Addis Ababa Science and Technology University

College of Engineering
Chemical Engineering Department
Mass Transfer Unit Operation Laboratory

Wetted Wall Absorption Column

(mod. WWA/EV)

November 2023
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3

2. Theory .................................................................................................................................... 4

2.1. Mass transfer between phases ......................................................................................... 4

2.2. Dimensionless correlations ............................................................................................. 5

2.3. Determination of mass transfer coefficients ................................................................... 7

3. Objectives of the experiment ................................................................................................. 8

3.1. General objective ............................................................................................................ 8

3.2. Specific objectives .......................................................................................................... 8

4. Procedure ............................................................................................................................... 8

4.1. Operating Procedure ....................................................................................................... 8

4.2. Shut down Procedure ...................................................................................................... 9

4.3. Safety .............................................................................................................................. 9

5. Result and Discussion .......................................................................................................... 10

6. Calculation Data................................................................................................................... 11
1. Introduction
Gas absorption is a process widely used in industry in which a gaseous mixture is brought into
contact with a liquid and during this contact, a component is transferred between the gas stream
and the liquid stream. This is achieved in absorption towers by mass transport of gas into a
suitable liquid.
The sizing of the tower depends upon the height of the transfer unit which is a function of the
transfer coefficients. These coefficients are normally determined experimentally using wetted
wall absorption column.
The studied absorption process corresponds to the oxygen-deoxygenated water system, where
the oxygen comes from the air and the deoxygenated air is obtained through a desorption
column, where a water current comes into contact with a nitrogen current. This is an example
of absorption controlled by liquid film, so that the liquid film mass transfer coefficient can be
determined for different water flows.
The wetted wall column (C1) consists of a vertical glass tube, carefully ground at the top to
form a weir so that the liquid entering is distributed uniform over the inside surface.
The absorbing liquid is stored in a tank (D1) and is pumped (G1) to the top of the deoxygenating
column (C2) adjacent vertically to the absorption column; the water is deoxygenated with
nitrogen sparged in the bottom of the column (C2).

Figure 1.1. Wetted Wall Absorption apparatus

2. Theory
A thin film of liquid falling down the inside of a vertical pipe through which the gas flows
constitutes a wetted wall column. Wetted wall columns have been used as absorbers of
Hydrochloric acid, Ammonia, Acetone, Benzene and other volatile liquids.
The height of wetted wall column required for mass transfer operations is excessive and
consequently this is not widely used, where large quantities of liquid or gas have to be handled,
it would be necessary to arrange many vertical pipes in parallel and this leads to difficulties in
the distribution of liquid into the inner surface of the tubes. The gas pressure drop for this is
confined to skin friction effects, with few or no expansion or contraction losses.
A volatile liquid is submitted to flow down the inside surface of a circular tube, while a gas
flows upward or downward through the center of the pipe. Measurement of the rate of
evaporation of a liquid into the gas stream over known surface permits calculation of mass
transfer coefficient for the diffusion of vapor into the gas stream. Since the liquid is pure, the
concentration gradient for diffusion exists entirely within the gas phase, the mass transfer
coefficient KL may be calculated. Sherwood and Gillard conducted a series of experiments
using a variety of volatile liquids with air in turbulent flow.

2.1. Mass transfer between phases

The concentration profile of a diffusing species during mass transfer between two phases is
illustrated in the following figure:

Figure 2.1: Mass transfer Phase of Liquid and Gas

Following the two films theory of Lewis and Withman, the rate of mass transfer is:
NA = Kg (pA – pAi) = KL(cAi – cA) = (kL/H)(pAi – pAL)
NA = Kg(pAg – pA*)
Or, in term of concentration
NA = KL(cA* – cAL)
Where Kg is the overall mass transfer coefficient when the driving force is expressed in terms
of pressure, KL is the overall mass transfer coefficient when the driving force is expressed in
terms of concentration,
pA* = HcAL and pA = HcA *.
Rearranging the previous equations, it is easy to obtain the following correlation

With H in atm/kg/m3.
The equations states that the overall resistance to the mass transfer is the sum of gas film
resistance and liquid film resistance.
A rather more accurate criterion is provided by the non-dimensional ratio ρ/(HP) where ρ is
the density of the gas to be absorbed at the temperature and pressure of the gaseous mixture.
When ρ/(HP) < 5.0×10-4 the system is gas film controlled.
When ρ/(HP) > 0.2 the system is liquid film controlled.
For intermediate values both films are significant.

2.2. Dimensionless correlations

From the mechanism of mass transfer, it can be expected that the liquid film mass transfer
coefficient would depend on diffusivity D, liquid flow rate u, liquid viscosity μ, liquid density
ρ, acceleration of gravity g, and length L.
Dimensional analysis shows that these variables can be arranged in four dimensionless groups,
which may be taken as:
Where:
w = liquid mass flow rate
W is the perimeter (width) of the liquid film (i.e., for a circular column W ≈ π dcolumn)
In this notation, Γ = w/W = the mass flow rate per unit width of the film
The dimensionless equations should be:

That is:

Then, plotting Sherwood number vs. Reynolds number for various air flow rates and fitting the
data allows the determination of n. Equation 1.2.1 may be used to predict the mass transfer
coefficient KL if n is known.Vivian and Peaceman.

