air flow rate is kept rising at constant by 30 L/min by
each 5 minutes. All reading of pressure drop are then recorded until the flooding point is
reached. The pressure drop for flow rate of air are 0,2,6,7,9,10,13,21,58 mm H 20
The flow rate of water is then adjusted to 2 L/min, the data recorded are 8,2,0,3,9,30,53
mm H20 respectively to 30,50,70 and 90 L/min of air. It cannot reach 180 L/min of air flow
rate as the water will sprayed out from the column due to the high flow rate. Theoretically,
the pressure drop will increase as the air flow rate of air is increased.
As the water flow rate is increased to 3 L/min, the datas are , 0,2,7,13,39 mm H 20
respectively to 20,40,60 and 80 L/min of air . Beyond 80 L/min of air , the flooding occurs.
The graph of column Pressure Drop vs. Air Flow Rate is plotted and in which the
results from the plotted graph shown the higher the gas flow rate , the higher the pressure
drop. For correlated value of the pressure drop,calculations has been made and a graph of
capacity parameter against flow rate parameter is plotted. The capacity parameter is
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indirectly proportional to flow rate parameter .
CONCLUSION
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In conclusion, the air pressure drop across the column increases as the air flow rate
increases as well as the water flow rate through the column. From the experiment, the value
of experimental pressure drop is higher compared to the correlated values for packed
column. For packed column of water flowrate of 1 LPM, the error invovled is the lowest
that is 11.1 %, followed by that of water flowrate of 2 LPM which is 14.28 % . At water
flowrate of 3 LPM, the error involved is 20% . These percentage errors between theoretical
and correlated calculations of flooding point are slightly high due to some unexpected
instrumental error as the pump suddenly shut off in the middle of the experiment. Hence,
all instruments must be checked before any experiment is conducted to ensure the accuracy
of the outcomes.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
Some suggestion in improving the safety are to always check and rectify any leak and
all operating instructions supplied with the unit must be carefully read and understood
before attempting to operate the unit. Next, be extremely careful when handling hazardous,
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REFERENCES
1. Perry, Robert H., and Green. Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook. New York:
McGraw-Hill, Inc. (1984), pp14-6,18-22-2
2. http://www.nzifst.org.nz/unitoperations/conteqseparation8.htm
3. Geankoplis, C.J. (2003). Transport Processes and Separation Process Principle, 4th
4. (http://www.separationprocesses.com)
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