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Absorption of Sulfur Dioxide with Sodium Hydroxide Solution in Spray

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Article  in  Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research · September 2015

DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.5b02146

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Absorption of Sulfur Dioxide with Sodium Hydroxide Solution in

Spray Columns
Zhanke Wang, Yu Peng, Xiaocong Ren, Shaoyong Gui, and Guangxu Zhang*
School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Science, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, Hubei, China

ABSTRACT: The absorption of sulfur dioxide into highly concentrated sodium hydroxide in a spray column from simulated
flue gas was investigated. The influences of different operating conditions on the SO2 removal efficiency, such as sodium
hydroxide concentration, liquid-to-gas ratio, gas velocity and SO2 concentration, were examined. The overall volume transfer
coefficients (kGa), under moderate conditions, were obtained by introducing the instantaneous and irreversible chemical reaction
into the two-film theory to establish a model that allowed the calculation of theoretical values of the overall volume-transfer
coefficient. It was found that the absorption process was controlled by diffusion through gas film when a highly concentrated
caustic soda solution was adopted. The overall volume-transfer coefficient was essentially independent of concentration of SO2 in
gas phase and positively related to the gas and liquid flow rates. The formula of kGa was fitted for the process and found to be in
good agreement with experimental results.

1. INTRODUCTION ships, the concentrated sodium hydroxide solution would be

Air pollution caused by sulfur oxides (SOX) in exhausted gas
from marine diesel engine has been a global issue and a hot
research topic. The emission limits for SOX has been dictated in
International Maritime Organization (IMO) Regulation 14.
However, naturally occurring low-sulfur fuel is insufficient and
refining to remove sulfur content is expensive. It is an
alternative method of mitigating SOX emissions by the less-
expensive high-sulfur-content oil in combination with an
exhaust gas scrubber.1,2 Attributed to the low-cost advantage
of the raw material source, desulfurization with limestone
gypsum system has been a common flue gas desulfurization
(FGD) technique mainly used in coal power stations. However,
the practical marine application of this treatment is limited by
the large cubage, easy blockage, and the produced large amount
of solid waste. Wet ammonia FGD is prevalent for its
byproduct of ammonium sulfate fertilizer recently,3 but it is
swept aside for the ammonia escape and the constraint of the
discharge of wastewater containing the ammonia nitrogen. As
an important industrial absorption process to reduce air
pollution, removing sulfur dioxide from gas mixtures by
contacting it with an aqueous alkali hydroxide solution has
been considered to minimize scaling, plugging, and erosion
problems in the absorbent circuit.4,5
Several studies were reported previously about the chemical
absorption mechanism for the SO2−OH− ion system.6−12 The
transfer mechanism,6,7 theoretical calculation approaches,8,9
and some experiment researches about various types of reactors
on a laboratory scale10−12 have been investigated. However,
only few studies involving the overall volume-transfer
coefficient of absorption SO2 with sodium hydroxide solution
in a spray column were reported. Zidar6 discussed desulfuriza-
tion in the NaOH−SO2−H2O system on a laboratory scale
using a falling film reactor to scale down criteria for the spray
columns, which reported the enhancement factor and the
overall mass-transfer coefficients and presented the gas−liquid
equilibrium operation graphically in the low concentration of
caustic soda solution. However, in a practical application of
adopted to increase the absorption rate.13
The main purpose of this study is the overall volume-transfer
coefficient of the purification of effluent gases containing sulfur
dioxide with high concentration sodium hydroxide solution in a
spray tower. Furthermore, the significant rate of SO2 reduction
affected by the different operation conditions in the system was
also investigated.
2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDS
2.1. Physical and Chemical Properties of the System.
When sulfur dioxide is absorbed into aqueous alkaline solution,
the diffusion of sulfur dioxide molecules from current gas phase
core to the gas/liquid interface and the dissolution in the
washing agent should be considered initially, according to the
equality of the chemical potentials in the phases, which could
be described by eq 1. It is often thought that the dissolution
process obeys Henry’s Law in low concentrations of the sulfur
dioxide predominant in effluent gases in practice. Some
dissolved acid gas molecules would be dissociated according
to eq 2, and others react with hydroxide ion directly, according
to eq 3, whereby hydrogen sulfite reacts, in turn, with the
additional hydroxide ion to sulfite, as shown in eq 4. The
hydrogen sulfite could also react with the dissolved sulfur
dioxide molecules, according to eq 5. The above processes
would have something with the dissociation of the water
(according to eq 6), the caustic soda (according to eq 7), and
the products of the processes (according to eqs 8−10).
Dissolution:
SO2 (g ) ↔ SO2 (l) (1)
Received: June 15, 2015
Revised: August 17, 2015
Accepted: August 24, 2015
Published: August 24, 2015

