University of Cagliari

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

Chemical Engineering and biotechnological
processes
Course of Safety and Environmental Chemical
Engineering
Exercise-4 (Environmental)

BY Tiegisti Fessehaie Embaie Matricola 70/88/65277

Date 29/12/2022
Exercise 13_1
A volumetric flowrate of 15000 acfm of exhaust gas from a heat treating process contains 20 mole
percent of ammonia, and the average exhaust gas conditions are 115 °F and 1.0 atm.
Design the entire process by estimating: (a) the liquid flowrate, (b) the height of packing, (c) the
diameter and (d) the pressure drop for an absorption tower that will provide 95% ammonia removal
based on the following design parameters:
- Tower average temperature is 86 °F
- Tower pressure is 1.0 atm
- Pure water is used as absorbing liquid
- Water flowrate is 1.5 times the minimum one
- Packing is ¾ in. ceramic Berl saddles
- Use a gas flux equal to 50% the flooding value
The solubility curve of NH3 in pure water ate the temperature of interest is in the following Table
 g NH 3 
C NH 3 
 100 g H O  PNH 3 ( mmHg )
 2 
2 19.3
3 29.6
4 40.1
5 51
7.5 79.7
10 110
15 179

 lbmol   lbmol 
The local mass transfer coefficients are: kG a = 16  3 
and k L a = 58  3 
, respectively.
 hr ftG   hr ft L 

Considering that the typical L/D ratio in absorption columns has to be in the range 3:1 – 20:1 evaluate
if a greater number of columns disposed in series or in parallel in order should be used and if yes
evaluate number and characteristics (diameter and height) of the new columns.

Solution:
We can calculate the total gas molar flow rate from the ideal gas low

where V’G is total gas volumetric flow rate.

And the solvent molar flow rate is :-

Then since we know the incoming molar fraction of NH3 (y1 = 0.2) and its concentration in the water
input (x2 = 0) before being absorbed, we can obtain the minimum liquid flow rate with the following
expression:-

Since the actual flowrate should be 1,5 times the minimum one we have

Considering the equilibrium between the output of the liquid phase and gas phase having the
percentage of NH3 to be removed, the molar fraction and the corresponding molar ratio of ammonia
in the gas phase is obtained. Using the line of equilibrium and from the data the slope and the
intercept are obtained to evaluate the corresponding molar fraction of ammonia in the liquid phase
(x1) as we can see below.

CNH3 (gNH3 /100gH2O) PNH3 (mmHg) molar fraction

x NH3 y NH3
2 19.3 0.020737166 0.025394737
3 29.6 0.030786537 0.038947368
4 40.1 0.040631745 0.052763158
5 51 0.050278951 0.067105263
7.5 79.7 0.073568942 0.104868421
10 110 0.095743995 0.144736842
15 179 0.137054901 0.235526316

Molar fraction
0.25
y = 1.7921x - 0.0193
0.2

0.15
yNH3

0.1

0.05

0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16
xNH3
 Molar fraction equilibrum NH3 water
angolar coeff. 1.7921 y1=yin 0.2 x2=xin 0
intercept -0.0193 y2=yout 0.012345679 x1=xout 0.122370403

After that Using the fitting equation for the flooding line we can calculate Y and then G’ from the
following formulas :-

and

Where X can be obtained from:-

Since the actual gas velocity must be 50% of the flooding condition :-

Then section area and diameter of the column can be obtained from the following expressions:-

and

We can understand that the diameter of the column depends on the actual gas velocity and the
flooding condition .

Now we can calculate NTU and HTU from the following formulas :-

Where Z is the length of the column and since we know the diameter of the columns we can find the
number of columns in parallel, that is (L/D) =9
Exercise 14_1
During laboratory tests, the adsorption of n-butanol was evaluated in two small columns with a
diameter of 10.16 [𝑐𝑚] containing amounts of activated carbon (type Columbia JXC 4/6) equal to 300
and 600 [𝑔], corresponding to bed lengths of 8 and 16 [𝑐𝑚], respectively.
a) Based on the data in the following tables (see also attached excel file), estimate the adsorption
capacity q* of coal and the fraction of the bed used at the break-point, i.e. when 𝐶∕𝐶_0 = 0.05,
for both columns.
b) Subsequently, predict the break-point time for a third column that operates in conditions
completely similar to the previous ones but with length di 32 [𝑐𝑚].
c) Determine the length of a fourth column with the same characteristics as the others but
breaking time 24 [ℎ𝑟]
d) Calculate the power of the fan needed to perform the adsorption with all the columns
Data on experimental tests carried out with small columns in the laboratory are also given in the
following tables and in excel.

