Gas Absorption: Determination and Plotting of Drag and Flooding Flows
Pre-laboratory Experiment 2
Dean Joyce B. Alboroto | Ma. Kathleen Pearl F. Grande | John Salvador Y. Ricacho
I. INTRODUCTION
Absorption is a mass transfer operation that separates soluble components of a gas
mixture by contact with an adequate solvent (Green & Perry, 2008). Absorption is widely used
for separating gas mixtures, recovering valuable chemicals, and removing impurities. Gas
absorption, also known as scrubbing, primarily involves the transfer of a soluble component of
a gas phase into a nonvolatile liquid absorbent, for the purpose of dissolving one or more
components of gas mixture, and to form a solution in the liquid (Foust, Wenzel, Clump, Maus,
& Andersen, 1980). The species transferred to the liquid phase are referred to as solutes or
absorbates (Henley, Seader, & Roper, 2011). The process of absorption involves molecular and
turbulent diffusion or mass transfer of absorbent from the gas phase through a stagnant
nondiffusing liquid (Geankoplis, 2015). Thus, the absorbent transferred is absorbed by the
liquid.
Typical examples of gas absorption are the washing of ammonia from a mixture of
ammonia and air by means of liquid water and absorbing sulfur dioxide (SO2) from the flue
gases by absorption in alkaline solutions (McCabe, Smith, & Harriot, 2006; Geankoplis, 2015).
Gas Absorption Column (CAG) unit manufactured by Edibon will be used in
conducting the experiment. The CAG is a laboratory scale unit specifically designed to study
absorption process and hydrodynamics in a packed column. A packed column is a pressure
vessel that consists of certain packing material (Henley et al., 2011), and used for continuous
contacting of gas and liquid (Geankoplis, 2015). The packed column shown in Figure 1,
consists of a cylindrical column, or tower, equipped with a gas inlet and distributing space at
the bottom; a liquid inlet and distributing device at the top; gas outlet at the top; liquid outlet
at the bottom; and a supported mass of inert solid shapes, called tower packing (McCabe et al.,
2006; Geankoplis, 2015).
Figure 2. Raschig rings
Figure 1. Packed Column (McCabe et al., 2006) (McCabe et al., 2006)
Most packing materials are made of inert and cheap materials such as clay, porcelain,
graphite, or plastic and must have 60% to 90% void spaces to attain the characteristic of good
packings. Packings permit relatively large volumes of liquid to pass countercurrently to the gas
flow through the openings with relatively low pressure drops for the gas (Geankoplis, 2015).
The packing materials employed in the experiment are glass Raschig rings 10x10 mm with a
specific area of packing per unit of volume of packing equals to 440m2/m3. Raschig rings are
pieces of tubes with approximately equal diameter and length that promotes contact between
vapor and liquid phases while minimizing hold-up in the column (Sella, 2008).
In a packed column with a specific size, type of packing, and definite flow of liquid,
there exists a flooding velocity, which is an upper limit to the rate of gas flow. Above the
flooding gas velocity, the column cannot operate. At low gas velocities, the liquid flows
downward through the tower packings typically uninfluenced by the upward gas flow. As the
gas flow rate is increased at low gas velocities, the pressure drop is proportional to the flow
rate to the 1.8 power. At a loading point, a gas flow rate, the gas starts to obstruct the liquid
downflow, thus local accumulations or pools of liquid start to appear in the packing. The
pressure drop of the gas starts to rise at a faster rate. As the gas flow rate is increased, the liquid
accumulation or holdup increases. At the flooding point, the liquid can no longer flow down
through the packing and is blown out with the gas (Geankoplis, 2015).
The flowrate of the water and air are determined using the following equations stated
in the manual of the experiment:
𝑙
𝑙 𝑄𝐻2 𝑂 (%) ∙ 80 𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑄𝐻2 𝑂 ( )=
𝑚𝑖𝑛 100
𝑙
𝑙 𝑄𝑎𝑖𝑟 (%) ∙ 80 𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑄𝑎𝑖𝑟 ( )=
𝑚𝑖𝑛 100
II. OBJECTIVES
The main objective of the experiment is to determine the characteristics and
effectiveness of the gas absorption column. Specifically, the experiment aims:
1. to determine at which condition the flooding and column drag occurs;
2. to gain experience of using a Gas Absorption Column (CAG) equipment;
3. to be able to plot the influence of the air and water flow rates variation on the
pressure inside the column (ln ∆𝜌 vs ln Q);
4. and to identify the different sections of each curve of the plot.
III. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
The experiment will be conducted inside the Research and Instrumentation Room of the
School of Technology using the packed column for the gas-liquid contact. The packed column
uses Raschig rings as packing materials. The gas sample that will be used is air, and the liquid
sample that will be used is water. Both the air and water will be assumed to be at room
temperature, 25 °C. Moreover, the water will be assumed to be nonvolatile, such that, no water
evaporates during the experiment. The parameters to be varied are the flow rates of the air and
water, and the effect on the pressure drop inside the column will be monitored. The specific
flowrates that will be used are the prescribed flowrates by the manual provided by Edibon.
Additionally, the flowrates will be varied until flooding inside the packed column occurs.
IV. METHODOLOGY
A. Materials and Apparatus
1. Gas Adsorption Column (CAG)
2. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
3. Water supply
B. Diagram of the Apparatus
Figure 3. Diagram of the gas absorption column (Edibon, 2016)
C. Methodology
1. Plug in the CAG unit and turn its switch on.
2. Connect the water pump and turn on the pump switch.
3. Adjust the water flowrate to 30% and record the flowrate in L/min from the
formula:
𝐿
𝐿 𝑄𝐻2𝑂 (%) ∗ 80 (𝑚𝑖𝑛)
𝑄𝐻2𝑂 ( )=
𝑚𝑖𝑛 100
4. Turn the air blower on.
5. Adjust the air flowrate to 10% to start with the minimum flowrate, as prescribed
in the Edibon manual. Obtain the flowrate of air in L/ min from the formula:
𝐿
𝐿 𝑄𝑎𝑖𝑟 (%) ∗ 80 (𝑚𝑖𝑛)
𝑄𝑎𝑖𝑟 ( )=
𝑚𝑖𝑛 100
6. Wait until steady state is achieved, wherein, pressure does not change with time.
7. Using the manometers, record the pressure drop of the gas when crossing the
column.
8. Increase the flowrate of the air to 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% , 60%, 70% and record
the pressure drops for each flowrate.
9. Repeat the steps above after increasing the water flowrate (ex. 50%, 70%), until
flooding is achieved.
Note: During flooding, monitor the water level inside the column such that no water
can obstruct the manometers and give wrong values. In the event of obstruction, stop
the water pump and fully open the regulation valve in an anticlockwise manner.
V. EXPECTED OUTPUT
Table 1. Datasheet for the calculation of drag and flooding flow rates
QH2O (%) Qair (%) Qair (l/min) ΔP (mmH2O) Ln (Qair) Ln (ΔP)
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Gas Pressure Drop Curve
4.5
4
3.5
3
ln (ΔP)
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
ln(Q)
Figure 4. Plot of the gas pressure drops through the packing: drag and flooding velocities
VI. REFERENCES
Foust, A. S., Wenzel, L. A., Clump, C. W., Maus, L., & Andersen, L. B. (1980). Transfer
operations. In Principles Of Unit Operations (2nd ed., p. 13). Hoboken, NJ: John
Wiley & Sons.
Geankoplis, C. J. (2015). Stage and continuous gas-liquid separation processes. In Transport
Processes and Separation Process Principles (Includes Unit Operations) (4th ed.,
pp. 584, 610-613). Philippines: Pearson Education South Asia Pte. Ltd.
Henley, E. J., Seader, J. D., & Roper, D. K. (2011). Absorption and stripping of dilute
mixtures. In Separation Process Principles (3rd ed., p. 206). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
McCabe, W. L., Smith, J., & Harriott, P. (2006). Gas absorption. In Unit Operations of
Chemical Engineering (7th ed., pp. 686-688). McGraw-Hill Professional.
Perry, R. H., & Green, D. W. (2008). Gas absorption and gas-liquid system design. In Perry's
Chemical Engineers' Handbook (8th ed., p. 14-6). McGraw-Hill Osborne Media.
Sella, A., (2008). Classic Kit: Raschig’s rings. Retrieved March 4, 2019, from
[Link]
