CHAPTER SIX

ABSORPTION
ABSORPTION
Topic Outline
• Introduction
• Basic Principles
• Applications
• Gas – Liquid Equilibrium
• Unit operation for Absorption:
a) Packed tower
b) Plate Column
• Mass Transfer between Phases
Introduction
• Absorption – between gas and liquid.
• Solutes are absorbed from the gas phase into the
liquid phase.
• Absorption does not destroy the gases.
• It simply transfers the contaminated gas to the
liquid state.
• Stripping or desorption - reverse of absorption
 Basic Principles
• The type of contacting liquid chosen depends
on the:
1. Solubility of solute (contaminant gases)
in the chosen contacting liquid.
- pure water : NH3, acetic acid

2. Chemical reactivity between gas and

liquid.
- caustic solution: acid gases, HCl & SO2
- produce a salt
Applications
1. Absorbing SO2 from the flue gases by
absorption in alkaline solutions

2. Hydrogenation of edible oils in food industry

- hydrogen gas is bubbled into oil and
absorbed.

3. Removal of CO2 from synthesis gases by

absorbing it with hot potassium carbonate
solution. (in ammonia production)

4. Absorbing dimethyl sulfide from the food

processing industry
Gas-Liquid Equilibrium
• Consider the SO2-air-water system.

• An amount of gaseous SO2, air and water are put in

a closed container and shaken repeatedly at a
given temperature until equilibrium is reached.

• Samples of the gas and liquid are analyzed to

determine the partial pressure pA of SO2 in the gas
and mol fraction xA in the liquid.
 Gas-Liquid Equilibrium (con’t)
• The equilibrium plot is shown in Figure 10.2-1.

• The equilibrium relation between pA in the gas phase

and xA can be expressed by a straight line Henry’s
Law equation at low concentration:

pA = H x A

Where H = Henry’s law constant (mol frac gas/ mol

frac liquid)
• The data for some common gases with water are
given in Appendix A.3 (Geankoplis, Transport
Process and Separation Process Principles, 4th ed.,
Prentice Hall)
Absorption System

• The most common design of absorption

systems:

1. Packed Bed Column / Packed Tower

2. Plate Column
Unit Operation 1: PACKED TOWER
• A common apparatus used in gas absorption is the
packed tower as shown in Figure 18.1

• The device consist of:

a) cylindrical column or tower
b) gas inlet and distributing space at the bottom
c) liquid inlet and distributor at the top
d) gas & liquid outlets at the top & bottom,
respectively
e) tower packing – supported mass of inert solid
shapes
PACKED TOWER
• The liquid inlet - pure solvent or weak liquor
- is distributed over the top of packing
by the distributor
- uniformly wets the surfaces of the packings

• The distributor - is a set of perforated pipes (Fig. 18.1)

- a spray nozzles in a large towers

• The gas inlet - enter the distributing space below the packing
- flow upward in the packing countercurrent to
the flow of the liquid
PACKINGS
• The packing - provides a large area of contact between
the liquid and gas
- encourage intimates contact between the
phases

• Common dumped packings is shown in Figure 18.2.

PACKINGS
• Hollow or irregular packing units – high void spaces
• Intalox saddles – the shape prevents pieces from nesting
closely together
- Increases the bed porosity

• Porosity or void fraction: 60 – 90%

• 3 principal types:
i) dumped packings, (0.25 – 3 inch)
ii) stacked packings, (2 – 8 inch)
iii) structured/ordered packings.

• Made from: plastic, metal or ceramic

 Structured Packing

Ceramic Intalox Saddle Packing

Contact between liquid & gas

• Good contact between liquid & gas is the hardest to meet

esp. in large tower
• Channeling – occur at low liquid rates
- some of the packing surface dry
- chief reason for the poor performance
- severe in tower filled with stacked packings
- less severe in dumped packings
- can be minimized by having the ratio of tower
diameter to packing diameter, 8:1
FLOODING
• Occur in countercurrent flow towers

Inlet gas flow rate is so high

It interferes with the downward flow of the

solvent liquid.

Cause an upward flow of the liquid through the

tower
• Most absorbers are designed to operate at no
more than 70% of maximum gas velocity that can
cause flooding.

• Factors that may lead to flooding:

1. high inlet gas flow rates
2. low liquid circulation rates
3. small diameter towers
Pressure Drop & Limiting Flow rates
• Figure 18.4 shows typical data for the pressure
drop in a packed tower.

• Pressure drop is due to fluid friction

• Pressure drop - common way of determining if

flooding is occuring / something else goes wrong
inside the absorber.

• The graph is plotted on logarithmic coordinates

for ΔP (inches H20/ft packing) versus the gas
flow rate, Gy (lb/ft2.h)
Loading & Flooding Point
• Point K is the loading point
• Point L is the flooding point
for the given liquid flow.
• Loading point is a point
where liquid hold up starts to
increase and caused a
change in the slope of the
pressure drop
• Flooding point is a point
where the gas velocity will
result in the pressure drop
start to become almost
vertical. Liquid rapidly
accumulates, the entire
column filled with liquid.
 PLATE COLUMN
• Plate Column absorbers distribute a contacting
liquid over plates situated one above the other.
• The contacting liquid flows downward through
the column from one plate to the other in a
stepwise fashion.
• The inlet gas rises through each plate through
openings in the plate and comes into contact
with the liquid.
Usually, a layer of foam and froth is formed
above each plate resulting from the mixing of
liquid and gas.
• The gas not absorbed rises through the foam layer to
the next plate for another stage of absorption.

• Plate column absorbers result in a high removal

efficiency since there are multiple stages of contact
between liquid and gas.

• More expensive than packed bed towers.

