SIMULTANEOUS HEAT AND

MASS TRANSFER
(SHMT)
7th Semester,
B.Sc. Chemical Engineering

Delivered by:
Dr Usman Ali

Department of Chemical Engineering

University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore
 Humidification Operations
❑Unit Operation.
❑Simultaneous heat and mass transfer
❑Transfer between pure liquid phase and a
fixed gas that is insoluble in liquid.
❑Air-water contacting:
o Water Cooling
o Humidification
o Dehumidification
o Gas Cooling
 Humidification Operations
❑The degree of moisture has a strong effect on
o heating, cooling, and comfort
o insulation, roofing, stability and deformation of
building materials
o sound absorption, odor levels, ventilation
o industry and agriculture
 Dry Air and Water Vapor
Dry Air
Component % by vol MW

Nitrogen 78.084 28.0134

Oxygen 20.448 31.9988
Argon 0.934 39.9430
Carbon Dioxide 0.031 44.0100

Effective MW 28.9645

Water Vapor 18.0153

Humidity
Saturated gas
Saturation Humidity
Relative humidity
Percentage humidity
Humid heat
Humid volume
Dew point / Saturation temperature
Total Enthalpy
Dry-bulb Temperature
Wet-bulb Temperature
Adiabatic Saturator
 Example
In a vessel at 101.3 kN/m2 and 300 K, the
percentage relative humidity of the water vapour in
the air is 25. If the partial pressure of water vapour
when air is saturated with vapour at 300 K is 3.6
kN/m2, calculate:
(a) the partial pressure of the water vapour in the vessel;
(b) the specific volumes of the air and water vapour;
(c) the humidity of the air; and
(d) the percentage humidity.
 Example
In a process in which benzene is used as a
solvent, benzene is evaporated into dry
nitrogen. At 297 K and 101.3 kN/m2, the
resulting mixture has a percentage relative
humidity of 60. It is required to recover 80 per
cent of the benzene present by cooling to 283 K
and compressing to a suitable pressure. What
should this pressure be? The vapour pressure of
benzene is 12.2 kN/m2 at 297 K and 6.0 kN/m2
at 283 K.
 Humidity charts / Psychrometric charts

❑ Abscissa – temperature
❑ Ordinate – humidity
❑ Percentage humidity
lines
❑ Adiabatic cooling lines
❑ Specific volume of dry
air & saturated volume
lines
❑ Humid heat vs humidity
❑ Point on chart
❑ At saturation line
❑ Above
❑ Below
Use of humidity charts
 Humidity charts other than air-water

❑Any pressure
❑Any system other than air-water

❑Vapor pressure & Latent heat of vaporization

❑Specific heats of dry gas & vapor
❑Molecular weights of gas & vapor
 Wet-bulb temperature

• Steady-state , non-equilibrium temperature reached by

small amount of liquid immersed under adiabatic
conditions in a continuous stream of gas.

• It is very close to the adiabatic saturation temperature

for the air-water system, but not for most other vapor-
gas systems
 How to measure ?

• Adiabatic conditions
• Covered by wick
• Must be saturated with pure
liquid

Heat of vaporization
+
sensible heat of vapors
=
sensible heat flowing from gas to
liq.
Precautions
1. The wick must be completely
wet.
2. Velocity of gas should be large.
3. Make up water should be at wet-
bulb temperature.

DRY WET
 DETERMINATION OF HUMIDITY
• Chemical methods – absorbent
– Satisfactory absorbents for water vapour are
phosphorus pentoxide dispersed in pumice, and
concentrated sulphuric acid.
• Determination of the wet-bulb temperature.
• Determination of the dew point
• Measurement of the change in length of a
hair or fibre.
• Measurement of conductivity of a fibre. a fibre is
impregnated with an electrolyte, such as lithium
chloride and the current flowing at a constant
applied voltage gives a direct measure of the
relative humidity.
• Measurement of heat of absorption on to a
surface
• Electrolytic hygrometry in which the quantity of
electricity required to electrolyse water absorbed
from the atmosphere on to a thin film of
desiccant is measured.
• Piezo-electric hygrometry employing a quartz
crystal with a hygroscopic coating in which
moisture is alternately absorbed from a wet-
gas
• Capacitance meters in which the electrical
capacitance is a function of the degree of
deposition of moisture from the atmosphere
• Observation of colour changes in active
ingredients, such as cobaltous chloride.
Cooling Towers
 Introduction:

❑ Dry cooling
❑ Evaporative cooling
❑ Compression cooling
 Evaporative Cooling
Advantages
❑ Reduced ground area (higher thermal power/m²)
❑ More efficient heat exchange
❑ Less electrical consumption
❑ Limits set by wet bulb temperature

Disadvantages
❑ Substantial water consumption
❑ Water treatment may be necessary
Cooling in Industry
 Cooling Towers

❑ A cooling tower is an equipment used to reduce the

temperature of a water stream by extracting heat
from water and emitting it to the atmosphere.

