CHM 304

Mass Transfer
Humidification and drying
Humidification

• Humidification is the process of increasing the

moisture content in a carrier gas
• The reverse of the operation is called
dehumidification
• Industrial applications
– air conditioning, gas cooling
– preserve material properties
– controlled drying of wet solids
– comfort heating
Principle of Humidification

Liquid and gas

Non-saturated
contact for
Hot liquid (preheated)
heat & mass
gas
transfer
Humidity and saturation basics

– The gas (or space) is said to be saturated when it holds the

maximum water vapour possible at a given temperature.
The extra water added to a saturated gas will condensed
– The capacity of a gas (or a space) to hold water depends
on its temperature

A wet sponge
Humidity

– Humidity is the measure of amount (mass or mole) of

water vapour present in the air and it differs from one
location to another (at given T & P)
𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒌𝒈
Humidity (H) =
𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒌𝒈

𝑷𝑨 (𝟏𝟖.𝟎𝟐)
H =
(𝑷−𝑷𝑨)(𝟐𝟖.𝟗𝟕)

• Humidity can be expressed in different ways

for given conditions of P and T

• A hygrometer or aerometer an instrument

used for measuring the water vapour in the
atmosphere, in soil, or in confined spaces
Types of measurements of
humidity
– Absolute humidity is the total amount of water vapour
present in a given volume of air and water vapour mixture
and it is mathematically expressed as usually expressed in
kilograms per cubic meter
– It is occasionally called ‘Grosvenor humidity’ after the
name of the inventor.

𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒌𝒈

Absolute Humidity (AH) =
𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒙𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝟑

𝒎 𝑯𝟐𝑶 (𝒌𝒈) 𝑴𝑯𝟐𝑶 𝑷𝑯𝟐𝑶 𝑴𝑯𝟐𝑶

AH = 𝟑 = 𝑯𝒎 =
𝑽𝒂𝒊𝒓 (𝒎 ) 𝑴𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝑷𝑨𝒊𝒓 𝑴𝒂𝒊𝒓
Types of measurements of
humidity
– Relative humidity (RH or Φ) is the ratio of the mole
fraction of water vapour in moist air to mole fraction of
water vapour in saturated air at the same temperature and
pressure. Using perfect gas equation we can show that:

𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒗𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒊𝒙𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆

Relative Humidity (RH or Φ or HR) = X 100
𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒗𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

– For air-water mixture (at a given T)

𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒙𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 (𝒑 𝑯𝟐𝑶)
Φ=
𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒎 (𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅) 𝒗𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 (𝒑∗ 𝑯𝟐𝑶)
Types of measurements of
humidity
– Percentage humidity or percent saturation is the ratio of
absolute humidity to the saturation humidity (at the same
T & P) multiplied by hundred
𝑨𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒊𝒓
% Humidity = X100
𝑯𝒖𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝑻 & 𝑷

– Specific humidity (or moisture content) is the ratio of

mass of water vapour present in air sample to the total air
sample including dry air.
𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒌𝒈
Specific Humidity (SH ) =
𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒌𝒈
Dew Point

– Dew point (D. P.) the temperature at which air attains

saturation and a further addition of water vapour leads to
dew formation because of condensation of water vapour.
• Dew point is a temperature at which a vapor-gas mixture must be
cooled (at constant humidity) to become saturated
• The dew point of a saturated gas equals the gas temperature
• If a vapor-gas mixture is gradually cooled at a constant pressure,
the temperature at which it just becomes saturated is also called
its dew point
THERMODYNAMIC METHOD OF
MEASURING HUMIDITY
– Dry-Bulb Temperature: is the temperature of the moist air
measured by ordinary thermometer (whose bulb is dry)
– Wet-Bulb Temperature: is the steady-state temperature of
the moist air (or evaporating water) measured by a
thermometer when the bulb of the thermometer is
covered by wet cloth or wick [ 𝑾𝑩 ≤ 𝑫𝑩]
– At WBT, the sensible heat transferred from the air to the
liquid is equal to the latent heat required for evaporation.
– At 100 % saturation,
𝑫𝑩 = 𝑫𝑷 = 𝑾𝑩
Humidity measurements

