Gas Absorption

 During commercial ammonia production, a gas containing about 18% (dry basis) CO2
is generated. This CO2 is to be removed to low levels because it is poisonous to iron
oxide based ammonia synthesis catalyst. How is CO2 removed?
 Natural gas is reformed by steam to make synthesis gas, a mixture of CO and H2.
You will learn more about this in Chemical Processes course during the next
semester. As sourced from reservoirs, natural gas contains H2S up to few percent
(say ~3%). H2S is a poison to the catalyst used for natural gas reforming; hence H2S
must be removed to vanishing levels. How is this removal accomplished?
 Flue gas generated in thermal power plants contains SO2, which is generated due to
oxidation of sulphur contained in coal. Air pollution control regulations demand that
SO2 is removed before releasing it to the atmosphere to prevent acid-rain. How is
flue gas desulphurization done?
 Natural gas described above also contains moisture, which is separated to avoid
problems during its transportation. How is natural gas dehydrated?
 In sulphuric acid production, sulphur and sulphur dioxide are oxidized with air. This
air must be supplied to the reactors as bone-dry air (no moisture). How is air
dehydrated?
 ...

More examples like above can be cited from various chemical processes. In all the
examples cited above, the gas in question is contacted with a liquid into which a gas
component is absorbed. The process of such removal is a unit operation called gas
absorption—perhaps second only to distillation in its importance as a unit operation in
chemical industry. In one the above examples, air is dehydrated by absorbing moisture
in sulphuric acid during its manufacture; moisture in natural gas is removed by contacting
it with glycols. Economics justify use of different absorbents such as sulphuric acid and
glycols. Moisture removal is a physical process where the absorbed water dissolves in
the liquid as sugar or salt dissolve in water. The liquids used are called physical
solvents. If the concentration of the gas to be removed is high, 10-50%, these solvents
could be used.

If the gas concentration is low, however, absorption with physical solvents is not feasible.
Hence liquids which react with absorbing gas are used. Such liquids are called chemical
solvents. If concentration of H2S is high, it can be dissolved in physical solvents such as
ethylene glycol or propylene carbonate. If its concentration is low, chemical solvents
such as monoethanol amine (MEA) or diethanol amine (DEA) are used. The liquids after
absorbing the gases are often heated to remove the dissolved gas. Thus, the
regenerated liquid could be used again. Commercially, H2S is removed from natural gas
by using MEA or DEA.

We will start discussion on physical solvents even though gas absorption in chemical
solvents is much more popular than in physical solvents. The former is easier to
understand; hence let’s try to master it first. Then, extending the mastery of ideas used
with physical solvents to chemical solvents is not difficult even though it’s non-trivial.

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 Our aim is to design towers that accomplish gas absorption, that is, to remove the
undesirable gas components to low levels as per specifications. This design involves
finding diameter and height of the towers.

Gas absorption takes place in packed towers, as shown below. A gas mixture enters the
bottom of the tower and a liquid is passed into the tower from the top. As the liquid
moves down, it mops up gas component(s) from the gas moving upward. Typically, the
tower is filled with some packing material to enhance interfacial area between the liquid
and the gas to promote mass transfer rates.

Some of the packings commonly used in chemical industry are also shown below.
These packings were invented by engineers over the years based on experience and
intuition. Of course, the inventions lived up to the expectations of their inventors. The
packings are characterized by their nominal size. The smaller the nominal size the more
the surface area they offer per unit volume of the tower.

Absorption tower
(from google.com)

Berl Saddles
Raschig Rings

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Intalox saddles Pall Ring

Hy-Pak Ring
Nutter Ring

Different packings used in chemical industry

(from google.com)

Structured packing

Diameter of absorption towers

An experiment is performed with a packed tower containing Intalox saddles. A gas is blown
from the bottom and a liquid is passed into the tower from the top. Pressure is measured at
the bottom and top of the tower. The gas flow rate is raised gradually while maintaining a
constant liquid flow rate. The pressure drop across the tower is recorded for various gas
flows and a plot of pressure drop versus flow is made as shown below. The different curves
in the plot represent different liquid flow rates.

The below plot is taken from the website of manufacturer of the packing material, Intalox
saddles. http://www.koch-glitsch.com/Document%20Library/KGIMTP.pdf

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 Gas blows out
Liquid in liquid

FLOODING

Gas in NO Liquid
out

Liq in Gas out

LOADING

Gas in Liq out

CHANELLING

x-axis has funny units; gas flow rate is multiplied with square root of its density. We should
get used to such units in gas absorption. y-axis is pressure drop in inches of water column
per foot of the tower (and milli bar per meter of the tower). Let’s follow the third curve from
the top corresponding to a certain liquid flow.