❑ Principle : Evaporation
 Cooling Towers

❑ Cooling towers are

evaporative coolers used for
cooling water or other
working medium to near the
ambient wet-bulb
temperature of the air.

http://www.industry-animated.org/coolingtwr.swf
 Important Factors for Operation
❑Dry bulb and wet bulb temperature of air
❑Temperature of warm water
❑Efficiency of contact between air and water
❑Uniformity of distribution of phases
❑Air pressure drop
❑Desired temperature of cooled water
 Types of Cooling Towers
Cooling Towers

Natural Draft Mechanical Draft

Forced Draft Induced Draft

Cross Flow
Counter Current
Spray Ponds
 Atmospheric Cooling Tower

❑Rectangular chamber with

louvers
❑Cheap and inefficient
❑Performance depends on
direction and velocity of wind
Natural draft Cooling Tower
 Natural draft Cooling Tower
❑Large reinforced concrete shell of hyperbolic
shape
❑At bottom , small part is filled with high void
packing.
Factors for Natural Draft:
i. Rise in T and H of air in column reduces its
density
ii. Wind velocity at tower bottom
 Natural draft Cooling Tower
Hyperbolic Shape:
❑More packing in bigger area as in bottom
❑Entering air gets smoothly directed towards
centre and creating a strong draft
❑Greater strength ant stability
 Mechanical Draft Cooling Tower
Mechanical draft towers have large fans to force
or draw air through circulated water.

Types :

❑Forced draft
❑Induced draft
 Forced Draft Cooling Tower

Air blown through tower by centrifugal fan at air

inlet

Advantages:
❑ Suited for high air resistance
❑ Velocity head is converted in press. Head on
entering tower.
❑ Fans are relatively quiet and less vibration

Disadvantages:
❑ Recirculation due to high air-entry
❑ Air flow through fill may not be uniform.
❑ Low air-exit velocities
Forced Draft Cooling Tower
Induced draft Cooling Tower
❑Counter-flow
❑Cross-flow

Advantage:
❑ Less recirculation than forced
draft towers

Disadvantage:
❑ Fans and motor drive
mechanism require weather-
proof.
Counter-flow Cooling Tower
 Counter-flow Cooling Tower
❑Dry air contacts coldest water at bottom and
Humid air contacts warm water at top
❑Creating maximum average driving force for
both heat and mass transfer
❑More horse power of fan as there is restricted
area for air flow at bottom
Cross-Flow Cooling Tower
 Cross-Flow Cooling Tower
❑Less horse power of fan as compared to
counter flow.
❑Growth of algae on fill is more
 Components of a cooling tower

❑ Shell, Frame and casing: support exterior enclosures

❑ Tower Fill: facilitate heat transfer by maximizing water / air contact
o Splash fill
o Film fill
❑ Cold Water Basin: receives water at bottom of tower
❑ Drift Eliminators: capture droplets in air stream
❑ Air Inlet: entry point of air
❑ Louvers: equalize air flow into the fill and retain water within tower
❑ Water Distributor(Nozzles): spray water to wet the fill
❑ Fans
❑ Mechanical Support
 Performance of cooling towers

Range
Difference in temperature
between the inlet hot water
and the outlet cold water.

Approach
Difference in temperature
between the outlet cold
water and the wet bulb
temperature of the entering
air.
Effectiveness.
This is the ratio between the range and the ideal range
(in percentage)

= Range / (Range + Approach)

Evaporation loss.
This is the water quantity evaporated for cooling duty.
Theoretically the evaporation quantity works out to 1.8 m3 for every
1,000,000 kCal heat rejected.
 Problems Related To Cooling Water
Blow-out
➢Water droplets blown out of the cooling tower by wind, generally at the air
inlet openings. Water may also be lost, in the absence of wind, through
splashing or misting.

➢Devices such as wind screens, louvers, splash deflectors and water diverters
are used to limit these losses.
Blow-down
The portion of the circulating water flow that is removed in order to maintain
the amount of dissolved solids and other impurities at an acceptable level.

Plume

➢The stream of saturated exhaust air leaving the cooling tower.