© 2015 American Chemical Society 8670 DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.5b02146

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2015, 54, 8670−8677
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research Article

Dissociation:
SO2 + H 2O ↔ HSO−3 + H+ (2)

Reaction:
SO2 + OH− ↔ HSO−3 (3)

Consecutive Reaction:
HSO−3 + OH− ↔ SO32 − + H 2O (4)

Reaction:
SO2 + SO32 − + H 2O ↔ 2HSO−3 (5)

Dissociation:
H 2O ↔ H+ + OH− (6)
Figure 1. Concentration distribution of instantaneous and irreversible
Dissociation: reaction.
NaOH ↔ Na + + OH− (7)
⎛ DS,L ⎞ ⎛δ ⎞
Dissociation: NS = ⎜ ⎟cS,i = ⎜ L ⎟kLcS,i
⎝ δ1 ⎠ ⎝ δ1 ⎠ (12)
Na 2SO3 ↔ 2Na + + SO32 − (8) The diffusing rate of NaOH is expressed as
Dissociation: ⎛ D N,L ⎞ ⎛ δ ⎞⎛ D N,L ⎞
+ NN = ⎜ ⎟c N,L = ⎜ L ⎟⎜ ⎟c N,L
NaHSO3 ↔ Na + HSO−3 (9) ⎝ δ2 ⎠ ⎝ δ 2 ⎠⎝ δ L ⎠ (13)
Dissociation: Regarding eq 11, 2NS = NN is obtained for the relationship of
stoichiometry. Therefore, eq 12 can be converted to the form of
HSO−3 ↔H ++
SO32 − (10) eq 15, with the removal of the factors δ1 and δ2, using the
following relationship between δL, δ1, and δ2:
In the case of the scrubbing process in the spray tower, which
acts as a multiple-staged feeding reactor, the fresh sodium δ L = δ1 + δ2 (14)
hydroxide solution is fed at different stages, which leads to the
sufficient fresh reactants and lower concentration of SO2− 3 in
⎛ D N,L c N,L ⎞
the column. In addition, the fresh sodium hydroxide solution is NS = 1 + ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟kLcS, i
the strong alkaline with high ionization equilibrium constant,7 ⎝ (2DS,L cS, i) ⎠ (15)
because of eq 7, which will provide the surplus of the hydroxide
δL D N,L c N,L
ion. The result of the circumstance is that eq 5 could be ignored =1+
and eq 4 follows close behind eq 3. Therefore, the overall δ1 2DS,L cS,i (16)
reaction in the scrubber is described as shwn in eq 11. Besides,
eq 3 is very fast with a rate constant exceeding 109 (mol−1 s−1 According to eqs 15 and 16, the increase in cN,L will promote
L), and the eq 4 has a very much higher rate constant because the absorption of sulfur dioxide for the decrease of δ1, and the
of the proton transfer reaction.9 As a result, the reaction 11 limiting case of cS,i = 0 would occur when the absorbent
could be regarded as an instantaneous and irreversible reaction concentration is high enough. In this case, the absorption
under the condition of high concentration of reactants.6,14 process conducts with the maximum rate expressed by eq 17,
and the appropriate critical concentration is calculated by eqs
SO2 + 2OH− → SO32 − + H 2O (11) 18−20:
2.2. Absorption Model. A comparison was made between NS = k GpS,G (17)
the predicted effects of chemical reaction on the absorption
process for some of the rigorous models (including penetration ⎛ D N,L ⎞
theory, film theory, eddy diffusion theory, and surface theory) NN = ⎜ ⎟(c N,L,C − 0) = 2NS = 2k GpS,G
⎝ δL ⎠ (18)
and approximate methods by Glasscok and Rochelle.15 They
concluded that the steady-state model (for example, film DS,L
theory) was the most effective for illustrating experimental data kL =
and conducting the numerical simulation of acid gas-treating δL (19)
process. On the basis of the film theory, the instantaneous
irreversible reaction occurs only on the specific plane in liquid ⎛ 2k ⎞⎛ DS,L ⎞
c N,L,C = ⎜ G ⎟⎜⎜ ⎟⎟p
film and the plane is called the reaction surface.16 As shown in ⎝ kL ⎠⎝ D N,L ⎠ S,G (20)
Figure 1, in order to supply the plane with reactants, the sulfur
dioxide molecules diffuse from the gas/liquid interface and the When cN,L ≫ cN,L,C, as shown in Figure 2, the absorption
sodium hydroxide molecules diffuse from the liquid bulk. The process is controlled by gas film mass transfer, and the rate can
diffusing rate of SO2 is expressed as be calculated by eq 17 under the consideration of cS,i = 0.16
8671 DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.5b02146
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2015, 54, 8670−8677
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research Article

3. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS AND DATA

INTERPRETATION
3.1. Experimental Work. A schematic diagram of the
experimental setup for the desulfurization is shown in Figure 3.
The experimental system consists of a mixing tank, an air
heater, a scrubber column, a spraying system, a demister, and an
instrumentation section. An air-mixing chamber simulates
different air velocities in the range of 3.0−5.0 m/s and SO2
concentrations of exhaust gas from diesel engine. The system is
equipped with a SO2 gas tank, a mixing section, and an air
compressor. SO2 concentrations can be controlled by the flow
of SO2 in the system with the rotameter. The SO2-laden air
flows to the vertical spray column and contacts counter-current
Figure 2. Concentration distribution of instantaneous and irreversible with the absorption solvent, which is pumped into the tower
reaction (in the case of cN,L ≫ cN,L,C). through the atomizing nozzles and rotameter. The scrubber is a
cylindrical stainless steel column with a diameter of 0.125 m
and a height of 1.8 m. There are three nozzles with the interval
distance of 0.4 m inside the column. Figure 4 shows
When cN,L < cN,L,C, the absorption is governed by both gas film information about the scrubber.
and liquid film. The absorption rate of sulfur dioxide is obtained In the experiment, the concentration of SO2 ranged from 0
with the help of gas film transfer rate expressed by eq 21 and to 800 ppm. Experiments were performed by keeping the liquid
the equilibrium condition of gas/liquid interface described by flow rate constant and varying the gas flow rate (100−200 m3
eq 22. h−1), and by keeping the gas flow rate constant and varying the
liquid flow rate (750−2000 L h−1). The liquid recirculation
NS = k G(pS,G − pS,i ) (21) duration was controlled to be less than half an hour and the
change of liquid concentration could be ignored, resulting from
the presence of little SO2 and a large sum of NaOH in each run.
cS,i = HpS,i (22) The pressure drop (Δp) between points A and B shown in
Figure 3 was measured to evaluate the flow resistance of the
pS,G + D N,L /(2HDS,L )c N,L equipment.
NS = 3.2. Data Interpretation. The mass-transfer coefficient
1/(HkL) + 1/k G (23) (kG) is an important parameter, but it is difficult to measure,

Figure 3. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.

8672 DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.5b02146

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2015, 54, 8670−8677
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research Article

ΔMS
k Ga =
VR pS,G,lm Δt (30)

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Experiments on the SO2 scrubbing have been conducted by
altering various process operating parameters, including sodium
hydroxide concentration, liquid-to-gas ratio (L/G), gas velocity,
and SO2 concentration. The scrubber SO2 removal efficiencies
for field tests are calculated using eq 31:
cSO2,out − cSO2,in
η (%) = × 100
cSO2,out (31)
where cSO2,in and cSO2,out are the concentrations of SO2 at the
inlet and outlet of the column, respectively.
4.1. Influence of Sodium Hydroxide Concentration on
the Sulfur-Removal Efficiency. Based on the preceding
description, the critical concentration of the sodium hydroxide
solution is the key point to determine the controllability of the
SO2 absorption process via gas-phase mass transfer. Figure 5

Figure 4. Brief schematic view of the spray column.

