Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Chapter 3
Humidity and Solubility
 Introduction

SATURATION
- The equilibrium condition reached between the vapors of a
liquid in a gas at a particular temperature.

Humidity
 refers to an air-water system.
Saturation
 refers to any gas-vapor
system.
 Atmospheric Moisture

Moisture in the atmosphere can appear in

three states--solid, liquid, and a gaseous
vapor. It is very rare when the air does not
contain some water vapor.
 Atmospheric Moisture

When the air is cooled to its saturation

point, condensation occurs in the form
of clouds and perhaps precipitation.
The water cycle
SATURATION
At Saturation, Partial Pressure = Vapor pressure
of the liquid at a given temperature.

PA= PAS
PA = partial pressure of A in a mixture of A
and B
PAS = Vapor pressure of A at the
temperature
P = Total pressure
PB= partial pressure of B in a
mixture
= P- PAS
Humidity (H)
 Humidity is simply water vapor in the air,
which is needed to form rain. Additionally,
water vapor holds heat in the air.
 It is a greenhouse gas, which means it is a gas
that absorbs heat and warms the atmosphere.
This is why humid air feels warmer.
Humidity (H)
 Used to indicate the concentration of the vapour in a
gas-vapour mixture
For the air-water vapor system:
 The amount of water vapour present per unit
quantity of dry air
 Can be expressed as on a mole basis or a mass basis
HUMIDITY
 refers to mass of water vapor per mass of bone-dry air.

Humidity(H) =

=
MOLAL HUMIDITY (moles of water vapor/mole of dry
air)
Molal Humidity

Ptotal = Pwater vapor + Pdry air

  
ηtotal = ηwater vapor + ηdry air
  𝜂𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟
Molal Humidity ¿
𝜂 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 −𝜂𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟
𝑉𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟 𝑉 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟
= ¿
𝑉𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑉 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 −𝑉 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟

𝑃 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟 𝑃 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟

¿ ¿
𝑃 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 − 𝑃 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟 𝑃 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑟
Absolute humidity Defined as the mass of vapor
per unit mass of vapour free gas
Absolute Saturation Humidity Ys’
 Example (1)

The vapour pressure of acetone at 295 K is 13.25 kPa. For a mixture of nitrogen gas saturated with the
vapours of acetone at 295 K and 105 kPa, Calculate the following:

(a) The mole percent of acetone in the mixture

(b) The percent composition by weight

(c) The amount of vapour in kilograms per m3 of the mixture.

 Example (2)

• It is desired to prepare a 10% benzene vapour–air mixture by saturating dry

air with benzene from a container of the liquid at 101.3 kPa. What
temperature should be used to achieve the desired composition? The vapour
pressure of benzene is given by the Antoine equation:
 Example (3)
A mixture of acetone vapour and nitrogen gas at 101.3 kPa and 310 K contains acetone
vapour to the extent that it exerts a partial pressure of 15 kPa. The vapour pressure of
acetone is given by the Antoine equation :

Where the pressure is in kPa and temperature is in K. Determine the following:

(a) The mole fraction of acetone in the mixture
(b) The weight fraction of acetone in the mixture
(c) The molal humidity
(d) The absolute humidity
(e) The molal saturation humidity
(f) The absolute saturation humidity
(g) The mass of acetone in 100 m3 of the mixture.
Solution:

Company Logo 17
Relative Humidity(RH)

Relative humidity (RH) is a measure of the amount of moisture in

the air relative to the total amount of moisture that the air can hold.

NOTE: (1) To determine how dry or wet the air is at any given temperature, we use a unit
of measure called relative humidity
(2) Warmer air can hold more moisture than colder air.
Relative Humidity (RH)
influenced by temperature and geographic location.
Warmer air holds more moisture than cooler air, and
warmer weather promotes evaporation.
Areas with a lot of surface water, such as coastal areas
and the Great Lakes region, have high humidity levels
due to evaporation.
Humidity is especially high in warm, tropical areas.
 Relative Humidity Instruments

Hygrometers are weather instruments used to measure

relative humidity.
Finding Relative Humidity with a
Sling Psychrometer

21
Relative Humidity (RH) (or Relative
Saturation(RS))
 Ratio of the actual partial pressure of the
vapor to its vapor pressure at the same
temperature
(Note: Relative humidity is reported as a
percentage)

RHor RS = X 100
NOTE: Use steam table for vapor pressure
Percent Humidity (or Saturation)
 The ratio of the existing moles of vapor per mole of vapor-free
gas to the moles of vapor that would be present per mole of
vapor-free gas if the mixture were saturated at existing
temperature and pressure.

