Equipment & Plant Design HW 3

Exercise 1
Predict the performance of an absorption column in a unit
operations laboratory.
The column has an inside diameter of 80 mm. The packed section
has a length of 1.27 m and consists of dumped glass Raschig-style
rings. The dimensions of the rings are: an ID of 8 mm, an OD of
10 mm, and a height of 9 mm.
Carbon dioxide gas, at a flow rate of 3.466 Standard L/Min, is
mixed with dry air, at a flow rate of 39.87 Standard L/Min. The
gas mixture is fed to the bottom of the column at a temperature of
22.07 °C and a pressure of 103184 Pa. Standard conditions are 25
°C and 101325 Pa, according the specifications of the flow meter.
Water is fed to the top of the column at a mass flow rate of 4
kg/min, at a temperature of 20.21 °C and at a pressure of 101931
Pa.
Characterize the performance in terms of the flow rate,
temperature, pressure, and composition of the gas outlet stream at
the top of the column and liquid outlet stream at the bottom of the
column.
Equipment & Plant Design HW 3

Exercise 2
A hydrocarbon vapor enters an
absorption column below the bottom
stage and the absorbent enters above
the top stage. The column operates
at75psia with no pressure drop and
it has four equilibrium stages.
Apply the Peng-Robinson equation
of state model in the simulation.
1.Perform the sensitivity analysis by
showing the effect of absorbent flow
rate on the exiting C3 concentration
in the top product.
2.Compute the absorbent flow rate to
keep 15 mole% of C3, in the gas
product (GAS-PDT).
3.show C3 mole fraction the gas product (GAS-PDT) with respect to
absorbent inlet temperature (lower limit = 50oF and upper limit = 300oF)