– Humid heat (CH) is defined as the amount of heat required

to rise the temperature of unit mass of dry air and its
associated vapour by 1 ͦC at no change in pressure

𝑪𝑯 = 𝑪𝑨 + 𝑯𝑪𝑾

• where CA = heat capacity of air (kJ/kgmol K)

• H = Humidity
• CAW = Heat capacity of water vapour (kJ/kmol K)
Humidity measurements

– Humid volume (VH) is the volume of a mixture of air and

its associated water vapour per kg of air, also known as
psychrometric volume
𝑅𝑇
𝑉𝐻 =
𝑝𝑤 . 𝑀𝑊

• assuming ideal gas behaviour. TG is gas temperature in ºC.

• R, Universal gas constant = 8.314 m3.kPa/ (kmol. K)
Psychrometric properties

– Adiabatic saturation temperature (AST) when a definite

quantity of water is allowed to evaporate in the dry air
adiabatically, the dry-bulb temperature of air decreases
and the humidity of the air increases
– The temperature Tas attained by air (same as water) is
called “adiabatic saturation temperature, Tas”.
 𝝀𝑺
(𝑻𝑮 − 𝑻𝑺 ) = (𝒀𝑺 − 𝒀)
𝑪𝑯

– This is the final temperature of that water vapour mixed

air stream and for air-water system, WB ≈ AST

– The enthalpy of a vapor-gas mixture is the sum of the

relative enthalpies of gas and vapour content.

where λ0 is latent heat of vaporization of water, 2500 kJ/Kg

Y’ is absolute humidity of sample of air and Y’s is humidity at same
temperature and pressure if saturated with water vapor
Humidity measurements

• At a temperature of 25 ͦC and pressure 750 mmHg,

air has a relative humidity of 75% and the vapour
pressure of the water is 2.5 kN/m2, calculate –
a) Actual partial pressure of water vapour
b) Humidity of air
c) Molal humidity of air
d) Humid volume of water vapour

Given, Mw = 18 and Ma = 29
• Moist air at 1 atm. pressure has a DBT of 32 deg C and a WBT
of 26 deg C. Calculate -
• a) the partial pressure of water vapour,
• b) humidity ratio,
• c) relative humidity,
• d) dew point temperature,
• e) density of dry air in the mixture,
• f) density of water vapour in the mixture and
Humidity measurements

• Air at 30oC and 150 kPa in a closed container is

compressed and cooled. It is found that the first
droplet of water condenses at 200 kPa and 15oC.
The vapor pressures of water at 15oC and 30oC are
1.7051 kPa and 4.246 kPa respectively. Calculate the
percent relative humidity of the original air.
Psychrometric properties

– Carrier’s equation to calculate psychrometric properties of

air-water system

(𝒑𝒕 − 𝒑𝑾𝑩 )(𝑻𝑫𝑩 − 𝑻𝑾𝑩 )

𝒑𝑾 = 𝒑𝑾𝑩 −
𝟏𝟓𝟒𝟔 − 𝟏. 𝟒𝟒 (𝑻𝑾𝑩 − 𝟐𝟕𝟑. 𝟏𝟓)

– 𝒑𝑾 actual partial pressure of water vapour at DP, kPa

– 𝒑𝑾𝑩 vapour pressure of water vapour at WBT, kPa
Psychrometric Chart

• Determine moist air

psychrometric properties
• Used to analyze different
processes
• DBT on x-axis
• Absolute humidity on y-axis
• Constant humid volume lines
• Enthalpy lines (left) at
saturation
Use of Psychrometric Chart
Use of Psychrometric Chart
Use of Psychrometric Chart