because of the difficulty involved in determining the interface

area. However, the volume-transfer coefficient (kGa) is easier to
obtain, by interpreting the global data from the measurements
at the inlet and outlet of the device. Based on the description
given in Section 2, because of the instantaneous and irreversible
reaction, the absorption of SO2 with concentrated NaOH
solution is governed by the diffusion of SO2 through gas film, if
the concentration of the solution is considerably higher than
the critical concentration. The equilibrium concentration of
SO2 at the gas/liquid interface is equal to 0 and the absorption
flux can be calculated using eq 17.
As a result, the absorption rate per unit volume is given as Figure 5. Influence of sodium hydroxide concentration on the sulfur-
NS′ = k GapS,G removal efficiency (L/G = 5.55 L m−3, cSO2,in = 300 ppm, Tab = 30 °C).
(24)
and, overall, the effective volume of column is given as shows that the absorption efficiency of SO2 increases with the
MS = VR k GapS,G aqueous alkali concentration. At the beginning, the rate of
(25)
desulfurization increases rapidly and then slowly when the
The total amount of SO2 absorbed within the residence time concentration of absorbent is >0.4 mol/L. This phenomenon
of gas−liquid countercurrent in the effective volume of the indicated that, when the cNaOH is low, the process is governed
scrubber can be obtained as by both gas film and liquid film mass transfer, and the sulfur-
Δt removal efficiency increases as cNaOH because of the decrease in
ΔMS = VR k Ga ∫0 pS,G dt δ1. Under the high concentration of sodium hydroxide solution
(26) (for example, >0.9 mol/L), however, the distance between the
where Δt is calculated by interface and the reaction surface is infinitesimal, and the trend
of increasing sulfur-removal efficiency slows for the control
VR process of gas film mass transfer. Therefore, the critical
Δt =
VG (27) concentration can be supposed to be between 0.05 mol/L and
0.41 mol/L, which can be affirmed by eq 20, where kG and kL
Δt
∫0 pS,G dt = pS,G,lm Δt can be calculated using the correlation obtained by Zidar.6
(28) Furthermore, Schultes17 also reported that the rapid mass
where pS,G,lm is the logarithmic mean partial pressure of SO2, transfer rate was so dominant that resistance lay exclusively in
which is defined by the expression the gas phase at a large mole fraction of sodium hydroxide
solution.
pS,G,in − pS,G,out 4.2. Influence of Liquid-to-Gas Flow Rate Ratio on
pS,G,lm =
ln(pS,G,in /pS,G,out ) Sulfur-Removal Efficiency. The liquid-to-gas ratio (L/G)
(29)
refers to the ratio between the spraying volume flow rate and
As a consequence, the volumetric overall mass-transfer the gas flow rate. It is a significant parameter to report the
coefficient is obtained as scrubbing performance, because a high ratio leads to high
8673 DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.5b02146
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2015, 54, 8670−8677
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
sulfur-removal efficiency but high energy consumption and
operation costs. To ensure the desulfurization efficiency, the
value of L/G usually ranges from 8 L m−3 to 25 L m−3.
Considering the high absorption ability of the strong base
solution, the influence of a lower L/G value (varying from 5 L
m−3 to 10 L m−3) on the efficiency of SO2 removal and the
total pressure drop were studied under the fixed values of
absorbing temperature and concentrations of SO2 and alkaline
liquor. The results are shown in Figure 6. To keep the same
Figure 6. Influence of liquid-to-gas ratio (L/G) on (■) sulfur-removal
efficiency and (▼) total pressure drop (VG = 200 m3 h−1, cSO2,in = 575
ppm, cNaOH = 1 mol L−1, Tab = 25 °C).
residue time, the experiments were carried out at a constant gas
flow rate (VG), while the liquid flow rate (VL) was changed
according to the requested L/G value.
Figure 6 shows that the percentage removal of SO2 increases
sharply as the value of L/G increases at the beginning and then
slowly at L/G > 8 L m−3, whereas the growth trend of pressure
drop is totally opposite. When the L/G increases at a fixed
value of VG, VL rises in the scrubber and, thus, the contact area
of gas−liquid also increases. Meanwhile, the pressure drop
increases for the highly loaded demister. When the ratio
exceeds 8 L m−3, the droplet surface area is large enough, and
further increases in this ratio become meaningless, whereas the
load of the mist eliminator surges as a result of more droplets in
the gas flow. The result is consistent with the report by
Bandyopadhyay and Biswas.4
4.3. Influence of SO2 Concentration on Sulfur-
Removal Efficiency. The concentration of sulfur dioxide in
diesel exhaust varies with the sulfur content of fuels and the
operation points of engine. It is meaningful to consider the