➢The plume is visible when water vapor it contains condenses in contact with
cooler ambient air, like the saturated air in one's breath fogs on a cold day.
 Problems Related To Cooling Water

❑ Interference and Recirculation

❑ Others Problems

1. Scale
2. Fouling
3. Microbiological growth
4. Corrosion
 Design of cooling towers

Objectives:

- find the minimum required air rate to obtain particular water

temperature

- find the height of packing

Temperature profiles in cooling towers

water air
water air air water

Ti TH2O Ti TH2O Ti
TH2O
Tair Tair Tair
Hi Hi Hi
H H H
top (hot water) bottom (cooler water)
 Design of cooling towers
'
Gair , Tair,a , Eair,a , H a LH 2O,a , TH 2O,a
1) Overall energy balance:

(air) (water)
'
Gair ( Eair,a − Eair,b ) = LH 2OcH 2O (TH 2O,a − TH 2O,b )
Energy balance at intermediate point:

'
Gair ( Eair,a − Eair ) = LH 2OcH 2O (TH 2O,a − TH 2O )
'
Gair , Tair,b , Eair,b , H b LH 2O,b , TH 2O,b
subscript x – properties of water
subscript y – properties of air (air) (water)
'
Gair vapour free mass flow rate of air

LH 2O ,a  LH 2O ,b  LH 2O mass flow rate of water

 Design of cooling towers

1) Overall energy balance:

Eair equilibrium line
'
Gair ( Eair,a − Eair,b ) = LH 2OcH 2O (TH 2O,a − TH 2O,b )
Energy balance at intermediate point:
Eair,a
'
Gair ( Eair,a − Eair ) = LH 2OcH 2O (TH 2O,a − TH 2O )
This is operating line equation
Eair,b

Eair,a − Eair,b LH 2O cH 2O
= TH2O,b TH2O,a
TH2O
TH 2O,a − TH 2O,b G '
air

Slope of the operating line

 Design of cooling towers

Eair,a − Eair,b LH 2O cH 2O Eair equilibrium line

=
TH 2O,a − TH 2O,b '
Gair

Eair,a
Minimum air flow
condition

, a − Eair,b
*
Eair LH 2O cH 2O Eair,b
=
TH 2O ,a − TH 2O ,b '
Gair
TH2O,b TH2O,a TH2O

Sits on equilibrium line

Slope of the operating line
 Design of cooling towers
'
Gair , Tair,a , Eair,a , H a LH 2O,a , TH 2O,a
Differential volume dZ: (water)
(air)
1) Enthalpy balance:

'
Gair dEair = d ( LH 2O EH 2O )  LH 2OcH 2O dTH 2O Z dZ

dEair = cs dTair + H 2O dH

(air) (water)
'
Gair , Tair,b , Eair,b , H b LH 2O,b , TH 2O,b
 Design of cooling towers
The rate of sensible heat
transfer from water to the interface is:
LH 2O cH 2O dTH 2O = hH 2O (TH 2O − Ti ) A
A = adZ
LH 2O cH 2O dTH 2O = hH 2O (TH 2O − Ti )adZ
The rate of heat
transfer from the interface to bulk air:
'
Gair cS dTair = hair (Ti − Tair )adZ
Tair
air
Ti
water
TH 2O
Here A is the contact surface area in dZ,
a is the contact surface area per unit of
height of packing. (In packed towers we
used a that was the contact area per unit
volume of packing; and differential
volume was dV=SdZ, with S being the
cross section of the column.)
 Design of cooling towers
The rate mass transfer of water through the gas film into the bulk

y
Gair dy = kair ( yi − y)adZ air

yi
'
Gair dH = k air M air ( H i − H )adZ
water

'
Gair H 2O dH = kair M airH 2O ( Hi − H )adZ
'
Gair cS dTair = hair (Ti − Tair )adZ
Design of cooling towers

'
Gair (H 2O dH + cS dTair ) = (kair M airH 2O ( Hi − H ) + hair (Ti − Tair ))adZ

dEair

Lewis relation hair = cS M air kair

Gy' dEair = (kair M airH 2O ( Hi − H ) + kair M aircs (Ti − Tair ))adZ

k air M air ( Eair,i − Eair )

 Design of cooling towers

'
Gair dEair = kair aM air ( Eair,i − Eair )dZ Analogy to packed towers!

'
Gair dEair
Z=
k air aM air  Eair,i − Eair the height of packing

'
Gair dEair = K air a( Eair
*
− Eair )dZ
'
Gair dEair
K air a  Eair
Z= *
− Eair
*
1 1 m dEair
= + m= slope of equilibrium line
K air a k air aM air hH 2O a dTH 2O
Enthalpy Humidity Chart

Mixing of two humid gas streams

Addition of liquid or vapor to a gas stream

 TASK

In an air-conditioning
system, 1 kg/s air at 350
K and 10 per cent
humidity is mixed with 5
kg/s air at 300 K and 30
per cent humidity. What
is the enthalpy, humidity,
and temperature of the
resultant stream?
 TASK
0.15 kg/s steam at atmospheric
pressure and superheated to 400
K is bled into an air stream at 320
K and 20 per cent relative
humidity. What is the
temperature, enthalpy, and
relative humidity of the mixed
stream if the air is flowing at 5
kg/s? How much steam would be
required to provide an exit
temperature of 330 K and what
would be the humidity of this
mixture?