As shown in the above cartoons, at low gas velocities, gas channels flows through regions
near the walls, usually the void pace is more there. This flow is not desirable because it
does not lead to good gas-liquid contact, a requirement for high mass transfer rates. This
channelling could be observed experimentally.

As the gas flow is raised gradually, the pressure drop across the tower also increases
forcing the gas to flow through entire tower instead of only through the peripheral areas. The
pressure drop curve shows a change in curvature, a situation referred to as LOADING. The

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entire tower is now occupied with gas and liquid with intimate contact between them
promoting interfacial mass transfer.

Beyond loading point, further increase in gas flow, causes drastic rise in pressure drop. In
fact, pressure drop becomes highly sensitive to gas flow. This situation is commonly called
FLOODING where the entire tower if filled with liquid and the gas splashes liquid out of the
tower from the top.

Channelling, loading and flooding at other liquid flows also. At higher liquid flows, the
loading and flooding conditions are realized at lower gas flows; at lower liquid flows, they
shift to higher gas flows.

Absorption towers cannot be operated at gas and liquid flows that lead to channelling and
flooding. Below is an outline of the procedure to be followed to find the diameter of the
tower. For this purpose, a different graph than the one discussed earlier is used.

Method 1

Given: mass flows of gas and liquid, and , their physical properties such as densities and
viscosities, type and size of packing used in the tower

Find: diameter of the tower operated at 60-70% flooding velocity.

1. Compute the abscissa of the graph in the next page, , where is mass flux

of liquid in units of , is mass flux of gas in same units as liquid flux.

Here the area is cross-sectional area of the tower. Since the ratio of fluxes is same
as the ratio of flows , area is not needed to calculate the abscissa. It can be

shown that . It is square root of ratio of kinetic energy of the

liquid to that of the gas.

2. Go vertically to the top most curve, flooding curve and read the ordinate from the
graph. This quantity is not dimensionless. Alternatively, one could read the Table
below the graph. Be careful! Make sure you get the units of all variables correct.
3. Once the ordinate is known, find . Consult the scanned Table for packing factors.
4. Cross-section area of the tower, , find .

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 Method 2

Given: mass flows of gas and liquid, and , their physical properties such as
densities and viscosities, type and size of packing used in the tower

Find: diameter of the tower operated for a specified pressure drop, such as 1.00
inches of water per foot of the tower.

1. Same as method 1.
2. Go vertically to the curve corresponding to the given pressure drop and read the
ordinate.
3. Same as method 1
4. Same as method 1.

If you solve a few problems using the two methods, you will understand the procedure
better. Note the difficulty is with the units NOT the methods. It is recommended that
you do the calculations carefully.

Cussler’s book has a slightly different graph than the one given here. A graph is also given
for structured packing. Take a look at this graph also.

Diameter of absorption tower using method 1

Find the diameter of an absorption tower to be used for removing ammonia from a gas
mixture. The gas flows at 0.93 kg/sec at 30 oC and 1,100 mm Hg; the liquid flow is 6.7
kg/sec at 30 oC. The tower is packed with 1.5 inch ceramic Raschig rings. Densities of
liquid and gas are 1.7 kg/m3 and 1000 kg/m3, respectively. Viscosity of the liquid is 1.5 cP.
The tower is operated at 60 % of the flooding velocity.

Solution: We use method 1 for this problem.

Abscissa is

For this value, the ordinate from the Table is

Therefore,

flooding velocity,

Diameter of the tower is

Changing the packing to 1.5 inch Pall rings, reduces the diameter to 0.63 m ! (Check) Not a
big change in the diameter.

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Diameter of absorption tower using method 2

Solve the above problem if the pressure drop across the tower is 1.00 inch of water per foot
of tower.

For the same abscissa of 0.3, read the ordinate for the given pressure drop as

We can’t use the values from the Table, which is only for flooding.

Find G’ from the ordinate value

Diameter of the tower is

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56
Height of absorption towers for dilute systems
Absorption towers are designed to remove a component(s) of a gas mixture present at a
known level (could be high or low) to a desirable level (could be few percentage or ppm).
Let’s call this component as solute. For known gas and liquid flows, concentrations of the
solute in inlet and outlet gas streams and inlet liquid stream, our aim is to find the height of
the tower to accomplish the task for a given packing. We will first do the analysis for dilute
systems; that is, the concentration of solute in inlet gas is low. An implication of dilute
system is that gas and liquid flows do not change from the top to the bottom of the tower.
Once you understand the derivation for dilute systems, concentration systems can be
analyzed easily.

is gas flux in units of mole/(cm2 s)

or similar units, is liquid flux in
same units as

Here cm2 refers to cross-sectional

area of the tower

and are mole fractions in gas

Packing is usually
and liquid phases, respectively.
represented like this
Subscripts:

: bottom of the packing

: top of the packing

Since concentrations are changing along the height of the tower, we start by drawing a
is height of
differential the packing
element in the tower as shown below.

