To study the effect of gas flow rate on the

overall mass transfer co efficient in Gas-

absorption column.
(Group #1, Section B)

Submitted to:
Maám Zabiya
Sajjad
Submission
Date:
November 11th, 2019
Submitted by:
Umar Farooq [FA17-CHE-078]
Nouman Nisar [FA17-CHE-104]
Ahsan Waqar [FA17-CHE-066]
Umair Farooq [ FA17-CHE-048]
Ashfaq Rasool [FA17-CHE-86 ]
M.Naumaan Tahir [FA17-CHE-011 ]

Department of Chemical Engineering

COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus
 Experiment # 4
• Objective:
To study the effect of gas flow rate on the overall mass transfer co efficient in Gas-absorption
column.

• Introduction:
Gas absorption (also known as scrubbing) is an operation in which a gas mixture is contacted
with a liquid for the purpose of preferentially dissolving one or more components of
the gas mixture and to provide a solution of them in the liquid.
Absorption, or gas absorption, is a unit operation used in the chemical industry to
separate gases by washing or scrubbing a gas mixture with a suitable liquid. One or more of the
constituents of the gas mixture dissolves or is absorbed in the liquid and can thus be removed
from the mixture.
The purpose of such scrubbing operations may be gas purification, eg, removal of air pollutants
from exhaust gases; product recovery; or production of solutions of gases for various purposes.
Gas absorption is usually carried out in vertical countercurrent columns. The solvent is fed in at
the top of the absorber, the gas mixture from the bottom.

• Executive Summary:
Selection of solvent for absorption and stripping

If the objective of absorption is separation of a particular component from a mixture, selection of

absorbent plays a great role and when absorption operation is used to prepare a solution, solvent
is selected according to final product.

Few criteria for the selection of an absorbent are as follows:

(A) Gas Solubility: High solubility of a gas in the solvent is preferred, utilizing low quantity of
solvent. Absorbent should not dissolve carrier gas. Similar chemical nature of solute and
absorbent (solvent) gives a good solubility. If chemical reaction takes place between solute and
solvent, rate of absorption is extremely high. But the reaction should be reversible to recover
solvent during desorption.

(B) Volatility: Low volatility or low vapor pressure of the solvent enhances the adsorption
operation as solvent loss with carrier gas is very small. Sometimes, a second less volatile solvent
is used to recover the first solvent.
(C) Viscosity: For better absorption, a solvent of low viscosity is required. In mechanically
agitated absorber, greater amount of power is required for high viscous solvent and flooding is
also caused at lower liquid and gas flow rates.

(D) Corrosiveness: Non-corrosive or less corrosive solvent reduces equipment construction cost
as well as maintenance cost.

(E) Cost: The solvent should be cheap so that losses will be insignificant and should be easily
available.

(F) Toxicity and Hazard: The solvent should be non-toxic, nonflammable, non-hazardous and
should be chemically stable. Steam is generally used in desorption or stripping medium as
stripped solute can be recovered very easily by condensing steam leaving desorption tower.

Types of Absorption

Absorption is of two types:

• Physical Absorption
• Chemical Absorption

Physical Absorption:

Physical absorption involves no chemical reaction and it usually follows the Nernst Partition
Law which states that "the ratio of concentrations of some solute species in two bulk phases in
contact is constant for a given solute and bulk phases.” The value of constant KN depends on
temperature and is called partition coefficient. This equation is valid if concentrations are not too
large and if the species "x" does not change its form in any of the two phases "1" or "2". If such
molecule undergoes association or dissociation then this equation still describes the equilibrium
between "x" in both phases, but only for the same form - concentrations of all remaining forms
must be calculated by taking into account all the other equilibria.
Chemical Absorption:
Operations in which one or more components of a gas phase are absorbed into a liquid phase are
common throughout the chemical process industries and frequently serve to achieve desired
reactions among components in the two phases (Lee & Tsui, 1999). Such operations are often
called reactive absorption because of the combination of reaction and absorptive mass transport.
During the absorption, heat is evolved, and it is necessary to fit coolers with the equipment to
keep the temperature sufficiently low for an adequate degree of absorption to be obtained. For
the concentration of most gases, the equilibrium relationship is given by Henry’s Law.

Henry's law is a gas law that states that the amount of dissolved gas is proportional to its partial
pressure in the gas phase. The proportionality factor is called the Henry's law constant.

PA = H CA

Where PA = Partial Pressure of Gas

H = Henry’s Constant

CA = Concentration of component.

