Chapter 4

Absorption
 In absorption (also called gas absorption, gas
scrubbing, and gas washing), a gas mixture is
contacted with a liquid (the absorbent or solvent) to
selectively dissolve one or more components by
mass transfer from the gas to the liquid.
 The components transferred to the liquid are
referred to as solute or absorbate.
 Absorption is used to separate gas mixture; remove
impurities, contaminants, pollutants, or catalyst
poisons from gas; or recovery valuable chemicals.
 Thus, the species of interest in the gas mixture may
be all components, only the component(s) not
transferred, or only the component(s) transferred.
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 The opposite of absorption is stripping (also called de-
sorption), where in a liquid mixture is contacted with gas to
selectively remove components by mass transfer from the
liquid to the gas phase.
 The absorption process involves molecular and turbulent
diffusion or mass transfer of solute [A] through a stagnant
layer gas [B] then through non – diffusing liquid [C].
 There are two types of absorption processes:
1- Physical process (e.g. absorption of acetone from acetone –
air mixture by water.
2- Chemical process, sometimes called chemi-sorption (e.g.
absorption of nitrogen oxides by water to produce nitric acid.

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 In considering the design of equipment to achieve
gas absorption, the main requirement is that the gas
should be brought into intimate contact with the
liquid
 General method of operation for absorption:
– the feed gas is Introduced at the bottom of the
column
– the solvent is fed to the top, as a liquid
– the absorbed gas and solvent leave at the bottom
– the unabsorbed components leave as gas from the
top

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 Equipment for absorption
 Absorption and stripping are conducted in tray towers
(plate column), packed column, spray tower, bubble
column, and centrifugal contactors.
1- Tray tower:
 A tray tower is a vertical, cylindrical pressure vessel in
which vapor and liquid, which flow counter currently,
are contacted on a series of metal trays or plates.
 Liquid flows across any tray over an outlet weir, and
into a down comer, which takes the liquid by gravity to
the tray below.
 The gas flows upward through opening in each tray,
bubbling through the liquid on the other tray.
 A schematic diagram for the flow patterns inside the tray
column is shown below.

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 2- Packed tower

 The packed column is a vertical, cylindrical pressure

vessel containing one or more section of packing
material over which the liquid flows down wards by
gravity as a film or as droplets between packing
elements.
 Vapor flows upwards through the wetted packing
contacting the liquid.
 The sections of packing are contained between a
lower gas – injection support plate, which holds the
packing, and an upper grid or mish hold – down plate,
which prevent packing movement.
 A liquid distributor, placed above the hold – down
plate, ensures uniform distribution of liquid as it
enters the packing section.

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 General Design Consideration
 Design or analysis of an absorber (or stripper) requires
consideration of a number of factors, including:
1- Entering gas (liquid) flow rate, composition, temperature, and
pressure.
2- Design degree of recovery (R) of one or more solutes.
3- Choice absorbent (stripping) agent.
4- Operating pressure and temperature and allowable pressure drop.
5- Minimum absorbent (stripping) agent flow rate and actual
absorbent (stripping) agent flow rate as a multiple of the minimum
rate needed to make the separation.
6- Number of equilibrium stages.
7- Heat effects and need for cooling (heating).
8- Type of absorber (stripper) equipment.
9- Height of absorber (stripper) column.
10- Diameter of absorber (stripper) column.

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Selection of solvent for absorption
 The selection of is based on the purpose of use.
 If the purpose is to produce specific solvent e.g to
produce HCl, then the solvent is specified based on the
nature of the product.
 If the purpose is to separate a particular component to
remove certain component, the the choice is based on
some important properties
 Therefore, an ideal absorbent should :

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a- Have High solubility for the solute(s) to minimize the need for absorbent.
b- Have a low volatility to reduce the loss of absorbent and facilitate separation of
absorbent from solute(s).
c- Be stable to maximize absorbent life and reduce absorbent makeup
requirement.
d- Be non – corrosive to permit use of common material of construction.
e- Have a low viscosity to provide low pressure drop and high mass and heat
transfer rates.
f- Be non – foaming when contacted with gas so as to make it unnecessary.
g- Be non – toxic and non – flammable to facilitate its safe use.
h- Be available, if possible.
 The most widely absorbent used are water, hydrocarbon oils, and aqueous
solutions of acids and bases. While the most common stripping agents used
are water vapor, air, inert gases, and hydrocarbon gases.

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Equilibrium stage operations

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 Determining the number of ideal stages

 This is required in designing cascades.