For a control volume extending from the bottom of the tower to the top of the differential
element, , write mole balance for the absorbing component. Draw the control volume first
and then the balance equation.

This equation is often called “operating line,” the first key equation in our design. We will use
it frequently while studying distillation.

Extend the top boundary of the control volume to the top of the column to obtain the
following overall mole balance for the solute.

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Now, the concentrations of the solute in the gas and liquid phases at equilibrium are related
as , where is related to Henry’s law. This is second key equation. You need to
be at a bit careful here.

Under what conditions is the above equilibrium relation valid? (When is linear relationship
expected?)

The third and last key equation is obtained by writing a mole balance of the solute across the
differential element:

solute flow in solute lost

solute
minus
solute flow out

Write the above balance description as an equation. Use overall mass transfer coefficient
for solute absorption, is area available for unit volume of the tower (usually this area is
supplied by manufacturers of packings),

Rearrange the third key equation and integrate to find height of the tower. Use the first and
second key equations to obtain integrand in one variable. Do the integration below.

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The final result for height of the tower is:

Or

The above equation is derived for absorbing a solute from a gas mixture into a liquid. A
similar analysis can be done for stripping a solute from a liquid mixture into a gas.

The first term on LHS in the above equation, has units of length and is called Height of a
Transfer Unit or HTU. HTU signifies rate of mass transfer; the higher the mass transfer rate,
the lower is HTU and thus height of tower.

The term in square brackets, , called Number of Transfer Units or NTU.

NTU indicates difficulty of separation. The higher the NTU the more difficult is the
separation.

What’s the relation between NTU and Henry’s law constant, ? That is, if the absorbing gas
is more soluble in liquid, would NTU be more or less?

Would NTU be high or low if more solute is removed?

Difficulty of separation can be thought about from two angles: low solubility and extent of
separation.

Plot the operating line and equilibrium line for absorption of dilute vapour and label the plot
appropriately. Show the entering and exiting mole fractions. Would the operating line lie
above or below the equilibrium line?

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Height of an absorption tower

A process gas containing 4% chlorine (average molecular weight 30) is being scrubbed at a
rate of 14 kg/min in a packed tower 60-cm in diameter with dilute aqueous solution of sodium
carbonate flowing at a rate of 850 kg/min. 94% chlorine is removed. The Henry’s law
constant for this case is 94; the temperature is constant at 10 oC and the
pressure is 1500 mm Hg and the packing has a surface area of 82 m2/m3. If the overall
mass transfer coefficient is 2 x 10-5 gmol/(s cm2), find the height of the tower.

Solution:

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The problem is not difficult provided you are careful about the units. Solving a few problems
will help you get a grip on the units. Do practise. Remember: engineers must get
reasonably accurate answers.

Mention three reasons for the exiting gas to have >6% of chlorine entering the tower.

1.

2.

3.

Calculate heights for 95% and 96% removal of chlorine. What is your conclusion regarding
the height of tower and percentage removal?

How can more chlorine be removed in the existing tower? What are the consequences of
making changes for absorbing more chlorine?

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Find the height of a packed tower that uses air to strip H2S out of water stream containing
only 0.2% H2S. In this design, the liquid flow is 58 kg/s, the liquid out contains only 0.017
mol% H2S, the air enters with 9.3% H2S, the entire tower operates at 25 oC. The tower
diameter and the packing are 50-cm and 1.0-cm Raschig rings, respectively, and the air flow
should be 50% of the value at flooding. The value of is 0.23 sec-1 and the Henry’s law
constant is 1,440.

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Absorption of concentrated vapour

Design of towers in which concentrated vapours (>20% of solute) follows the same lines as
design of dilute vapour.

The gas and liquid flows change from the top to the bottom of the tower. The diameter of the
tower is calculated based on the flows at the bottom because here the gas and liquid flows
are highest in the tower. Why?

A mole balance on a differential element gives , which simply means that

the decline in moles of solute in gas equals increment in its moles in liquid. For dilute
systems, the gas and liquid flows do not change. However, for concentrated systems, one
could write

Where is flux of non-absorbing gas. For liquid phase, the flux of non-volatile liquid, , is
obtained by

Combining the equations and integrating gives the equation of operating line

Note that this equation is non-linear whereas the operating line is linear for dilute systems. A
sketch of operating and equilibrium curves for concentrated systems is shown below.
Compare it with dilute systems drawn earlier.

xl, yl
Operating curve
y or y*

Equilibrium curve

xo, yo

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A mole balance around the control volume involving mass transfer of the solute from the gas
phase gives:

Where is the overall mass transfer coefficient based on mole fractions on the gas-side.
In terms of , the mole balance is,

Separating the variables and integrating this equation,

This equation is to be integrated graphically or numerically using values read from the plot
shown above.