effect of SO2 concentration in the feeding gas (cSO2,in) on the
sulfur-removal efficiency. The results are shown in Figure 7. It
shows that higher removal efficiency is achieved at lower initial
SO2 concentration. However, this does not mean higher
absorption rate. Actually, the absorption rate is proportional to
the initial SO2 concentration due to the increasing mass transfer
driving force: the partial pressure of SO2 in gas bulk. This
observation is in good agreement with eq 20 and it suggests
that some measures (e.g., increasing L/G) should be taken to
achieve higher sulfur removal efficiency in the case of high
initial SO2 concentration.
4.4. Influence of Inlet Gas Velocity on the Sulfur-
Removal Efficiency. The velocity of inlet gas will affect both
the volume of the scrubber and the total pressure drop, with
regard to the cost of the device and operation, respectively. The
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Figure 7. Influence of SO2 concentration on sulfur-removal efficiency
and absorption rate (L/G = 5.55 L m−3, cNaOH = 0.4 mol L−1, Tab = 30
°C).
results of the effect of inlet gas velocity on the removal
efficiency are displayed in Figure 8. To keep the same
Figure 8. Influence of inlet gas velocity on the sulfur-removal
efficiency (L/G = 7 L m−3, cSO2,in = 550 ppm, cNaOH = 0.4 mol L−1, Tab
= 25 °C).
absorption conditions, the trial was conducted at a fixed L/G
value, which indicated that the liquid flow rate varied with the
gas flow rate, according to the given L/G value.
As shown in Figure 8, an initial increase in the SO2 removal
rate is observed from the elevation of inlet gas velocity and then
a sharp decrease occurs after the gas velocity exceeds 4.0 m s−1.
There are two major factors regarding the inlet gas velocity that
influence the absorption rate. On one hand, the resistance of
gas film declines as the turbulence intensifies when the gas flow
rate increases, as well as the droplet Stokes diameter, which is
inversely proportional to the gas−liquid contact area.18 On the
other hand, as the gas flow rate increases, the residence time of
vapor−liquid contact and mass transfer decreases. At the low
velocity, the former is the dominant factor, so the removal rate
of SO2 increases as the inlet gas velocity increases; at the high
velocity, the process is dependent on the latter factor.
4.5. Interpretation of the Mass-Transfer Coefficient. In
order to predict the removal efficiency of SO2 in an alkaline
scrubber, empirical and semiempirical correlations were
developed. Lorent et al.19 have studied the sulfur dioxide
absorption process in the sodium sulfite solutions in a cable
contactor. They developed a semiempirical calculation and
found that the overall mass-transfer coefficients increased with
the liquid flow rate and gas velocity and slowly with the pH.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.5b02146
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Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Since a high concentration of sodium hydroxide solution was
introduced in this experiment, the influence of pH could be
considered to be negligible. However, it is necessary to take the
inlet concentration of sulfur dioxide, as well as the gas and
liquid flow rates, into consideration.
The influence of the inlet SO2 concentration on volumetric
overall mass-transfer coefficient is described in Figure 9. It
Figure 9. Influence of the inlet SO2 concentration on the volumetric
overall mass-transfer coefficient.
shows that kGa remains constant, independent of the initial gas
phase concentration, which means that kGa is irrelevant to
cSO2,in. This fact further shows that the scrubbing process under
consideration is controlled by gas-phase mass transfer. In
contrast, the volumetric overall mass-transfer coefficient has a
relationship with the gas flow rate and the liquid flow rate. As
shown in Figure 10, kGa maintains an upward tendency with
Figure 10. Influence of gas flow rate on the volumetric overall mass-
transfer coefficient.
the increasing gas flow rate, which may be induced by the
increase in kG. The high gas flow rate implies intensified
turbulence, which may contribute to the decreased resistance in
the gas film and the increase in kG. Although the value of kGa
increases with the liquid flow rate, a slow tendency should be
given attention when the liquid flow rate surpasses 1600 L h−1,
which can be observed in Figure 11. This phenomenon may be
attributed to the fact that the increased spray rate is likely to
lead to an increase in the spraying density and a decrease in the
droplet Stokes diameter, both of which give rise to an increase
in the specific interface area, according the equation given by
Wu et al.20 Furthermore, the specific interface area could not