% Saturation or % Humidity = X 100

Explain the difference between the statement”
A percent saturation of 50 % and a relative saturation of 50 %”

Percent saturation =

Percent saturation is always less than relative saturation

 Example (4)

Calculate the percent saturation and the relative saturation of the vapour–gas
mixture for the conditions given in Example (3)

25
Example (5)

A mixture of nitrogen and benzene has a dew point of 300 K. The temperature and the
pressure of the mixture are 335 K and 150 kPa respectively. The vapour pressure of
benzene (kPa) is

Calculate the following:

(a) Percent saturation of the mixture
(b) Kilogram of benzene per kilogram of nitrogen
(c) Kilogram of benzene per m3 of mixture
(d) Dew point of the mixture if the total pressure were 100 kPa
(e) Pressure required to condense 60% of the benzene from the mixture at 300 K.

26
Solution:

Company Logo 27
 Psychrometric Chart:

a graph of the physical properties of

moist air at a constant pressure (often
equated to an elevation relative to sea
level).
The chart graphically expresses how
various properties relate to each other,
and is thus a graphical equation of state.
Psychometric Chart

The thermo physical properties found on most

psychometric charts are:

1. Dry-bulb temperature (DBT)

2. Wet-bulb temperature (WBT)
3. Relative humidity
4. Absolute Humidity
5. Specific enthalpy
6. Specific volume
Air/water systems
Properties of air water systems are summarized in
psychrometric charts:
Definition of terms

1. Dry-bulb temperature (DBT)

 is that of an air sample, as determined by an ordinary
thermometer, the thermometer's bulb being dry.
2. Wet bulb temperature (WBT):
 The temperature measured by a thermometer or thermocouple
with a wet wick covering the bulb, under equilibrium condition, is
called the wet bulb temperature.
 In practice, this is the reading of a thermometer whose sensing bulb is
covered with a wet sock evaporating into a rapid stream of the sample air.
 The WBT is the same as the DBT when the air sample is saturated with
water.
3. Relative humidity
4. Humidity ratio
5. Specific enthalpy symbolized by h, also called
heat content per unit mass, is the sum of the
internal (heat) energy of the moist air in question,
including the heat of the air and water vapor
within. In the approximation of ideal gases, lines
of constant enthalpy are parallel to lines of
constant WBT. Enthalpy is given in (SI) joules per
kilogram of air or BTU per pound of dry air.
6. Specific volume, also called inverse
density, is the volume per unit mass of
the air sample. The SI units are cubic
meters per kilogram of dry air; other
units are cubic feet per pound of dry air.
Solubility
•SOLUBILITY is the property of a solid, liquid, or gaseous chemical
substance called solute to dissolve in a liquid solvent to form a
homogeneous solution.

NOTE:
 The solubility of a substance strongly depends
on the used solvent as well as on temperature
and pressure.
 The extent of the solubility of a substance in a
specific solvent is measured as the saturation
concentration where adding more solute does
not increase the concentration of the solution.
Unlimited
Limited solubility No solubility
solubility
 Self-Test/ Practice Problems:

1 - Explain the terms:

• Humidity
• Saturation
• Dew point
• Solubility
• Dry-bulb temperature (DBT)
• Wet bulb temperature (WBT)

2 - A mixture of acetone vapour and nitrogen contains 14.8% acetone by volume at 20 °C

 and 745 mm Hg Vapour pressure of acetone at 20 °C = 184.8 mm Hg

Calculate the following :

(i) The Partial pressure of acetone [110 mm Hg]
(ii) Relative Saturation []
(iii)Percentage Saturation [52.9%]
 Self-Test/ Practice Problems:

3 - Air at a temperature of 20 0C and 750 mm Hg has a relative humidity of 80%.

Calculate,
(i) The molal humidity of the air [0.019]
(ii) The molal humidity of this air if its temperature is reduced to 10 °C and pressure
increased to 2000 mm Hg condensing out some of the water [4.6 X 10-3]
(iii) Weight of water condensed from 1000 litre of the original wet air [10.43 g]
 
Vapour pressure of water at 20 °C = 17.5 mm Hg
Vapour pressure of water at 10 °C = 9.2 mm Hg