The overall mass transfer coefficient, , is obtained from:

The slope changes from the top to the bottom because of the nature of equilibrium curve.
However, it is assumed to be constant in the derivation. It is a good idea to check if the
variation is negligible or significant.

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Minimum liquid flow in absorption tower

An absorption tower is being designed to remove ammonia from air containing only 3% of
that gas. The air leaves the tower with 0.3% ammonia. The liquid which absorbs ammonia
is free of that gas as it enters the tower. A schematic of the tower is shown below.
Equilibrium between ammonia in air and water is represented as .

=0

Write mole balance of ammonia over the control volume extending from the bottom of the
tower to the top of the differential element shown above. This is equation of operating line.

Draw equilibrium line and operating line on the same plot.

Recall that Number of Transfer Units (NTU ) is . Shade the region representing

NTU on the plot.

What happens to NTU and, thus the height of the tower, if the ratio L/G is reduced?

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Could you identify a limit for this ratio? What’s the significance of this limit? In other words,
what is the height of the packing for a tower operated at this limit?

Write an equation for this limit for absorption of ammonia in terms of , and .

If H2S is to be removed from natural gas by absorbing it in water, what is (L/G)min? Henry’s
law for H2S in water is . Do you see any problem related to water flow?

H2S removal from natural gas is one of the first steps in the commercial production of
ammonia and methanol. Do you expect the NTU to be high?

SO2 is another gas with high value of m. This gas is present in flue gas emanating from
power plants and also in exit gas of sulphuric acid plants. Its concentration in air is to be
regulated to prevent acid rain.

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 Key Points on Gas Absorption/Stripping

 The main gases that are absorbed in chemical processes are H2S and CO2. Of
course, a myriad other gases such mercaptans, water vapour are also absorbed.
 Towers that operate for gas absorption/stripping are filled with packing material to
enhance interfacial area between gas and liquid phases.
 The packing materials lead to higher pressure drop across the towers; this drop is
dependent on the type of packing and its size. The smaller the packing of certain
type, the higher is the pressure drop.
 At a certain liquid flow, low gas flows lead to channelling where the mixing of liquid
and gases is far from perfect. This condition is undesirable. At higher flows,
pressure drop rises and the tower gets loaded with gas and liquid with good contact
between them. At still higher flows, the tower is flooded—pressure drop rises
drastically, liquid is splashed out of the column. This condition too is undesirable.
 Diameter of the tower is determined by fluid mechanics. The procedure is empirical
resulting from experience of many engineers over many years. Be careful about this
procedure. The only thing difficult about the procedure is the units. Solve a few
problems to become familiar with the units and the procedure.
 Diameter of the tower is determined either for specified pressure drop across it or for
a specified percentage flooding. This percentage is typically between 50-75%.
 Become comfortable about writing design equations for determining height of the
tower for absorption of dilute vapour. Extension to concentrated vapour is not difficult.
 Key equations for finding height of tower: a) operating line, b) equilibrium line (curve)
and c) mass balance in differential element in the tower.
 Equations for removing a component from a liquid are along same lines as equations
for gas absorption.
 Height of the tower is written as the product of Height of a Transfer Unit ( ) and
Number of Transfer Units ( ). ; HTU signifies rate of mass
transfer. A small HTU is a sign of a good tower. NTU shows how easy or difficult is
the separation. High NTU means difficult separation.
 A minimum liquid flow is needed to remove a solute from a gas mixture to desired
levels. Typically, the operating flow could be 20 % to 50 % more than the minimum
flow.
 A minimum gas flow is required to strip a liquid of a solute. Again, the operating
liquid flow is 20 % to 50 % more than the minimum flow.

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 Learning objectives for gas absorption

 Determine diameter of absorption tower (i) operated at certain percentage of

flooding, given: liquid and gas flow rates, physical properties of the fluids, size and
type of packing material, (ii) operated at specified pressure drop across the column,
given: liquid and gas flow rates, physical properties of the fluids, size and type of
packing material.
 Find pressure drop across the column for a packing material, given the pressure drop
for the same set of operating variables for another packing material.
 Explain channelling, loading and flooding in an absorption column in your own words
and also by marking them in a Δp versus gas flow plot.
 Derive equation for height of an absorption column and stripping column
 Find height of absorption towers / stripping towers for dilute and concentrated
systems when adequate information is given.
 Find minimum liquid flow for absorbing a solute from a gas mixture and minimum gas
flow for stripping a solute from a liquid mixture

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