1. Graphical method for binary systems
 Draw the operating & equilibrium lines of x-y
diagram.
 The ends of the operating line are points a (xa,ya) & b
(xb, yb).
 The concentration of gas leaving the top stage, which
is stage 1, is ya or y1.
 If the stage is ideal, the liquid leaving is in equilibrium
with the vapor leaving, so the point (x1, y1) must lie on
the equilibrium curve.
 This fact fixes point m. The abscissa of point m is x1.
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 The operating line passes all points of (xn, yn+1), since
x1 is known, y2 is found by moving vertically from
point m to the operating line at point n (x1, y2).
 The step, or triangle (a, m, n) is one ideal stage,
the first one in this column.
 This graphical method in determining the number
of ideal stages is called the McCabe-Thiele
method.
Note: yn is in equilibrium with xn for an ideal
stage,while yn+1 is in the same position of xn.

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2. Absorption-factor method for calculating the number
of ideal stages

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Design of single stage counter-current flow
absorption tower (packed tower)
 The available information for the design are:
(a) Equilibrium data
(b) gas and liquid flow rates
(c) solute concentration in two terminals
(d) individual and overall volumetric mass
transfer coefficients

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 Steps for the design of packed tower

(A) Selection of solvent

(B) Selection of packing
(C) Calculation of minimum solvent flow rate as
well as actual solvent flow rate
(D) Column diameter
(E) Height of column
(F) Design of solvent distributors and
redistributors (if needed)
(G) Design of gas distributor, packing support,
shell, nozzles, column support

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 The cross sectional view of the packed tower is
shown in Figure below and the design may may
be based
(I) on the basis of individual mass transfer coefficients
or
(II) on the basis of overall mass transfer coefficient.
 The column is packed with packing materials (any
type) to provide more contact between gas and
liquid.

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 Design of packed tower based on individual mass transfer coefficient

 Let Ḡ and Ľ are gas and liquid flow rate per unit area basis,
mol/h.m2.
 ā = specific interfacial contact area between gas and liquid,
m2/m3.
 y = mole fraction of solute in gas .
 Hence,
 solute flow rate in gas= Ḡ*y mol/h.m2
 The decrease in solute flow rate over the thickness (dh)
=d(Ḡy)
 For a unit cross-sectional area (1m2):
 volume of differential section=1×dh m3 and
 interfacial area of contact in differential section= ā×1×dh
m2 .
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 If NA is solute flux and ky is individual gas-phase mass
transfer coefficient,
 solute transfer through differential section= ā×dh×NA.
There fore:
 -[Ḡdy+ y dḠ]= ā×dh×NA
 -Ḡdy- y dḠ= ā×dh×NA
The change in total gas flow rate (dḠ) is equal to rate of solute
transfer (ā×dh×NA) as carrier gas is not soluble, i.e.,
 - dḠ= ā×dh×NA (4.4)
 Putting the value of –dḠ in the above Equation 4.3, we
have,

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-

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Interfacial solute concentration, yi is not known; hence the
integration of the right hand side of Equation 4.7 is
complicated.

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• In Figure above, lower terminal of absorption tower is
represented by Q (X2, Y2); i.e., bottom of the tower.
Operating line is PQ.
• If liquid rate is decreased, slope of operating line
(Ls/Gs) also decreases and operating line shifts from
PQ to Ṕ Q, when touches equilibrium line.
• This operating line is tangent to equilibrium
• Slope of Ṕ𝑄=(𝐿𝑠)𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝐺𝑠
The driving force for absorption is zero at Ṕ and is called
“PINCH POINT”.

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(3) A point A (x, y) is taken on the operating line. From the
known value of kx and ky or kxā and kyā, a line is drawn with
slope of kx /ky to equilibrium line, B(xi,yi).
Line AB is called “TIE LINE” and xi and yi are known for a set
of values of x and y.
(4) Step (3) is repeated for other points in the operating line to
get several (xi,yi) sets for y1≥y≥y2.
(5) Calculate flow rate of gas G (kg/h) at each point as
G=Gs(1+y).
(6) Calculate height of the packing hT of Equation 4.7
graphically or numerically.

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The height of the „stripping column‟ is also
obtained in a similar way. For stripping, y2>y1
and driving force is (yi-y). The corresponding
design Equation will be:

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Design of packed tower based on overall mass transfer coefficient

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Design based on height of a transfer unit (HTU)

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Design Equations based concentration in mole ratio unit

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SOLUTION

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