The flow of a film down a vertical surface is accompanied by the formation of nonlinear
waves, which can exhibit complex dynamics. These waves are known to give rise to
significant enhancement of heat and mass transfer rates and the observed mass-transfer rates
area greater than those predicted with theory or empirical equations derived with short
columns.
 2.3. Determination of mass transfer coefficients
The mass transfer coefficients calculation in a wetted column with liquid phase controlled
absorption can be calculated following the steps below:
Step 1: Calculate the average flux of species A in the wetted wall column

Where A is the area of the gas/liquid interface in the wetted wall column, WA is the total mass
of species A (π dcolumn Lcolumn) transferred per time across the gas-liquid interface in the
column, LB is the mass flow rate of liquid through the column.
A more accurate value for A can be calculated using the following diameter:

With

δ is the thickness of the falling liquid film.

Step 2: Calculate the average driving force for mass transfer in the column.
Calculate the driving force for mass transfer at the liquid phase inlet and the liquid phase outlet.
Once the driving force is known for the gas inlet (ΔcA, inlet) and outlet (ΔcA,outlet), calculate
the log-mean average (ΔcA, ln)
If the inlet and outlet driving forces are small or not too different, the log-mean average will
be nearly the same as the arithmetic average.

Step 3: Calculate the average mass transfer coefficient for the experiment

Step 4: Calculate the Sherwood number and the Reynolds number

Step 5: Plot ln (Re) vs ln(Sh) and determine the value of n (Power Law relationship)
3. Objectives of the experiment

3.1. General objective

 To study the absorption phenomenon between a liquid phase and a gas phase in a
wetted wall column (falling film column).

3.2. Specific objectives

 To calculate the mass transfer coefficient in liquid film

 To study the effect of water and air flow rates on the mass transfer coefficient

4. Procedure

4.1. Operating Procedure

 Connect the unit to the electrical supply, single-phase + G

 Connect valve V1 with the pressure reducer of a nitrogen gas cylinder
 Set the pressure reducer on the nitrogen cylinder at 0.5 – 1 bar
 Fill the tank D1 with 5 L distilled water if possible or clean tap water.
 Insert the E.L.C.B.
 Switch on pump G1 and adjust valve V3 very slowly and carefully; you may have to open
the valve initially to establish flow, but open this valve very slowly and carefully to avoid
overfilling the deoxygenate column. An overflow pipe helps to attain a constant level of
water in the column.
 Switch on pump G2 and adjust the flow rate using the micro valve on the flow meter FI2.
 The wetted-wall column must be wet uniformly for the data to be valid. If sections of the
glass are not wetted, turn the water flow to the column off and brush the inside of the
column with the bottle brush attached to the long pole.
 Switch on the compressor P1 and adjust the flow rate using the micro valve on the flow
meter FI1. Note that the small tank near the bottom of the column serves to saturate the air
with water (so that only oxygen transfers between the water and air).
 Start nitrogen flow to the deoxygenate column, very slowly and carefully, opening valve
V1. A steady stream of nitrogen bubbles is sufficient to effectively strip oxygen from the
feed water. If the deoxygenate column is slugging, reduce the flow of nitrogen.
 After about 10 minutes, when steady-state conditions are reached, the concentration of air
and temperature at the inlet and outlet is measured.
 Repeat the experiment for different liquid flow rate

4.2. Shut down Procedure

 Turn off the nitrogen supply by closing the supply valve V1

 Turn off the compressor P1 and both pumps G1 and G2
 Switch off the E.L.C.B.

4.3. Safety

 Do not exceed the pressure gauge of nitrogen from 1 bar.

 Any maintenance operation must be carried out by the authorized and skilled operator
 Disconnect the voltage before any maintenance operation.
5. Result and Discussion

Air flow Water flow Tin Tout Cin Cout Csat,in@1 Csat,out@1 ΔCinlet ΔCoutlet ΔCin
rate (l/h) rate ( l/h) (oC) (oC) mg/l mg/l atm mg/l atm mg/l mg/l mg/l mg/l
4
8
120 12
16
19
 6. Calculation Data
Column diameter = 34 mm
Column height = 900 mm
Wetted perimeter P ≅ 3.14×3.4 = 10.7 cm
Gas/liquid interface area A ≅ 10.6×90 = 960.84 cm2
D = 2.5E-5 cm2/s
Temperature O2 Solubility Saturated Temperature O2 Solubility in Saturated water
o
C in pure water water vapor o C pure water vapor pressure
@ 1 atm pressure @ 1 atm mm Hg
mg/l mm Hg mg/l
0 14.59 4.6 16 9.85 13.6
1 14.19 4.9 17 9.64 14.5
2 13.81 5.3 18 9.44 15.5
3 13.44 5.7 19 9.25 16.5
4 13.08 6.1 20 9.07 17.5
5 12.75 6.5 21 8.90 18.6
6 12.42 7.5 22 8.73 19.8
7 12.12 7.5 23 8.55 21.0
8 11.82 8.0 24 8.40 22.4
9 11.54 8.6 25 8.24 23.7
10 11.27 9.2 26 8.08 25.2
11 11.01 9.8 27 7.94 26.7
12 10.75 10.5 28 7.80 28.3
13 10.52 11.2 29 7.66 30.0
14 10.28 12.0 30 7.54 31.8
15 10.07 12.8 31 7.41 33.7
Table 1: Oxygen solubility in pure water and saturated water vapor pressure

Temperature T (oC) Dynamic Viscosity 10-3 (N.s/m2) Kinematic Viscosity ν10-6 (m2/s)

0 1.787 1.787
5 1.519 1.519
10 1.307 1.307
20 1.002 1.004
30 0.798 0.801
40 0.653 0.658
50 0.547 0.553
Table 2. Dynamic and Kinematic Viscosity of Water in SI Units: