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Experiment No-4: Mass Transfer Lab IIT KGP

This experiment aims to determine the loading and flooding velocities of air and water in a packed column. Flooding occurs when the gas velocity is high enough such that liquid builds up inside the packed bed and the column is fully flooded with liquid. Loading and flooding velocities are determined by plotting pressure drop versus gas velocity and identifying points of abrupt change. Experimental flooding velocities will be compared to theoretical values obtained from a Sherwood plot. Key objectives are to observe flooding visually, plot pressure drop curves, and compare experimental and theoretical flooding velocities as functions of liquid and gas flow rates.

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Siddharth Mohapatra
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347 views

Experiment No-4: Mass Transfer Lab IIT KGP

This experiment aims to determine the loading and flooding velocities of air and water in a packed column. Flooding occurs when the gas velocity is high enough such that liquid builds up inside the packed bed and the column is fully flooded with liquid. Loading and flooding velocities are determined by plotting pressure drop versus gas velocity and identifying points of abrupt change. Experimental flooding velocities will be compared to theoretical values obtained from a Sherwood plot. Key objectives are to observe flooding visually, plot pressure drop curves, and compare experimental and theoretical flooding velocities as functions of liquid and gas flow rates.

Uploaded by

Siddharth Mohapatra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Experiment no-4

LOADING AND FLOODING CHARACTERISTICS IN A PACKED COLUMN

Introduction:

Packed towers are used for continuous contact of liquid and gas in vertical columns. The liquid
while trickling down through packed bed, exposes a large surface area for contact with the gas.
In a randomly packed column, the pressure drop encountered by the gas depends on gas and
liquid flow rates. Depending on the gas and liquid hold-up, there can be shift from gas-
continuous-liquid-dispersed to liquid-continuous-gas dispersed state.

Objectives:

1. To determine the loading and flooding velocities for air-water system in a packed tower
2. To plot log (∆P/L) vs log(G) where (∆P/L) is the pressure gradient and G is the mass
velocity of air
3. To compare the experimental values of the flooding velocity with those obtained from
Sherwood plot

Theory:

Packed towers are used for continuous countercurrent and cocurrent contact of liquid and gas.
The towers are vertical columns filled with packings which provide large interfacial area.
The tower can be operated at a particular liquid flow rate (can be maintained constant) while the
gas flow rate can be progressively increased. After some time, it can be seen that a liquid hold up
is built-up inside the column packing. Then if the gas flow rate be increased further, no liquid
would come out from the bottom of the tower, and the tower would be flooded with liquid. At
flooding, the velocity of the gas with reference to the liquid rate maintained is the flooding
velocity. The gas velocity in an operating packed column must obviously be lower than the
flooding velocity. However, as flooding is approached most of the packing surface is wetted,
maximizing the contact area between gas and liquid. The flooding velocity depends strongly on
the type and size of packing, and the liquid mass velocity.
Since it is difficult to identify the flooding and loading velocity visually, a conventional
approach is to obtain the same from a log-log plot of (∆P/L) vs G. Flooding is detected by an
abrupt change in the nature of the curve. The curve is initially linear with a particular
slope which is a function of liquid velocity, nature of packing, etc. With onset of
Mass Transfer Lab IIT Kgp 
flooding the curves become almost vertical showing the increased pressure drop with a
slight increase in gas velocity. It can be assumed to occur

Mass Transfer Lab IIT Kgp 
‘2’

at a pressure drop of 2.0 psi of packing. Accordingly, it is determined as the onset of vertical lines
in the log (∆P/L) vs log G plot, while the termination of the linear portion of the curve gives the
loading point. It is important to estimate the loading point since the column operates most
efficiently at or near this point. For low liquid rates, the flooding velocity varies with about the -
2.0 to -0.3 power of the liquid rate and the 0.6 to 0.7 power of the packing size. The effects of
liquid rate and packing size become more pronounced at high liquid mass velocities.

⎛ a p ⎞ 0.2
G ⎜2 ⎟3 μ L
⎝ ε ⎠ L ρG
For random packings Sherwood et al. made a plot of vs which can be
gc ρG ρ L G ρL
used for theoretical estimation of the flooding velocity. (Refer to the book “Mass-Transfer
Operations” by R.E. Treybal, Page No.195, 3rd Edition).

Experimental Setup:

The set-up essentially consists of a perspex column filled with Raschig rings (ID 1.25 cm), a
compressor, centrifugal pump, an orifice meter for measuring gas flow rate, a rotameter for water
flow rate and a manometer for pressure drop across the column.

Procedure:

1. Initially the column is operated under dry conditions with only gas flow and the pressure
drop is measured for each setting of air flow rate.
2. The water flow rate in the packed tower is then started and maintained constant at a
particular value, with the air velocity being slowly increased till flooding occurs.
3. The same is repeated for four different water flow rates, and flooding velocity as a
function of fluid flow rates is estimated.
4. The students should visually observe flooding in the tower.

‘3’

Mass Transfer Lab IIT Kgp 
Data Analysis:

From the plot of log (∆P/L) vs log G, the loading and flooding points are to be
determined for each liquid flow rate. The curve under dry conditions should also be
included in the same figure.

Flooding velocities for different liquid flow rates are to be obtained from Sherwood plot,
and compared with the experimentally determined values.

A description of the flooding phenomenon is to be included in the report.

Mass Transfer Lab IIT Kgp 
Mass Transfer Lab IIT Kgp 

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