NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,

ROURKELA

Process Plant Simulation Laboratory - II

Ammonia Stripping Tower

M.Sudharshan

116CH0128
Introduction:

Air stripping is a process by which a liquid, usually wastewater, is brought into intimate
contact with a gas, usually air, so that some undesirable volatile substances present in
the liquid phase can be released and carried away by the gas. Processes such as
mechanical surface aeration, diffused aeration, spray fountains, spray or tray towers,
and countercurrent packed towers are encompassed by the term air stripping. These
procedures produce a condition in which a large surface area of the water to be treated is
exposed to air, which promotes transfer of the contaminant from the liquid phase to the
gaseous phase.

Description:

The process consists of counter-current flow of water and air through a packing
material. The packed tower consists of a cylindrical drum equipped with a gas inlet and
distributing space at the bottom; a liquid inlet and distributor at the top; gas and liquid
outlets at top and bottom, respectively; and a supported mass of inert solid shapes,
called tower packing (Figure 1). In the traditional system, water is pumped to the top of
the tower, and is allowed to flow down over the inert packing, while air is pumped
countercurrent from the bottom of the tower. The contaminants of interest such as
ammonia or volatile organic compounds (VOC) are stripped out of the water into the air
stream. In practice, two methods are used to achieve contact between phases so that
mass transfer can occur: (1) continuous contact and (2) staged contact. Different flow
patterns used in practice include countercurrent, co-current and cross-flow. The most
common flow pattern is countercurrent mode.
Design Considerations:

Stripping towers have diameters of 0.5 to 3 m and heights of 1 to 15 m. The height of

the packed tower will affect the removal efficiency of the contaminant. The desired rate
of flow of the liquid to be treated will determine the diameter of the air stripping
column. The type of packing material will have an impact on the mass transfer rate,
because the surface area of the packing provides the air-to-water interfacial area. The
air-to-water ratio ranges from as low as 5 to several hundred and is controlled by
flooding and pressure drop considerations. The ratio of air-to-water flow through the air
stripper will control the removal rate of the contaminant. An increase in the air-to-water
ratio will usually result in greater removal rates, up to a point at which entrainment of
the liquid by the air flow occurs, resulting in a sharp increase in the air pressure drop
through the stripping column.
The pressure drop in the tower should be between 200 to 400 N/m2 per meter of tower height to
avoid flooding. The designer must choose a gas velocity far enough from flooding velocity to
ensure safe operation.
The flooding velocity depends on the type and size of packing and liquid mass velocity.
Lowering the design velocity increases the tower diameter without much change in
required height, since lower gas and liquid velocities lead to a proportional reduction in
mass-transfer rate. Channeling occurs when water flows down the tower wall rather
than through the packing. Distribution plates must be placed approximately every 5 to
10 m in the tower immediately above each packing section to avoid this. Channeling is
severe in towers filled with stacked packing than in dumped packings.

Design of Ammonia Stripping Tower:

Packing Factor = 1500.

Henry’s law constant at 40°C, H is 0.001425.

Air to water ratio:

Q C0 −C𝑒
( 𝑄𝑎)𝑚𝑖𝑛 = HC0

Influent concentration of waste water = 211 mg/L.

Target concentration = 0.5 mg/L.
Minimum air-to-water ratio = 695.
The air-to-water ratio was calculated with the following equation:
Q S
( 𝑄𝑎)𝑚𝑖𝑛 = H
Ammonia

Henry’s constant (bar) versus Temperature (K) H vs. the specific gas flowrate G

Where S is the stripping factor (here equal to 2) and HAmmonia is the dimensionless Henry's law
constant for air-ammonia at 40°C. The air-to-water ratio is calculated to be 1450.
Raschig rings with a diameter of 6.35 mm are reported to have a pressure drop of 4 inches of water
per foot at flooding. The pressure drop used will be half of that value (1630 Pa/m2 m).
Determining gas loading rate, the x-value for the Eckert gas pressure drop is:
GM Q ρg 1.128
=( 𝑄𝑎) ( ρ ) = (1450)( 991 ) = 1.65 kg(air)/kg(water)
LM l

ρg = 1.128 kg(air)/m3
ρl = 991 kg(water)/m3
L ρg
x=GM (ρ −ρ )0.5
M l g

x=0.020
The corresponding y-value to this x in Eckert Gas Pressure drop chart is about 0.12 for a 2-inch
water pressure drop.
Gas loading rate is:
𝑦ρg (ρl −ρg ) 0.5
GM =( )
Cf µ0.5
l

Cf = 1500 (packing factor)

µl =0.653 x 10−3 kg/mg.s
kg
GM = 1.526 m2 .𝑠
The water loading rate, LM is now calculated from the relation:
G
LM = Q𝑎 Mρg = 0.925 kg/m2
( )( )
𝑄 ρl

These loading rates are appropriate as they do not allow flooding as the pressure drop is between
200 to 400 N/m2 per meter.
With the values for the liquid flow rate and the liquid loading rate, the column area is now
determined as:
Qρl
A= L
M

A= 1.896 m2
Calculating the diameter,
D= 1.55 m
Calculating the length of the column:
The liquid phase mass transfer coefficient is calculated from the wetted surface area of the column:

