Condensation is the change of vapour (in a non

condensable gas) to liquid.

Some typical ways of condensing a vapor in a gas are:
1) Cool it at constant system total pressure ( the volume
changes of course)
2) Cool it at constants total system volume (the pressure
changes)
3) Compress it isothermally(the volume changes)

Refer to Fig. 17.1

The set up for the analysis has an error. If you do not

heat the sample of gas collected by the probe and or put
an intermediate condenser before the pump, the analyzer
will fill with liquid as the gas sample cools and will not
function.

Eg. of Condensation
If we cool a system consisting of a mixture of air and
10% water vapour at constant total pressure. Take the air
water vapour mixture as the system.
If the mixture is cooled at constant total pressure from
51oC and 750mm Hg absolute (pt. A for the water vapour
in Fig. 17.2) How low can the temperature go before
condensation starts ( at pt. B the same as pt. C in Fig.
17.2a) But a different pt. in Fig. 17.2b.
One can cool the mixture until the temperature reaches
the dew point associated with the partial pressure of
water,
P*water = p water = 0.10 (750) = 75 mm Hg
From the steam tables you can find that the
corresponding temp is T = 46oC ( pts. B and C in Fig
17.2 a on the vapour pressure curve)
Refer to Fig. 17.2 a and b

After reaching p* = 75 mm Hg at pt. B, if the

condensation process continued, it would continue at
constant pressure (75 mm Hg) and constant temperature
46oC until all of the water vapour had been condensed to
liquid, (pt. C in Fig 17.2b) Further cooling would reduce
the temperature of the liquid water below 46oC.

If the same air water mixture starts at 60 oC and 750mm

Hg and is cooled at constant pressure, at what
temperature will condensation occur for the same
process?
Has the dew point changed?
It is the same, because the mole fraction of the water
vapour in the air is the same and p H2O = 0.10(750) = 75
mm Hg still.
The volume of both the air and the water vapour can be
calculated from pV=nRT until condensation starts, at
which point the ideal gas law applies only to the residual
water vapour, not the liquid.
The no. of moles of water in the system does not change
from the initial number of moles until condensation
occurs, at which stage the no. of moles of water in the
gas phase starts to decrease. The no. of moles of air in
the system remains constant throughout the process.
 Condensation can also occur when the pressure on a
vapour gas mixture is increased.
If a pound of saturated air at 75 oF is isothermally
compressed, (with a reduction in volume) liquid water
will be depositesd out of the air just like water being
squeezed out of a wet sponge.
Refer to Fig. 17.3
Eg. If a pound of saturated air at 75oF is isothermally
compressed at 1 atm, the vapour pressure of water is 0.43
psi at 75oF to 4 atm (58.8 psi), almost, almost ¾ of the
original content of water vapour now will be in the form
of liquid and the air still has a dew point of 75oF.
Remove the liquid water, expand the air isothermally
back to 1atm and you will find that the dew point has
been lowered to about 36oF.

After the air water vapour mixture is returned to a total

pressure of 1 atm, to get the partial pressure of the water
vapour the following two equations apply at 75oF.

Condensation of Benzene from a vapour recovery unit

Smokestack emissions and Pollution
Material balance involving condensation
To be discussed at next class.

Vaporization
Is the reverse of condensation, namely the transformation
of a liquid into vapour. One can vaporize a liquid into a non
condensable gas and raise the partial pressure of the vapour
in the gas until the saturation pressure ( vapour pressure) is
reached at equilibrium. Fig. 17.4 shows how partial
pressure of water and air change with time as water
evaporates into initially dry air.
On a p – T diagram, such as Fig. 17.2 a liquid would
vaporize at the saturation temperature C ( the bubble point
temperature, which is equal to the dew point temperature)
until the air became saturated.
At Fig. 17.2b a p – V diagram, evaporation of the liquid
would occur from C to B at constant temperature and
pressure until the air was saturated.
At constant temperature and total pressure, as shown in Fig.
17.5, the volume of the air would remain constant but the
volume of water vapour would increase so that the total
volume of the mixture would increase.
Eg. If sufficient liquid water is placed in a dry gas that is at
15oC and 754 mm Hg, if the temperature and volume
remain constant during the vaporization, what is the final
pressure in the system?
The partial pressure of the dry gas remains constant
because n, V and T for the dry gas are constant.
The water vapour reaches its vapour pressure of 12.8mm
Hg at 15oC. Thus the total pressure becomes:
P tot = p H2O + p air = 12.8 + 754 = 766.8mm Hg.
Eg. 17.5 Vaporization to saturate dry air

What is the minimum number of cubic metres of dry air at

20oC and 100kPa that are necessary to evaporate 6.0kg of
liquid ethyl alcohol if the total pressure remains constant at
100kPa and the temperature remains 20 oC? assume that the
air is blown through the alcohol to evaporate it in such a
way that the exit pressure of the air-alcohol mixture is at
100kPa.

Solution: Refer to Fig E 17.5 The process is isothermal.

The additional data needed are:
P*alcohol at 20oC = 5.93 kPa
Molecular weight ethyl alcohol = 46.07

The minimum volume of air means that the resulting

mixture is saturated, any condition less than saturated
would require more air.
Basis: 6.0kg of alcohol

The ratio of moles of ethyl alcohol to moles of air in the

final gaseous mixture is the same as the ratio of the partial
pressures of these two substances.
Since we know the moles of alcohol, we can find the no. of
moles of air needed for the vaporization.
Eg. 17.6 Vaporization of a hazardous component of an oil
slick

To determine the loss of components from a thin layer of

oil spread on water, a 3mm layer of oil containing various
alkanes was allowed to evaporate. It was determined that a
simple formula gave good predictions.
x = x0 exp (-Kt)
where x = mole fraction of a component at time t.
x0 = initial mole fraction of a component
K = a constant determined by experiment min-1.
It turns out that K could be predicted reasonably well by
the relation, log10 p* = 1.25 log10 K + 0.160 where p* is in
atm.
Calculate the half time (the time required to reduce the
concentration of a compound by one half) of n=heptane in
an oil layer 3mm thick at 22.3oC.