Column Column
300 g 600 g Data Symbol Value UM
1 2
t (hr) c/c0 (-) t (hr) c/c0 (-) Superficial velocity v0 58 cm s-1
Inlet concentration of
0 0.000 0 0 butanol c0 365 ppm
0.98 0.004 5.49 0.00 Temperature T 25 °C
1.48 0.009 5.98 0.01 Pressure P 737 mmHg
diameter of carbon
1.98 0.024 6.49 0.01
particles Dp 0.37 cm
Specific surface of
2.36 0.045 6.99 0.03
carbon S 1194 m2 g-1
2.85 0.103 7.52 0.07 Bulk density rb 0.461 g cm-3
3.29 0.199 8.01 0.15 Porosity e 0.457 -
4.00 0.285 8.51 0.24 Columns diameter Dc 10.16 cm
5.04 0.560 9.41 0.46 Height of column 1 Ltc1 8 cm
5.73 0.726 9.79 0.57 Height of column 2 Ltc2 16 cm
6.27 0.824 10.31 0.70
6.92 0.889 11.08 0.83
7.53 0.952 11.66 0.89
8.50 0.990 12.42 0.96
13.13 0.99
13.62 1.00
13.96 0.99
Solution:

The first thing that we have to do is to fit our data with three parameters which are expressed below:-
𝑐 𝑡𝑛
𝑐𝑜
= ymax 𝑘𝑛+ 𝑡𝑛

data data
Column 1 c/co Fit Column 2 c/co Fit
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 0.8
c/co

c/co
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 5 10 15
t(hr) t(hr)

Then by making our data more precise ,taking very small intervals and calculating the integral of (1-
c/co) we can find the time associated with the stoichiometric capacity of the bed ,tt and usable time,tu
by the following expressions:-

and
Where tb is the break-point time, that we found when 𝐶∕𝐶o = 0.05,
Then by combining the following formulas we can calculate q*
Msat= F.Co.tt =Vo.A.Co.tt and Msat = q*ρsAsLt

And since the q* is the same for each column because the mass that can be adsorbed depends on the
adsorbent we can also find Lu (used length at break point) by combining the following expressions.

Since we know the Lu1 and Lu3 (32cm) we can calculate tu3 (usable time for column 3)by the
following relationship:
𝐿𝑢1 𝑡𝑢1
= => tu3 = 16.7hr
𝐿𝑢3 𝑡𝑢3
And also since we know tu4(24hr) we can obtain Lu4 from the following :-
𝐿𝑢4 𝑡𝑢4
𝐿𝑢1
= 𝑡𝑢1 => Lu4 = 40cm

Since We know the length of not used (LNU),which is almost the same in all the columns that is
around 4cm , we can obtain the percentage used.
We can see the results in the table below:-

Column1 Column2 Column3 Column4

L(cm) 8 16 32 44
LNU(cm) 4.160798 4.031705 4 4
Lu(cm) 3.839202 11.96829 28 40.06124
%used 47.99002 74.80184 87.5 90.92173

Given the length of the column we can calculate the DP using the Ergun equation:

And the power of the fun can be calculated:-

The pressure drop and power of the fan needed to perform the adsorption with all the columns are
listed in the table below

Column1 Column2 Column3 Column4

L(cm) 8 16 32 44
∆P(Pa) 111.039 222.0780871 444.1561742 610.7147395
Power(W) 0.86978 1.739560444 3.479120889 4.783791222
Exercise 14_2
Suppose you have to remove toluene from a gas stream (consisting mainly of air) by adsorption on
activated carbon. To this end, the following project data are known. The gas stream
• Polluted air flow rate to be treated V̇g = 33980 [m3 hr −1 ] at T = 25 [°C] and P =
1[atm]
• Activated carbon bulk density ρC = 480.5 [kg m−3 ].
• Diameter of carbon particles dp = 0.002(m) .
• Porosity of the bed ε = 0.37.
• Toluene volumetric fraction yT in the stream equal to 10 % of the lower explosive limit
(LEL) of toluene with LEL = 1.2 [%].
• Time needed to regenerate saturated activated carbon t r = 1 [hr]
• Maximum gas velocity in the adsorbent bed v0 = 1828 [m hr −1 ]
• Fan efficiency ηf = 58 [%]
• The working capacity of the bed is equal to 60% of the saturation value.
• The adsorption capacity at toluene saturation is evaluated as the equilibrium value
obtained by contacting about 1 m3 of gas contaminated by the same toluene
concentration of the effluent with 25 g of activated carbon.

Evaluate the bed size, the weight of coal to be purchased and the power of the fan.

