ABSORPTION COLUMN REPORT

Separation operations and new technologies laboratory

Faculty of engineering

ABSTRACT:

Absorption is the transfer of one or more species from the gas phase to a liquid solvent. These process involves
no change in the chemical species present in the system. Also, is used to separate gas mixtures, remove
impurities, or recover valuable chemicals. In this type of process, it absorbs CO 2 of a mixture of air with a liquid
phase containing NaOH which react generating Na 2CO3. The goals of this practice is determinate the Packing
factor (Fp), the pressure drop and the flooding curve of the tower when it is operated under a certain gas flow
and the tower CO2 absorption capacity using one liquid flow and a desired CO 2 initial concentration. To
accomplish this objective, different air flows and concentrations were evaluated, with constant feed stream for
water (2,25 L/min) and carbon dioxide (6L/min), for this measure the absorption at the time that CO 2 with NaOH
react and produce Na2CO3, obtaining a CO2 absorption average of 0.065876929 for all measurements.

Key words: Absorption, air, pressure, water, packing.

INTRODUCTION:

Absorption is a basic operation of mass transfer which it consists in the separation of components of a gas
mixture by contact with a suitable solvent; these separation operations mass transfer involves contacting two
immiscible phases, which sometimes can be intermittent, as sometimes occurs in continuous plate columns,
and, as in packed columns. In an absorption tower, the incoming gas stream flows to the column countercurrent
to the liquid. The gas rises as a consequence of the pressure difference between the inlet and the outlet of the
column[ CITATION Tre80 \l 2058 ]. Contact between the two phases results in the transfer of solute from the gas
phase to the liquid phase, because the solute has a greater affinity for the solvent. It is intended that this contact
between the two streams is the maximum possible, and that the residence time is sufficient for the solute can
pass mostly from one phase to another [ CITATION Orl09 \l 9226 ] . The gaseous component to be removed is a
product that is wanted. Absorption can have different aims:

 The gaseous component to be removed is a product that is wanted.

 The gaseous component to be removed is unwanted. This could be the case when removing
contaminants from an exhaust gas flow.
 Production of a liquid; one example would be obtaining hydrochloric acid by absorption of HCl gas in
water.
 At least three substances are involved in the absorption: the gaseous component to be remove
(absorbate), the carrier gas and the solvent (absorbent).

An appropriate solvent is used, depending on the gaseous component to be removed [ CITATION Gun12 \l
9226 ]. The solvent selectively dissolves the gaseous component, the solvent primarily absorbs the components
to be removed and not the carrier gas. Chemical absorption of CO 2 into amine based solvents such as
monoethanolamine is a capture process that is currently adopted as almost the only commercialized process in
most post combustion plants. However, this treatment is too expensive, which makes it unprofitable for
companies, unlike NaOH which is cheaper than the monoethanolamine, and CO 2 can also be captured by
absorbing it into NaOH aqueous solutions. This method has been studied in the laboratory in mostly. The
absorption process starts with the ionization of NaOH in water. Once the CO 2 comes into contact with the
solution the following reaction occurs because the CO2 reacts with the OH in the solution to form HCO 3:
 CO2(g)→CO2(aq)

CO2(aq)+OH(aq)→HCO3(aq)

HCO3(aq)+OH(aq)→H2O(l)+CO3(aq)

The OH groups are dissolved, this means that the pH and the concentration decreases and rapidly increases
CO3 consumed. Net equation for the absorption of CO 2 in NaOH is as follows. Although Na 2CO3 is produced, it
exists as dissociated Na+ and CO3-2 in the absorbent:

2NaOH(ac)+CO2(g)→Na2CO3(aq)+ H2O(l)

In the second stage, the HCO3 concentration and pH are decreased. The net reaction carried out in this second
range of the overall absorption reaction can be expressed as:

Na2CO3 (aq)+CO2(g)→H2O(l)+2NaHCO3(aq)

When the reaction reaches the equilibrium, a slight amount of CO 2 may be additionally absorbed to make up for
the shortage of physically unabsorbed CO2 in water during the reaction[ CITATION Yoo13 \l 9226 ].

The packing factor, Fp, depends on the type and size of the packing. The higher the value of Fp, the larger the
pressure drop per foot of packing. As the packing size increases, the F value decreases, and thus, pressure
drop per foot will decrease. The effect of packing size on the packing factor can be fit reasonably well with the
equation[ CITATION Eck701 \l 2058 ]:

Fp=Cpsize∗δp−1,1
Equation 1. Generalized flooding and pressure drop correlation for packed columns.

Although a filling tower has continuous rather than discontinuous contact of liquid and vapor, it can be analyzed
as a staged tower. It can be assumed that the packed portion of the column can be divided into a number of
segments of equal height. Each segment acts as an equilibrium stage, and the liquid and vapor leaving the
segment are in equilibrium [ CITATION Wan13 \l 2058 ].

The Armfield gas absorption column UOP7 use Raschig rings, used in large numbers as a packed bed within
columns for distillations and other chemical engineering processes. They are usually ceramic or metal and
provide a large surface area within the volume of the column for interaction between liquid and gas or vapor.
Raschig rings made from borosilicate glass are sometimes employed in the handling of nuclear materials, where
they are used inside vessels and tanks containing solutions of fissile material, for example solutions of enriched
uranyl nitrate, acting as neutron absorbers and preventing a potential criticality accident [ CITATION Mil04 \l 2058
].

