GUJARAT TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Chandkheda, Ahmadabad
Affiliated

S.S.Agrawal Institute of Engineering

& Technology
Affiliated with GTU

A Report on-
“Gas Absorption”

Under subject of
MASS TRANSFER OPERATION-I(2150501)

B.E. 3rd year

5th Semester
(Chemical Engineering Branch)

Submitted by:

Sr. NO Name Enrollment NO.

1 KATARIYA BHAVIN D. 161230105017
2 SHIYAL MANOJ K. 161230105046
3 VAGHASIYA TRUSHAL K. 161230105055

Under the guidance of

Asst. Prof. Jignesh Parmar

Academic Year
(2018 - 2019)
 S.S.AGRAWAL INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND
TECHNOLOGY

Certificate

This is to certify that,

Sr No. Name of Student Enrollment No.

1. Katariya Bhavin D 161230105017
2. Shiyal Manoj K. 161230105046
3. Vaghasiya Trushal K. 161230105055

Of Third year students have completed their Term work successfully and

satisfactorily in the subject of MASS TRANSFER OPERATION-I (2150501)

on Date 04/10/18 for the term ending October 2018 in Chemical engineering

Department.

Sign of Internal Faculty Sign of External Faculty

Date: Date:

Sign of Head of Department

Date:
 Contents Table:

Sr No. Name Page No.

1. Definition & Concept 4

2. Difference between gas absorption 5

and distillation

3. Selection criteria for solvent 6

4. Minimum Liquid-Gas ratio for 8

absorbers.

5. Gas Absorption Equipments 10

6. Types Of Packing 12

7. Reference 15
 1.Defination & Concept

 Gas Absorption refers to an operation in which

a gas mixture is contacted with liquid to
preferentially dissolve one or more soluble
components of the gas mixture in the liquid.
 This Operation is also called as scrubbing.
 Gas operation is the most important mass
transfer operation encountered in the chemical
industry and is used for the recovery or removal
of the solute gas.
 In absorption, the soluble component of the gas
Mixture is called as the “solute gas”, the
insoluble component is called as the “inert gas”
or “carrier gas”.
 Liquid used for absorption purpose is called as
the solvent or “absorbent”.
 Example for gas absorption: Removal of
ammonia from a mixture of ammonia and air
using water as a solvent.
 The reverse of absorption is called “Desorption”
or “Stripping”.
 It is an operation in which a dissolved gas from a
liquid is removed from the liquid by contacting
it with inert gas (Stripping medium).
Difference between Gas Absorption and Distillation

Sr Absorption Distillation
No.
1. Deals with the Separation Distillation deals with the
of the constituents of a gas separation of the constituents
mixture. of a liquid mixture.
2. Constituents of a gas Constituents of a liquid
mixture are separated by mixture are separated by using
using liquid solvent. thermal energy.
3. Liquid solvent used in gas Liquid in distillation operation
absorption is below its is at its bubble point.
boiling point.
4. Heat effects are attributed Heat effects are attributed to
to the heat of solution of the the latent heats of vaporization
dissolved gas. and condensation
5. Gas is absorption operation Vapour in distillation is
is well below its dew point. always at its dew point.
6. Example: The removal of Example: Separation of
SO2 from flue gases by petroleum crude into
alkaline solutions. gasoline,kerosene,fuel oil etc.
7. Packed tower are widely Plate tower are widely used
used for absorption for distillation operation.
operation.
8. Pure products are Pure products are
not obtained further produced nearly 99.99%
purification operations are
required
 Selection criteria of solvent in gas
absorption

1. Gas solubility :
 The solubility of a solute gas In a solvent
should be high.
 For good solubility, a solvent of chemical
nature similar to that of the solute to be
absorbed must be searched out and used.

2. Volatility :
 As the gas leaving an absorption unit is
generally saturated with the solvent, there
will be a loss of the solvent with the gas
leaving the unit operation.
 The solvent should have less volatile.
 It should have a low vapour pressure under
given operating conditions.

3. Corrosive nature :
 The solvent should not be corrosive towards
common materials of construction so that the
 construction material for an absorption
equipment will not be too expensive.

4. Viscosity :
 The solvent should have low viscosity for
rapid absorption rates, low pumping cost
and better heat transfer.
 The solvent should be non viscous.

5. Cost and availability :

 The solvent be cheap and readily available.
 Losses are less costly with the cheap
solvent.

6. Miscellaneous :
 The solvent should be non toxic, on
flammable, non foaming, and chemically
stable from a handling and storage point of
view.
 Minimum Liquid-Gas ratio for absorbers :

 In the design of absorbers, the quantity of gas to

be treated G or Gs, The terminal concentrations Y1
and YN+1, and the composition of the entering
liquid X0 is ordinarily fixed by process
requirements.

 Where N is the number of stages for absorption

or Number of trays in respect to tray tower.
 The operating line must pass through point D
and must end at coordinate Y1.
 Note that the operating line in the McCabe-
Thiele diagram for absorption is above the
Equilibrium line.
 This is because the solute is transferred from
the gas phase (i.e. the gas mixture) to the
liquid phase (i.e. the solvent), which is in the
opposite direction to the distillation
operation, in which the material (or the more
volatile component: MVC) is transferred
from the liquid phase to the gas phase.
 Gas Absorption Equipments

 Various gas absorption equipments used are:

1. Mechanically agitated vessel
2. Packed columns/towers
3. Plate columns

1. Mechanically Agitated Vessel:

 Used in small scale industry.

 This unit gives performance equivalent to
one theoretical stage.
 For a high absorption capacity, the operation
is carried out at low Temprature and for
maintaining it; a cooling coil is incorporated
in the vessel.

2. Packed Columns/Towers :

 Frequently used for gas absorption where in

the liquid is dispersed in the form of film
and the gas flows as continuous phase.
  The liquid flow rate is sufficient for good
wetting of packing.
 Generally two type of packing is used.
1. Random packing
2. Regular packing

 Characteristics Of tower packing :

- Should posses Good wetting characteristic.
- Should have a high corrosion resistance.
- Should posses enough structural strength.
- Should be chemically inert to the fluids
Handled in the tower.
-Should be relatively cheap or inexpensive.
-Should have a low bulk density.
1. Random Packing :
-Random packings are simply dumped into
the tower during installation and allowed
to fall at random.
-In the past such readily available materials
as broken stone, gravel or lumps of coke
were used.
-They are not desirable for reasons of small
Surface and poor fluid flow characteristics.
2. Regular Packing :
- The regular packing offers the advantages
of low pressure drop of gas and greater
possible fluid flow rates
-More costly installation than random
packings.
-These devices have been shown to be
useful for countercurrent gas-liquid
contact, with good mass transfer
characteristics at low pressure drop.
Reference.

1. “Unit Operations of chemical Engg.” By W.L.Mccabe,

J.C.Smith & Harriott, Mc – graw Hill International,
6th addition.
2. “Mass transfer operation" by R.E.Treybal, Mc-
GrawHill international, 3rd edition