To solve the problem, the isotherm at 25 °C, of the system toluene-activated carbon is available and
reported in the following table (Yun et al., 1998):

p q
(kPa) (mmol g-1)
0.0035 1.47
0.0069 2.344
0.0153 3.257
0.0349 4.083
0.0867 4.877
0.3285 5.533
0.3435 5.55
0.6613 5.758
0.9241 5.798
1.1604 5.817
1.4733 5.835
1.628 5.847
1.8267 5.857
Solution:
first we should draw the graph (1/q) versus (1/C), then From the Langmuir isotherm we find the
parameters qmax and K with the help of the expression below in order to obtain the adsorption
capacity saturation q*:-

Chart Title
0.008
y = 0.7161x + 0.0019
0.007
0.006
0.005
1/q

0.004
0.003
0.002
0.001
0
0 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.005 0.006 0.007 0.008 0.009
1/C

Then, since we know the regeneration time (tr) and total mass flow rate ,we can calculate the mass of
activated carbon needed by the following expression.-

Where - working capacity(WC) is :-

- m’T is the mass flow rate of toluene to be treated

and
N.B we take into account that if the time for its regeneration is equal to 1 hr we will have to design
two beds that operate alternately (while one works the other is under regeneration) and therefore the
operational one will have to work for 1 hour.

So, the total activated carbon to buy will be:

And since we know the density of carbon, we can evaluate the volume occupied by the single bed of
activated carbon.

The section of the bed can then be evaluated starting from the knowledge of the speed of the gas:-
 V’G is the flow rate of the gas
And then the height of the bed is evaluated as:

Then, we evaluate the pressure drop per unit length of the bed.

Where L = Hc on our case .

Finally we calculate power of the fan :

Exercise 15.1
Size an afterburner and specify the flow rate of fuel gas (methane) (MG) required to control 500
m3/min of polluted air (QPA) from a rendering plant.

- for the polluted air consider:

o the same properties of the air;
o inlet temperature equal to 200°C (TPA);
o evaluate the outlet temperature of exhaust gases (TE) that allows to achieve a
degradation of VOCS equal to 99,5% by using the method by Cooper et al. (to this
aim consider an O2 molar fraction (yO2) equal to 4.5%);
- the residence time (tr) required to reduce odorous compounds emissions, composed mainly by
toluene, is equal to 0,5 sec;
- consider to be negligible the enthalpy of burner air (hT,BA = 0)
- consider a mass ratio of air to fuel gas (RB) of 14:1;
- neglect the heat losses (fL) of the afterburner.
Solution:
First we can convert the volumetric flowrate of the polluted air to mass flowrate using idial gas low:-
𝑄𝑝𝐴.𝑃.𝑀𝑊𝑝𝐴
M’PA = = 373.5kg/min
𝑅.𝑇𝑝𝐴

Where TpA =392°F,=473.15k

QpA= 500m3/min
P= 1 atm
MwpA = 29Kg/Kmol
R= 0.08206 atm m3/kgmol k

Then we evaluate the outlet temperature of exhaust gases (TE) by autoignition temperature-based
method for methanol or by Cooper et al on the kinetic constant

Tcomb = 999+300F = 1299°F

Then we calculate all the enthalpies of all the flows from the table by considering all the flows to be
air.
hT.E= 312BTU/lb= 726kJ/Kg where TE= 1299°F
hTPA= 80.2BTU/lb= 187kJ/Kg where TPA= 200 °C = 392°F
hTBA= 0BTU/lb= 0kJ/Kg by assuming TBA = 60°F
Finally we can calculate the mass flowrate of the fuel gas (methane) by the following formula:-

= 5.13Kg/min
Exercise 16_1
Describe very briefly (one page at most) the main aspects of the technology for selective catalytic
reduction (SCR) of NOx. In particular, discuss why and when a catalyzer is needed and where it
should be ubicated in a combustion plant.
Then consider a gas flowrate of 10000 actual m3/min at 300 °C and 1 atm contaminated by 900 ppm
of NO. Discuss which between the SNCR and SCR technologies is best suited for this case and
calculate the stoichiometric amount of ammonia needed to reduce NO concentration in the treated
effluent to 250 ppm. Give your result in kg NH3/day.