• Experiment Procedure:

1) Allow the water to flow from top of the column in the downward direction and adjust it to
obtain a constant flow rate and note its value.
2) Introduce the mixture of air and CO2 in the ratio of 1:1 from the bottom of the column.
3) Adjust the flow-rates of both air and CO2 by means of rotameter.
4) Note flow rates of gas containing air and CO2.
5) Collect the sample of water from bottom of the column.
6) Take 20 ml of N/20 KOH solution and mix with 20 ml of carbonic acid collected from the
bottom.
7) Titrate this mixture with N/20 HCl using Phenolphthalein as an indicator till light pink color
is colorless.
8) Add 2 or 3 drops of methyl red as an indicator and again titrate it against N/20 HCl till orange
end point.
9) Note the volume of N/20 HCl used separately for phenolphthalein and methyl red indicator.
10) Now change the flow rate of gas and repeat the above procedure several times.
11) Plot a graph between gas flow rate and mass transfer co-efficient, NoL and HoL.
12) Following reaction are assumed to be taken place:
 CO2 + H2O → H2CO3
2KOH +H2CO3 → K2CO3 + 2H2O
KOH + HCL → KCl +H2O
K2CO3 + HCl→ KHCO3 + KCl
KHCO3 + HCl→ KCl +CO2 + H2O

• Observations and Calculations:

Volume of N/20 KOH used = 20 ml
Volume of H2CO3 taken = 20 ml
Total volume = 40 ml
Diameter of wetted wall column = 157 cm
Height of wetted wall column = 645.16 cm
Henry’s constant (H2CO3) = 1.84 × 103 atm/mol. Fraction
Density of H2O = 0.999 gm/cm3
Mol. Wt of H2O = 18 gm/gm-mol
Mole fraction of gas in liquid phase = Xa
Mole fraction of H2O in g phase = Xb
Pressure of gas = Pa = 1 atm
Pa = Ha Xa
Xa= Pa/Ha = 1/1.84 × 103 = 0.000543 mole fraction
Xb= 1 – Xa = 1-0.000543=0.999457 mole fraction
Ce = Concentration of gas in equilibrium with liquid
Ce= (Xa/Xb) (ρ H2O/M.H2O) = (0.000543/0.999457)(0.999/18)=3.105*10-5mol/cm³
Molar Flux = Lm = L/A
A= 2πrh
A= πdh= 3.14*157*645.16=318050cm²
Where L = liquid flow-rate.
 • Calculation Tables:
Sr. No. Gas flow rate Phenolphthalein as indicator Methyl Red as indicator
(gm/min)
IBR FBR Vol. of IBR FBR Vol. of
N/20 HCl N/20 HCl
used used (V)

1 3 0 8.6 8.6 25.6 30.1 4.5

2 6 8.6 17.1 8.5 30.1 34.6 4.5

3 9 17.1 25.6 8.5 34.6 39.1 4.5

Total Normality of Strengt C Lm=L/A NoL= HoL= KLa=

vol. of H2CO3 h of ln Z Lm/HoL.
N/20 N2 = (N1.V1/V2) CO2 X 10^-5 Ce NoL
HCl V2=40 (N2×22 Ce − C cm
used gm
(V1=2V ) liter x10^-3
)
9 0.01125 0.2475 0.2475 2.25 0.1 0.3 2.67

9 0.012155 0.2475 0.01625 3.48 0.2 0.22 362

9 0.01348 0.2475 0.01625 4.68 0.03 0.10 5.48

Graphical Representation

Flow rate vs . NOL

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0 2 4 6 8 10

fLOW RATE VS HoL

0.35

0.3

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
 • Discussions:

The main objective for the experiment 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. From the graph, we
could also observe that, the higher the water flow rate, the lower the log air flow rate. This is due
to the water flow downwards hinder the air flow upwards, resulting in high pressure drop. Thus,
at high water flow rate, flooding happens rather faster than at the lower one since the resistance
that the water flow give to the air flow is greater. The same case happens for the theoretical data.
Proving that the experimental data shows the same pattern as theoretical one. Although for both
theory and experimental data, the relationship between pressure drop and air flow rates is
proportional to each other, the experimental pressure drop is larger compared to the theoretical
pressure drop at water flow rate of 1 L/min and 2 L/min. Vary at 3 L/min, the experimental
pressure drop is smaller compared to the theoretical pressure drop. This could be due to error in
controlling the water flow rate from hindering the gas flow rate downwards at the bottom of the
gas absorption column.

• Conclusions:

The pressure drop increases as the air flow rate increases. The pressure drop also increases as the
water flow rate increases. Packing tower work efficiently at low liquid flow rate compared to
high liquid flow rate. Low liquid flow rate enabling the absorption rate to be maximize. Since the
objectives is successfully obtained, the experiment is successfully done.