Objective :
The aim of this experiment to obtain the relationship between flow rate and the
presser drop P ,also To plot the graph of column pressure drop against the air
flow rate in a log log graph.
Theory :
Gas absorption is mass transfer operation where one or more species is removed
from a gaseous stream by dissolution in a liquid. The component that is extracted
from the gaseous stream is known as solute and the component that extracting the
solute is known as solvent. Carrier gas is the insoluble component present in the
gas that is not absorbed by the solvent. The transfer is based on the preferential
solubility of solutes in the solvent (Gas Absorption And Desorption, n.d.). Packed
towers are used for continuous countercurrent contacting of gas and liquid in
absorption (Geankoplis, 1993).The mechanism in packed tower is the gas and
liquid phases flows counter - currently where they interact on the packings
interface. The liquid flows in downward direction, over the surface of the packing,
whereas the gas flows through the space or voids of the packings in upward
direction. The gas flow is driven by pressure while the liquid flow is driven by the
gravity force. The gas undergoes pressure drop due to the liquid occupied some
part of the open space and voids of the packing. Thus, reducing the area available
for the gas to flow. If the packing is dry with no liquid feed, then maximum flow
gas is available. The pressure drop increases as the liquid flowrate into the tower
increases. High flux will resulting in flooding. This occurrence happen at the upper
limit of the gas flow rate called flooding velocity since the liquid is blown out with
the gas at the flooding point. The gas start to hinder the liquid flow at loading
point where accumulation of liquid start appearing in the packing. Low flux will
resulting in channelling or weeping. There are two types of packings types which
is random and structured.
Tools and materials :
1. Column 6. Manometer
2. Water 7. Pipes and valves
3. Air
4. Pump
5. Rashing rings
Procedure :
1) First all the equipment was fitted in its place so we putted the rashing rings
in the tube and we fitted all the pipes and the nanometer.
2) Then we started the experiment with dry state ( without water) at room temp
and we had recorded the result of the fist experiment .
3) After that we did the experiment with wet state so we putted water in
different ammounts first with 10 L then with 20 L and 30 L.
4) In each stat we had controlled the flow rate by valves .
5) At the end we recorded the results on tables and we had plot the relationship
between the velocity U and the pressure drop P
Results :
( Dry )
Flow rate Pressure
L/min drop mm
10 2
15 8
20 10
25 16
30 22
35 28
40 35
45 43
( wet )
Flow
Flow rate H2O
H2O Pressure
Pressure Flow H2O Pressure
rate L/min
L/min drop
drop rate L/min drop
5 10 9 5 20 3
10 10 20 10 20 7
15 10 13 15 20 120
20 10 17 20 20 150
25 10 29 25 20 160
30 10 30 30 20 210
Flow rate H2O Pressure
L/min drop
5 30 10
10 30 23
15 30 38
20 30 80
25 30 110
U value in
30 30 m3/s 290
0.04221
0.0845
0.127
To calculate the velocity will use 3 0.168
0.211
0.254
0.297
0.336
0.382
2+
ty
U=Q / A
A= pi / 4 * D2
Discussion:
1) We filling the tube with rashing rings because it will help in the heat and
mass transfer and the gas and liquid will get more in touch together .
2) From the graph, we could also observe that, the higher the water flow rate,
the lower the log air flow rate. This is due to the water flow downwards
hinder the air flow upwards, resulting in high pressure drop. Thus, at high
water flow rate, flooding happens rather faster than at the lower one since
the resistance that the water flow give to the air flow is greater. The same
case happens for the theoretical data. Proving that the experimental data
shows the same pattern as theoretical one.
3) The error could also happen due to parallax error during the adjustment of
the next flow rate in case of the student did not read the marking scale at eye
level where the eyes should be perpendicular to the marking scale.
4) Based on the experiment, we could also observe the fact that the packed
tower used in the experiment is working efficiently at lower liquid flow rate
since flooding occurs at very high gas flow rate. This allow the contacting
time between the gas and liquid to be lengthen and thus maximize the
absorption rate.