Solution
selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx is an advanced active emissions control technology system
that reduces tailpipe emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) down to near-zero levels in newer
generation diesel-powered vehicles and equipment . The design of SCR technology is such that it
permits nitrogen oxide (NOx) reduction reactions to take place in an oxidizing atmosphere. It is
called "selective" because it reduces levels of NOx using ammonia as a reductant within a catalyst
system .

we can see in the reactions below

NOx is reducing to N2 by ammonia producing H2O

why

We use catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx, because it is Suitable for large-scale NOx reduction –
up to 90% and also it Improves fuel economy in diesel engines including industrial and
municipal plants and the set-up is simple to install.
And also this system uses a catalyst, because it allows the reduction reactions with ammonia even at
lower temperatures.

Different types of catalysts characterize the operating temperature:

• Precious metals work at low temperatures (176 - 287 ° C)
• Vanadium anhydride on titanium dioxide at medium temperature (260-426 ° C)
• High temperature zeolites (450-593 ° C) zeolites are used instead
A tungsten trioxide-based catalyst can be added to minimize the oxidation from SO2 to SO3.
In our problem it is required to reduce from 900 ppm to 250 ppm of NOx corresponding to the
reduction of 72%. This is possible considering an SCR system,
In order to Calculate the stoichiometric amount of ammonia required we can consider the following
reaction.-

.
Let’s Assum 100% NO, one mole of NH3 is required per mole of NO.

= 191.3625 mol/min

Then we can calculate the mass flow rate of ammonia :-

= 3383.289 Kg/day
Exercise 16_2

Briefly summarize (half page at most) the main aspects underlying the SOx control by means of
limestone scrubbing. Show also a simplified flowsheet of the process and discuss the main the
reactions involved in the process as well as the main drawbacks.
Then, given the flue gas reported in the Table evaluate the amount of SO2 that must be removed by
the scrubber to have a 90% removal and calculate, the limestone feeding rate needed to achieve this
goal and to simultaneously remove all the HCl.

Parameter Value
Volumetric flowrate (acfm) 1615600
Mass flowrate (lbm/hr) 5337650
Temeprature (°F) 290

Components lbm/hr Mole percent

Particulate matter 138 -
Carbon dioxide 942500 11.76
Hydrogen chloride 432 0.01
Nitrogen 3746000 73.45
Oxygen 324000 5.57
Sulfur dioxide 31080 0.27
Moisture 293500 8.94

The limestone consists of 94 %wt CaCO3, 1.5 %wt MgCO3 and 4.5 %wt inert substances. Consider
that, for conservative purposes you have to use 1.1 times the stoichiometric amount of limestone.

Solution:

SOx emission control is most essential requirement in today scenario because High concentrations of sulfur dioxide
(SO₂) can result in breathing problems with asthmatic children and adults who are active outdoors. Apart from health
hazard it is very harmful for environment because Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are the major pre- cursors of
acid rain, which has acidified soils, lakes and streams, accelerated corrosion of buildings and monuments, and reduced
visibility.

The main reactions of SOx emission control by limestone scrubbing are :-

And the overall reaction becomes:-

Also HCl gas can be removed using limestone according to the reaction
We can easly visualize the main scheme as follows:-
A liquid solution of CaCO3 is put to contact with fumes in a spray chamber or column. And the SO2
is absorbed neutralized and partially oxidized to sulphide and calcium sulphate we can see in
reactions above:

Limestone is not a pure CaCO3 therefore, once you have assessed the necessary calcium carbonate,
knowing the mass composition, it is possible to obtain the mass flow rate necessary to reach the exit
required. Or we can find the total limestone required from the feed ratio.

The main disadvantages are the formation of scale, and corrosion that they can ruin the system. Also,
limestone is a non-regenerative process because the CaCO3 is reacting with SO2 and cannot be
reused.

Therefor From the data provided, the mass flow rate of SO2 and HCl is known and, knowing that it is
needed to remove 90% of the sulphate and all the hydrochloric acid.

First we calculate The amount of SO2 to be removed :

= 198.248kmol/h

And since we know that 1 moles of CaCO3 are needed to neutralize 1 mole of SO2, we need
198.248kml/h of CaCO3 to neutralize 198.248kmol/h of SO2.
Then the CaCO3 and MgCO3 in the limestone must neutralize and form stoichiometrical
considerations.
we know that 0.5 moles of CaCO3 are needed to neutralize a mole of HCl

So, since we have 5.4431kmol/h of HCl we need (5.4431kmol/h) / 2 =2.7215 kmol/hr of CaCO3 to
neutralize it

Now we can obtain the total moles of lime stone

= 198.248kml/h + 2.7215 kmol/hr = 20117.07Kg/h

And since the limestone is composed of 94% CaCO3 we need to devide the above value by 0.94.
20117.07 kg/h /0.94 = 21401.13kg/h

And since the actual total mass is 1.1 times the stoichiometric amount of limestone.

= 23541.24kg/h = 23.54124T/h