Design of Absorber With Reaction

Design Of Absorber With
Reaction
Agenda
Introduction.
Physical and chemical absorption.
Concentration profile for absorption with

chemical reaction.
Application.
Example.
Introduction
Ingas absorption a soluble vapor is absorbed from its

mixture with an inert gas by mean of liquid in which the
solute gas is more or less soluble .
Absorber gas equipment:
Mainly use three type of tower:
1-Packed tower.
2-Tray towers.
Usually carried out in packed towers where the gas stream enters the bottom of
3-Spray tower.
the column and pass upward through a wetted packed bed, the liquid enters the
top of the column and distributed over the column packing.

 Packed towers are used extensively in the Chemical
Industry for Mass Transfer operations using gas
absorption, whereby a solute is transferred between a gas
and a liquid phase.
The liquid and gas are contacted, based on the solubility

of the gas,can be absorbed into the liquid.
Successful design demands satisfactory performance,

with regards to both fluid dynamic and mass transfer
considerations.
Physical absorption
•The gas component being absorbed is simply dissolved in the
liquid absorbent.
•Example:
CO2 dissolves into Water.
 Propylene Carbonate.
 Methanol.
Chemical Absorption
•There is a chemical reaction between the gas component
being absorbed and a component in the liquid to form a
compound.
•Example:
Hot Potassium Carbonate Solution.
Aqueous Alkanol amines.

Absorber With Chemical Reaction:
Many industrial absorption processes are

accompanied by chemical reaction.
Reaction in the liquid of the absorbed component with

a regent in the absorbing liquid is especially common.
Concentration profile for absorption
with chemical reaction
Where:
•U shown the plane of the
interface between gas and
liquid.
•R shown the reaction zone.
•S shown the outer

boundary of liquid film.
Figure 1
The chemical reaction is irreversible where A is absorbed from mixture by a
substance B.
A combine with B according to equation
A+B→AB
As the gas approaches the liquid interface ,it dissolves and reacts at once with
B.
The new product AB ,thus formed, diffuses towards the main body of the liquid.
•The component (A) diffuses through the gas film as a result of the driving force
(PAG-PAi) and diffuses to the reaction zone as a result of the driving force CAi in
the liquid phase.
•The component (B) diffuses from the main body of the liquid to the reaction
zone under a driving force q.
The different between a physical absorption and one in which a
chemical reaction occurs can shown in figure a and b:
Where
Figure (a) : shown Normal concentration profile.
Figure (b) : shown Concentration profile by the chemical reaction.

For transfer in the gas phase NA=kG(PAG-PAi)
For transfer in liquid phase NA= kL(CAi-CAL)
Where:
NA : is the overall rate of mass transfer.
C : is the molar concentrations.
P : is the partial pressure.
kG: is gas film transfer coefficient .
kL :is liquid film transfer coefficient.

The effect of chemical reaction is to accelerate the removal of A
from the interface , and supposing that it is now r times as great
then we get:
NA= r kL(CAi-CAL)
As we can see in figure a the concentration film through the liquid
film of thickness ZL is represent by straight line such that kL=DL/ZL
But in figure b component A is removed by chemical reaction,so

that the concentration profile is curved.
The dotted line gives the concentration profile if, for the same rate
of absorption ,A were removed only by diffusion.
Thus
NA= r kL(CAi-CAL)= rDL/ZL(CAi-CAL)
Factor r related to CAi, DL , kL to the concentration

of B in the bulk liquid CBL and to the second-order
reaction rate constant k2for the absorption of
CO2in alkaline solutions.
r= (k2DLCBL)1/2 / kL
Application
A major application of absorption technology is the
removal of CO2 and H2S from natural gas or
synthesis gas by absorption in solutions of amines
or alkaline salts.
Another example is the washing of ammonia from a

mixture of ammonia and air by means of liquid
water.
In the absorption of carbon dioxide by caustic soda
,the carbon dioxide reacts directly with the caustic
soda and the process of mass transfer is thus made
much more complicated.
But when Carbon dioxide is absorbed in an

ethanolamine solution there is direct chemical
reaction between the amine and the gas.
Advantage
1) Enhancing the absorption rate.
2) Increasing carrying capacities for gas components.

Disadvantage
Chemical reaction causes difficulty for the release of

the gas components from liquid.
Example
For removal of carbon dioxide from a gas mixture given that:
Removal is frequently accomplished by scrubbing with aqueous
solutions of PH 8 to 10 containing compound like monoethanol
amine(NH2CH2CH2OH).
CO2+H2O ↔ H2CO3 K=103

H2CO3 ↔ H+ + HCO3- K=4.10-11mol/liter
HCO3 ↔ H+ + CO32- K=4.10-11mol/liter
RNH2 + H+ ↔ RNH3+ K=3.10-9mol/liter
RNH2 + HCO3- ↔ RNH3+ + CO32- K=8.10-2mol/liter
RNH2 + HCO3- ↔ RNHCOO- + H2O K=50 mol/liter
Where:
RNH2 :represents the monoethanol amine.
K : are equilibrium constant .
Solution:
First we need to know in which forms the carbon dioxide occur.

Second approximate the kinetics involved in that reaction.
The overall reaction:

CO2 + 2RNH2 ↔ RNH3+ + RNHCOO-
We expect the reaction to be instantaneous described by
k/ko = 1+ D2c2/ѴD1c1i
Where 1 and 2 refer to carbon dioxide and amine at the boundary of

interfacial reaction.
We expect c1i to be fixed and C2 = Ĉ(1-2θ)
Where Ĉ total amine concentration and θ is the fraction of the amine already
combined with carbon dioxide, the factor of 2 is stoichiometric.
Thus
k/ko = 1 + D2Ĉ2/2D1c1i (1-2θ)
This prediction is verified for industrial absorption tower for

which
k/ko = 1 +5.56 liter/mole Ĉ2 (1-2θ)
Where k used for design.

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Design Of Absorber With

Physical and chemical absorption.

Concentration profile for absorption with

Ingas absorption a soluble vapor is absorbed from its

top of the column and distributed over the column packing.

The liquid and gas are contacted, based on the solubility

Successful design demands satisfactory performance,

CO2 dissolves into Water.

Hot Potassium Carbonate Solution.

Aqueous Alkanol amines.

Many industrial absorption processes are

Reaction in the liquid of the absorbed component with

•R shown the reaction zone.

•S shown the outer

A combine with B according to equation

the liquid phase.

chemical reaction occurs can shown in figure a and b:

Figure (a) : shown Normal concentration profile.

Figure (b) : shown Concentration profile by the chemical reaction.

For transfer in liquid phase NA= kL(CAi-CAL)

NA : is the overall rate of mass transfer.

C : is the molar concentrations.

P : is the partial pressure.

kG: is gas film transfer coefficient .

kL :is liquid film transfer coefficient.

But in figure b component A is removed by chemical reaction,so

NA= r kL(CAi-CAL)= rDL/ZL(CAi-CAL)

Factor r related to CAi, DL , kL to the concentration

Another example is the washing of ammonia from a

But when Carbon dioxide is absorbed in an

2) Increasing carrying capacities for gas components.

Chemical reaction causes difficulty for the release of

CO2+H2O ↔ H2CO3 K=103

First we need to know in which forms the carbon dioxide occur.

The overall reaction:

We expect the reaction to be instantaneous described by

Where 1 and 2 refer to carbon dioxide and amine at the boundary of

k/ko = 1 + D2Ĉ2/2D1c1i (1-2θ)

This prediction is verified for industrial absorption tower for

Where k used for design.

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