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS:

 Removal of butane and pentane from a gaseous refinery mixture using a heavy oil.
 Elimination of water-soluble inorganic contaminants from streams of air.
 As valuable product recovery devices.
 Elimination of impurities in reaction products.
 Elimination of CO2 or H2S by reaction with NaOH in a stream of Gases[ CITATION Cas11 \l 2058 ].
EXPERIMENTAL:

First the V1, V2 and V3 valves were opened to start filling the tank water to 3/4 of this, then the NaOH solution
with a concentration of 1 M was prepared. Was put in the water feed pump and the water flow was adjusted to
about 2,5 L/min, this was kept constant throughout the practice. After having the feed flow constant liquid flow
supply air, which was maintained throughout the practice varying gradually. Then we proceeded to perform
measurements of CO2 absorption with NaOH, this procedure was repeated 3 times for each proposed air flow.
Finally, at the end of all these absorption measurements, we proceeded to measure the height of the tower with
a meter from the top of the tower where the water is fed to the entry point of the gas. It is noteworthy that must
constantly review the present amount of water in the feed tank, as its mechanism is very low can cause damage
to the feed pump, and if too high can cause spillage of water in the work area.

For the development of the Aspen simulation, it was made based on that reported in the book Wankat separation
operations in laboratories section absorbers. One RADFRAC column without condenser was used without spray,
two streams, one of the solvent above the first stage and the second in the last stage of the absorber feed. The
output currents as the concentrated liquid and the treated gas is drawn. The specification of the currents was
performed using the experimental data, using 50 L/min for the incoming air flow, 2,25 L/min for the flow of water
feed, fraction input CO2 0.1 with room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The run was performed and the
change in gas concentration was determined in the column, in addition to finding the final fraction of CO 2 in the
treated stream. It was assumed that the packed tower has a discontinuous contact between the liquid and vapor,
assuming the packaging segment can be divided into several stages.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS:

0.14

0.12

0.1

0.08
y1

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Air (L/min)

Figure 1. Behavior of the fractions with respect to the air feed rate

With respect to Figure 1, where the behavior of the fractions relative to the flow of air feed was graphed, one can
observe a proportional growth with air feed with an initial feed rate of 50 L/min, the fraction presents its highest
point, reaching a value of 0.12, then this starts to increase, reaching a minimum value at the same point where
the maximum value of the liquid feed rate was applied. By consulting the theory about this behavior fractions,
this indicates that the increased flow of air supply, drives the increased absorption of water on CO 2, these means
that the flow rate of air increases, the fraction of the outlet gas decreases and the fraction in the outlet liquid
increases[ CITATION Lin15 \l 9226 ] . These high flow rates of the liquid used in the physical absorption, where
the solubility is relatively low[ CITATION Wan13 \l 9226 ].
 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07
0.12 0.12

0.1 0.1

0.08 0.08

0.06 0.06

0.04 0.04

0.02 0.02

0 0
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07

Figure 2. Number of theoretical stages

Was conducted an analysis by the McCabe-Thiele method, where the lines of operation and balance were
plotted for these to determine the steps necessary for optimal development, finally are 4 stages. Based on the
obtained stages, seen in Figure 2, it was reached determining the height required to generate a change in the
composition is 0.34. Being a small HETP, the column will be much smaller and will have greater efficiency, so
that the efficiency of this tower can be considered high among the average of these [ CITATION Wan13 \l 9226 ].
This column operates with a packing Raschig rings, this type of rings is a kind of random packing plastic, it
comes with advantages such as high ratio gaps, low pressure drop, height unit transfer low mass, flood point
high gas-liquid contact uniform, small specific weight, high efficiency mass transfer, among others. It is used in
packed towers, chemical, coal gas, alkali-chloride and medium-oil environmental protection industries [ CITATION
Che10 \l 9226 ].

6.2320000E-02
6.2300000E-02
6.2280000E-02
6.2260000E-02
CO2 fraction(gas)

6.2240000E-02
6.2220000E-02
6.2200000E-02
6.2180000E-02
6.2160000E-02
6.2140000E-02
6.2120000E-02
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Stage

Figure 3. Behavior of the fraction of CO2 in the gas with respect to the number of stages in the absorber
It was found that the absorber meets the initial goal of eliminating the component of the airstream (CO 2) with a
nonvolatile liquid (water), to measure the number of stages is increased, the contact between the liquid
increases and steam, increasing the chances of a greater amount separate the desired component [ CITATION
Bir60 \l 9226 ]. In the simulation the number of theoretical stages found for packaging by McCabe-Thiele method
were used. On the other hand, in Aspen, the fraction of CO 2 of vapor leaving the steam treated equals obtained
in step 1 (0.0621), while the pilot is close to 0.06(0.0555), demonstrating the close results between
experimentally obtained and those carried out in the simulation, and laboratory equipment meets its primary
function of extracting a compound gas using a liquid solvent, which in this case is water.

CONCLUSIONS:

 The fraction of CO2 gas leakage is inversely proportional to the amount of liquid feed flow.
 The equipment has an optimal system for extraction of CO 2 using water as solvent.
 It was determined that the column packing equipment is efficient and facilitates mass transfer between
the liquid and vapor.
 Experimental calculations show that the equipment meets its objective of removing a gas stream a
component by a liquid stream.
 Experimental calculations showed that the equipment meets its objective of removing a gas stream a
component by a liquid stream, since the fraction of CO 2 in the gas coming out is minimal, demonstrating
that took place a process absorption correctly.

REFERENCES:

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limited.

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