𝜎𝑐 0.75
(Re)0.1 (𝐹𝑟)−0.05 (𝑊𝑒)0.2 )
𝑎𝑤 =𝑎𝑡 (1-𝑒 (−1.45( 𝜎 ) )
L
Re=𝑎 Mµ
𝑡 l

(LM )2 𝑎𝑡
Fr= (ρl )2 𝑔

(L )2
We= ρ 𝑎M 𝜎
l 𝑡

𝑚2
On calculating; 𝑎𝑤 =106𝑚3

Liquid phase mass transfer coefficient:

L µ ρ
𝑘1 =0.0051(𝑎 Mµ )2/3 (ρ 𝐷 )−0.5(𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑝 )0.4(µ lg)−1/3
𝑤 l l 𝑙 l

Where 𝐷𝑙 is calculated using the Hayduk-Laurie correlation:

13.26 𝑥 10−5
𝐷𝑙 =(µ 1.14 (𝑉 )0.589
w) 𝑏

𝑉𝑏 is the molar volume of ammonia at the boiling point determined to be 26.7 (c𝑚3 )/mol.
The viscosity of water at 40°, µ1 = 0.563cP
𝑐𝑚2
𝐷𝑙 = 3.11 𝑥 100−5 𝑠

The liquid phase mass transfer coefficient, 𝑘𝑙 is calculated as 8.4 x 10−5 m/s.
Now, we have to calculate the gas phase mass transfer coefficient, From Wilke-Lee modification
of the Hirsch-Felder-Bird-Spotz correlation:
1 1 1 1
((1.084−0.249√ + ))(𝑇 1.5 )√ − )
𝑀 𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎 𝑀𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑀𝐴 𝑀𝐴𝑖𝑟
𝐷𝑔 = 𝑘𝑇
𝑃𝑙 𝑟(𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎−𝑎𝑖𝑟 )2 𝑓( )
Ɛ𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎−𝑎𝑖𝑟

Molecular separation at collision for ammonia:

𝐿
𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎 =1.18(𝑉𝑏,𝐴 )1/3=1.18(0.0257𝑚𝑜𝑙 )1/3 = 0.353nm

Molecular separation at collision for air:

𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 0.3711 𝑛𝑚
Molecular separation at collision for ammonia and air:
1
𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎−𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 2 (𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎 + 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑟 )

𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎−𝑎𝑖𝑟 =0.362 nm
Energy of molecular attraction for ammonia:
Ɛ𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎
=1.21 𝑇𝑏𝑜𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔,𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎
𝑘
𝑔.𝑐𝑚2
k=1.3804 x 10−16 𝑠2 .𝐾

𝑇𝑏𝑜𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔,𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎 =239.8 K
Ɛ𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎
=290
𝑘

Energy of molecular attraction for air:

Ɛ𝑎𝑖𝑟
=78.6
𝑘
Ɛ𝑎𝑖𝑟−𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎
𝑘
=√(290)(78.6)=151

Collision function:
𝑘𝑇 𝑇 313
= Ɛ𝑎𝑖𝑟−𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎 =151=2.07
Ɛ𝑎𝑖𝑟−𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎
𝑘

𝑘𝑇
w=log10 (Ɛ )=0.316
𝑎𝑖𝑟−𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎

ƹ=(-0.14329-0.48343(w) + 0.1939(w)2 + 0.13612w 2 - 0.20578w 4 + 0.083899w 5 -

0.01149lw 6 )
ƹ=-0.274
𝑘𝑇
f(Ɛ )=10ƹ =0.532
𝑎𝑖𝑟−𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎
 1 1 1 1
((1.084−0.249√ + ))(𝑇 1.5 )√ − )
𝑀 𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎 𝑀𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑀𝐴 𝑀𝐴𝑖𝑟
𝐷𝑔 = 𝑘𝑇
𝑃𝑙 𝑟(𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎−𝑎𝑖𝑟 )2 𝑓( )
Ɛ𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎−𝑎𝑖𝑟

𝑐𝑚2
𝐷𝑔 =2.41 at 0.1 bar
𝑠

Gas Phase Mass Transfer Coefficient:

G µ𝑔
𝑘𝐺 =5.23(𝑎𝑡 𝐷𝑔 )(𝑎 M )0.7(ρ )1/3(𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑝 )−2
µ 𝑡 𝑔 g 𝐷𝑔

𝑚
𝑘𝐺 = 0.22
𝑠
Overall Mass Transfer Rate Constant:
1 1 1 1 1
= + = + =137 s
KL 𝑎 k𝑎 k
l g aw 𝐻 (8.4 𝑥 10−5 )(108) (0.22)(108)(0.001436)

K L 𝑎 = 0.00730 𝑠 −1
Now, we calculate the length of the column:
𝑐
𝑄 𝑠 1+( 0 )(𝑆−1)
𝑐𝑇0
L=𝐴K 𝑎(𝑠−1)ln( )
L 𝑆

L= 4.071 m
Result:
Height of Ammonia Stripping Tower = 4.071 m.
Diameter of the Stripping Tower = 1.55 m.