Humidification

Air-water contacting has four major

applications
Water cooling-Air-water contacting is done for cooling
the warm water before it can be reused
Humidification-Air having a specified moisture content is
necessary for some process(process of increasing
moisture content)
Dehumidification-Moist warm air may be relieved of a
part of its moisture by contacting with water-air
conditioning
Gas cooling-A hot air stream can be cooled covineiently
in contact with water
 Humidity

1. Definition of humidity
2. Percentage humidity
3. Percentage relative humidity
4. Dew point of an air-water vapor mixture
5. Humid heat of an air-water vapor mixture
6. Total enthalphy of an air-water vapor mixture
7. Humidity chart of air-water vapor mixtures
 Humidity
• Humidification involves the transfer of water from the
liquid phase into a gaseous mixture of air and water
vapor.
• Dehumidification involves the reverse transfer, whereby
water vapor is transferred from the vapor state to the
liquid state.
• Definition of humidity:
The humidity Y of an air - water vapor mixture is defined
as the kg of water vapor contained in 1 kg of dry air.
• Humidity depends on partial pressure pA of water vapor in
the air and total pressure P (assume to be 101.325 kPa,
1.0 atm abs, or 760 mm Hg).
• Vapour-A and gas as B
• Absolute Humidity:Y’ and Absolute molal
humidity Y
1. The humidity is defined as:

• Saturated air – water vapor is in equilibrium with liquid

water at the given temperature & pressure.

• Saturation Humidity, Hs is:

2. Percentage humidity, Hp :
- 100 times the actual humidity H of the air divided by
the humidity Hs if the air were saturated at the same
temperature and pressure:

3. Percentage relative humidity, HR

The amount of saturation of an air-water vapor mixture
is also given as percentage relative humidity HR using
partial pressures:
4. Dew Point of an air-water vapor mixture

• Dew point @ dew-point temperature is the

temperature at which a given mixture of air and water
vapor would be saturated.
• Example: From steam table, at 26.70C, saturation
vapor pressure, pAS = 3.50 kPa, hence the dew point
of a mixture containing water vapor having a vapor
pressure (pA) of 3.50 kPa is 26.70C.
• If an air-water vapor mixture is at 37.80C, and contain
water vapor pA = 3.50 kPa, the mixture would not be
saturated.
 Dry Bulb Temperature
• The temperature indicated by the
thermometer by ordinary immersion in the
vap-gas mixture is called DBT
• Relative humidity/Relative saturation

%saturation:It is defined as the percentage of

humidity under given condition to the
humidity under the saturated condition
• 5. Humid heat:Is the heat required to raise the temp of unit
mass of gas and its accompanying vapor by one degree at
constant pressure

• 6. Humid Volume:The humid volume of a vapour gas mixture

is the volume of unit mass and its accompanying vapour at
the prevailing temp and pressure.In m3/kg
7. Total enthalpy of an air-water vapor mixture

• The total enthalpy of 1 kg of air plus its water vapor is

Hy (J/kg or kJ/kg) dry air.
• If T0 is the datum temperature chosen for both
components, the total enthalpy is the sensible heat of
the air-water vapor mixture plus the latent heat λ0 in
J/kg or kJ/kg water vapor of the water vapor at T0.
Enthalpy
EXAMPLE . Humidity from Vapor-Pressure
Data
The air in a room is at 26.70C (800F) and a pressure of
101 .325 kPa and contains water vapor with a partial
pressure pA = 2.76 kPa. Calculate the following:

(a) Humidity, H.
(b) Saturation humidity, Hs, and percentage humidity, Hp.
(c) Percentage relative humidity, HR.
• An air(B)-water vapour(A) sample has a DBT 55C and an absolute
humidity 0.030 kg watet/kg of dry air at 1 std atm
pressure.Tabulate its characteristics
• 1.Ys=0.015
• 2.%=26.1%
• 3.y=0.0482
• 4.PP=4660n/m2
• 5.Vap.pre=118mmhg
• 6. dp=31.5
• 7.Vh=0.974
• 8. Enthalpy=133300 j/kg dry air
 DRY & WET BULB TEMPERATURE
Dry bulb temperature:
the ordinary temperature you
measure with a thermometer
wet cloth/wick
Air flow
Wet-bulb temperature : decreases in
temperature below the dry-bulb
temperature until the rate of heat
transfer from the warmer air to the
wick is just equal to the rate of heat
transfer needed to provide for the
evaporation of water from the wick into
the air stream.
 HUMIDITY CHART

Wet bulb temp. =20oC, dry bulb temp. = 30oC,humidity = ?

Humidity
0.011
5
 HUMIDITY CHART

Importance of pyschrometric analysis for drying

Air: T2, H2 Air: T1, H1

Assumption: evaporation surface

Humidity
is a liquid film

Constant wet-bulb temperature H2

process H1

T2 T1
EXAMPLE 3. Use of Humidity Chart

Air entering a dryer has a temperature (dry bulb

temperature) of 60 0C (140 F) and a dew point of 26.7
0
C (80°F). Using the humidity chart, determine the
actual humidity H, percentage humidity H, humid
heat cS, and humid volume vH in SI units.
Solution:

The dew point of 26.70C is the temperature when the

given mixture is at 100% saturation.

Starting at 26.7°C (Fig. 9.3-2), and drawing a vertical line

until it intersects the line for 100% humidity, a humidity
of H = 0.0225 kg H2O/kg dry air is read off the plot. This
is the actual humidity of the air at 60°C.

Stated in another way. if air at 60 °C and having a

humidity H = 0.0225 is cooled, its dew point will be
26.7°C. In English units, H = 0.0225 lb H2O/lb dry air.

Locating this point where H = 0.0225 and t = 600C on the

chart, the percentage humidity HP is found to be 14%,
by linear interpolation vertically between the 10 and
20% lines.
The humid heat for H = 0.0225 is,