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Figure 11. Influence of liquid flow rate on the volumetric overall mass-
transfer coefficient.
increase completely, because of the limited liquid holdup of the
scrubber, which could also be observed through Figure 11.
Based on the results of the experiments and previous
reported studies, kGa is a function of VG and VL at a fixed
temperature:
k Ga = AVG aVL β (32)
where A is a constant when the temperature is fixed. With the
regression analysis method, those coefficients were obtained at
an absorption temperature of 25 °C, as follows:
k Ga = 3.379 × 10−3VG 0.9118VL 0.3037 (33)
The comparison between predicted values and the
experimental data is presented in Figure 12. It can be seen
Figure 12. Comparison of calculated and experimental volumetric
overall mass-transfer coefficient.
that the predicted values fit well with the experimental values
(well within a deviation of ±10%) when the absorption
temperature is ∼25 °C and the absorbent concentration is >0.9
mol L−1. In addition, an interesting phenomenon should be
given attention: experimental values that are obtained under the
conditions of higher temperature or lower absorbent
concentration diverge greatly from the calculative values.
Obviously, a lower concentration of the absorption liquid
does not conform to the model assumption. With regard to the
absorption temperature, the dissolution process of SO2 is
accompanied by an evolution of heat; therefore, sulfur dioxide
solubility decreases as the temperature increases. Actually, the
dissolved sulfur dioxide molecules in liquid begin to desorb at
DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.5b02146
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Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
20 °C and the amount of desorption is proportional to the
temperature.21 In conclusion, eq 33 is applicable to the low
adsorption temperature and high concentration of absorption
solution.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The theoretical analysis presented and the experimental results
described reveal that the absorption of SO2 into a highly
concentrated sodium hydroxide solution in a spray tower is
controlled by gas side film mass-transfer resistance, and the
reaction is instantaneous and irreversible. The increase in the
vapor−liquid contact area and the decrease of the gas film
resistance are beneficial to increasing the sulfur-removal
efficiency. The volumetric overall mass-transfer coefficient
increases with the liquid and gas flow rate. The inlet sulfur
dioxide concentration has no influence on kGa. A semiempirical
equation is in good agreement with the experimental data
under certain conditions. In addition, diesel engine exhaust
contains many different species that would have potential
effects on the desulfurization, so further study will focus on the
impacts of other acid species in exhaust gas, as well as
particulates, upon the removal of sulfur dioxide.
■
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*Tel./Fax: +8627 87859019. E-mail address: zhanggx2002@
163.com.
Author Contributions
Concepts for research program were conceived by all authors.
Experiments were devised by G.X.Z., together with Z.K.W.,
who carried them out and performed data analysis. All authors
have given their approval to the final version of the manuscript.
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
■
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to Yunfeng Yang, Rui Shi, Guomeng
Zhang, and Jun Deng for discussions and assistance.
■
ABBREVIATIONS
IMO = International Maritime Organization
FGD = flue gas desulfurization
L/G = liquid-to-gas ratio
eq = equation
eqs = equations
■ NOTATION
a = specific interface area, m2 m−3
c = concentration, mol L−1 or ppm
D = diffusion coefficient, m2 s−1
H = Henry constant, kPa
k = film mass transfer coefficient, mol m−2 kPa−1 s−1 or m s−1
M = absorption rate of whole the column, mol s−1 or mol
N = mass flux, mol m−2 s−1
N′ = absorption rate per unit volume, mol m−3 s−1
p = pressure, kPa
t = time, h
V = volume or volumetric flow rate, m3 or m3 h−1 or L h−1
α = constant
β = constant
Δ = increment
δ1 = distance between the interface and reaction surface, m
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δ2 = distance between the reaction surface and liquid bulk, m
δL = thickness of liquid film, m
η = sulfur-removal efficiency
Subscripts
C = critical value
i = interface
G = gas or gas film
L = liquid or liquid film
lm = logarithmic mean
N = sodium hydroxide
R = reactor
S = sulfur dioxide
■
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.5b02146
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8677 DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.5b02146

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2015, 54, 8670−8677

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