• The advantages of plate columns are usually not

justified in small operations where a packed bed tower
will suffice.
• Plate columns have certain advantages over
packed bed towers:
a) plate columns can handle high gas flow rates
accompanied by a low liquid flowrate with little
chance of flooding.
b) little chance for channeling inside of a plate
column compared to a packed bed tower.
c) sediment build-up often can be easily removed
in plate column absorbers (packed bed towers
are harder to clean).
Principles of Absorption
• Mass Transfer between phases
• Rate of absorption
• Calculation of tower height
• Number of transfer unit
• Material Balances:
a) Packed Column
b) Plate Column
• Graphical Method: Theoretical Stages
Mass Transfer Between Phases
Two-Film Theory
• In absorption, solute from gas phase must diffuse
into liquid phase.
• The rate of diffusion in both phases affect the
overall rate of mass transfer.
• Assumption in Two-Film Theory:
a) equilibrium is assumed at the interface
b) the resistance to mass transfer in the two
phases are added to get an overall
resistance.
Mass Transfer Between Phases
• Nomenclature:
ky = mass-transfer coefficient in gas phase
kx = mass-transfer coefficient in liquid phase
Ky = Overall mass-transfer coefficient in gas
phase
Kx = Overall mass-transfer coefficient in liquid
phase
a = interfacial area per unit volume
• The rate of absorption, r per unit
volume of packed column is
given by any of the following
equations:

where y and x refer to the mole

fraction of the component being
absorbed.
• The overall coefficient:

• Where m = the local slope of the equilibrium curve.

• In Eq. (18.12),
= the resistance of mass transfer in the
gas film.

= the resistance of mass transfer in the

liquid film
In Eq. (18.12):

The liquid film resistance control the rate of

absorption
• when kya = kxa and m > 1.0.
• This means that any change in kxa has a nearly
proportional effect on both Kya and Kxa on the
rate of absorption,
• whereas a change in kya has little effect.
In Eq. (18.12):

The gas film resistance control the rate of

absorption
• when kya = kxa and m << 1.0 (very small)
• Solubility of the gas is very high
• Such as absorption of HCl in water and
absorption of NH3 in water
Calculation of Tower Height

Fig. 18.12 Diagram of packed absorption tower

• Consider the packed column shown in Figure 18.12.
• The cross section is S, the differential volume in height is S
dZ.
• The amount absorbed in section dZ is –V dy, which equals
the absorption rate times the differential volume:

• Rearrange for integration:

• The equation for column height (ZT) can be written as

follows:
Number of Transfer Units (NTU)

• The integral part in Eq. (18.16) is called the number of

transfer units NTU (NOy) =

• The other part of Eq. (18.16) has the units of length and is
called the height of a transfer unit (HTU) HOy:

• Hence,
• The number of transfer units is somewhat like the number of
ideal stages (theoretical plates).
• The NTU = ideal stage if the operating line and equilibrium
line are straight and parallel as in Fig. 18.13 a.
•For straight operating and equilibrium lines:

•Where: y b  y a
y L 
 y b 
ln  
 y a 

y a  y a  y a

y b  y b  y b
•The corresponding equation based on the liquid phase:
• 4 basic types of mass transfer coefficient:

Gas Film:

Liquid Film:

Overall Gas:

Overall Liquid:
Material Balances for Packed Column

L = molal flow rate of the liquid phase

V = molal flow rate of the gas phase
x = liquid phase concentration
y = gas phase concentration
Material balances for the portion of the column above an
arbitrary section (dashed line)
• Total material balance:

• Material balance on component A

Overall material equations

• Total material balance:

• Material balance on component A:

• Rearrange Eq. (18.3) gives operating-line equation:

• The operating line can be plotted on an arithmetic graph

along with the equilibrium curve as shown in Fig. 18.10.

• The operating line must lie above the equilibrium line in

order for absorption to take place.
Absorption in Plate Column
• Besides packed tower, gas
absorption can be carried out in a
column equipped with sieve trays or
other types of plates.

• Plate column is used instead of

packed column because:
a) to avoid the problem of liquid
distribution in a large diameter tower
b) to decrease the uncertainty in
scaleup
Plate Column
 Material Balances for Plate Column
• A general stage in the system is
the nth stage, which is number n
counting from the entrance of the
L phase.

yn+1 = mole fraction of component A

in the V phase leaving stage
n + 1.

Ln = molal flow rate of the L phase

leaving the nth stage.
Material balances for the portion of the column above an
arbitrary section (dashed line)
• Total material balance:

• Material balance on component A

Overall material balance equations

• Total material balance:

• Material balance on component A:

Graphical Methods for Two-Component Systems
• It is possible to solve many mass transfer problems
graphically for system containing only two
components.
• The operating line equation for the plate column can
be rearranged from Eq. (20.2) as below:
Graphical Methods for Two-Component Systems

• The operating line is a plot of the points xn and yn + 1 for all

the stages.
• The equilibrium line is a plot of equilibrium values of xe and
y e.
• The equilibrium data is found by experiment, by
thermodynamic calculations or from published sources.
• The position of the operating line relative to the equilibrium
line determines the direction of mass transfer and how many
stages are required for a given separation.
Ideal Contact Stages
• The ideal stage is a standard to which an actual stage
may be compared.

• If the information on stage efficiencies is available, the

no. of actual stage can be calculated.

• In an ideal stage, the V phase leaving the stage is in

equilibrium with the L phase leaving the same stage.
Determination of the number of Ideal Stages
• A simple method of determining the number of ideal
stages when there are only two components in each
phase is a graphical construction using the operating-line
diagram.

• Figure 20.5 shows the operating line and the equilibrium

curve for a typical gas absorber.
FIGURE 20.5 Operating-line diagram for gas absorber