1. Absorption and Stripping of Dilute Mixtures
Chapter6

2. Purpose and Requirements:
Know Equipment of Absorption and Stripping
Learn to Design a trayed Tower and a packed Tower
Key and Difficult Points:
Key Points
Equipment of Absorption and Stripping
Graphical Equilibrium-Stage Method for Trayed Towers
Algebraic Method for Trayed Towers
Rate-Based Method for Packed Towers
Difficult Points

3. Outline 6.1 EQUIPMENT 6.2 GENERAL DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
6.3 GRAPHICAL EQUILIBRIUM-STAGE METHOD FOR TRAYED TOWERS
6.4 ALGEBRAIC METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE NUMBER OF EQUILIBRIUM STAGES
6.5 STAGE EFFICIENCY
6.6 TRAY CAPACITY, PRESSURE DROP, AND MASS TRANSFER
6.7 RATE-BASED METHOD FOR PACKED COLUMNS
6.8 PACKED COLUMN EFFICIENCY, CAPACITY, AND PRESSURE DROP
6.9 CONCENTRATED SOLUTIONS IN PACKED COLUMNS

4. Absorption (Gas Absorption/Gas Scrubbing/Gas Washing吸收)
Gas Mixture (Solutes or Absorbate)
Liquid (Solvent or Absorbent)
Separate Gas Mixtures
Remove Impurities, Contaminants, Pollutants, or Catalyst Poisons from a Gas(H2S/Natural Gas)
Recover Valuable Chemicals

5. (Reactive Absorption)
Physical Absorption
Chemical Absorption
(Reactive Absorption)
Figure 6.1 Typical Absorption Process

6. Absorption Factor (A吸收因子)
A = L/KV
Component A = L/KV K-value
Water
Acetone
Oxygen ,000
Nitrogen ,000
Argon ,000
Larger the value of A，Fewer the number of stages required
1.25 to 2.0 ，1.4 being a frequently recommended value

7. Stripping (Desorption解吸)
Distillation
Stripping Factor (S解吸因子)
S = 1/ A= KV/L
High temperature
Low pressure is desirable
Optimum stripping factor ：1.4.

8. 6.1 EQUIPMENT
trayed tower
packed column
bubble column
spray tower
centrifugal contactor
Figure 6.2 Industrial Equipment for Absorption and Stripping

9. Trayed Tower (Plate Clolumns板式塔)
Figure 6.3 Details of a contacting tray in a trayed tower

10. (d) Tray with valve caps
(a) perforation
(b) valve cap
(c) bubble cap
(d) Tray with valve caps
Figure 6.4 Three types of tray openings for
passage of vapor up into liquid

11. Froth (a) Spray(b) Froth(c) Emulsion(d) Bubble(e)Cellular Foam
Liquid carries no vapor bubbles
to the tray below
Vapor carries no liquid droplets
to the tray above
No weeping of liquid through the
openings of the tray
Equilibrium between the exiting
vapor and liquid phases
is approached on each tray.
(a) Spray(b) Froth(c) Emulsion(d) Bubble(e)Cellular Foam
Figure 6.5 Possible vapor-liquid flow regimes for a contacting tray

12. Packed Columns
Figure 6.6 Details of internals
used in a packed column

13. Packing Materails (a) Random Packing Materials (b) Structured Packing
More surface area for mass transfer
Higher flow capacity
Lower pressure drop
Packing Materails
(a) Random Packing
Materials
(b) Structured Packing
Materials
Expensive
Far less pressure drop
Higher efficiency and capacity
Figure 6.7 Typical materials used in a packed column

14. 6.2 ABSORBER/STRIPPER DESIGN
General Design Considerations
Trayed Towers
Graphical Equilibrium-Stage
Algebraic Method for Determining
the Number of Equilibrium
Stage Efficiency
6.2.3 Packed Columns
Rate-based Method
Packed Column Efficiency, Capacity,
and Pressure Drop

15. 6.2.1 General Design Considerations
Design or analysis of an absorber (or stripper) requires
consideration of a number of factors, including:
1. Entering gas (liquid) flow rate, composition, temperature, and pressure
2. Desired degree of recovery of one or more solutes
3. Choice of absorbent (stripping agent)
4. Operating pressure and temperature, and allowable gas pressure drop
5. Minimum absorbent (stripping agent) flow rate and actual absorbent (stripping agent) flow rate as a multiple of the minimum rate needed to make the separation
6. Number of equilibrium stages
7. Heat effects and need for cooling (heating)
8. Type of absorber (stripper) equipment
9. Height of absorber (stripper)
10. Diameter of absorber (stripper)

16. SUMMARY
1. A liquid can be used to selectively absorb one or more components from a gas mixture. A gas can be used to selectively desorb or strip one or more components from a liquid mixture.
2. The fraction of a component that can be absorbed or stripped in a countercurrent cascade depends on the number of equilibrium stages and the absorption facto: A = L/KV, or the stripping factor, S = KV/L, respectively.
3. Absorption and stripping are most commonly conducted in trayed towers equipped with sieve or valve trays, or in towers packed with random or structured packings.
4. Absorbers are most effectively operated at high pressure and low temperature. The reverse is true for stripping. However, high costs of gas compression, refrigeration and vacuum often preclude operation at the most thermodynamically favorable con­ditions.
5. For a given gas flow rate and composition, a desired degree of absorption of one or more components, a choice of absorbent, and an operating temperature and pressure, there is a minimum absorbent flow rate, given by (6-9) to (6-11), that corresponds to the use of an infinite number of equilibrium stages. For the use of a finite and reasonable number of stages, an absorbent rate of 1.5 times the minimum ' is typical. A similar criterion, (6-12), holds for a stripper.

17. 6. The number of equilibrium stages required for a selected absorbent or stripping agent flow rate for the absorption or stripping of a dilute solution can be determined from the equilibrium line, (6-1), and an operating line, (6-3) or (6-5), using graphical algebraic, or numerical methods. Graphical methods, such as Figure 6.11, offer considerable visual insight into stage-by-stage changes in compositions of the gas and liquid streams.
7. Rough estimates of overall stage efficiency, defined by (6-21), can be made with the correlations of Drickamer and Bradford, (6-22), O'Connell, (6-23), and Figure 6.15 More accurate and reliable procedures involve the use of a small Oldershaw column , or semitheoretical equations, e.g., of Chan and Fair, based on mass transfer considerations, to determine a Murphree vapor-point efficiency, (6-30), from which a Murphrtf vapor tray efficiency can be estimated from (6-31) to (6-34), which can then be related to the overall efficiency using (6-37).
8. Tray diameter can be determined from (6-44) based on entrainment flooding consid­erations using Figure Tray vapor pressure drop, the weeping constraint, entrainment, and downcomer backup can be estimated from (6-45), (6-64), (6-65), (6-66), respectively.

18. 9. Packed column height can be estimated using the HETP, (6-69), or HTU/NTU,(6-85), concepts, with the latter having a more fundamental theoretical basis in the two-film theory of mass transfer. For straight equilibrium and operating lines, HETP is related to the HTU by (6-90), and the number of equilibrium stages is related to the NTU by (6-91).
10. Below a so-called loading point, in a preloading region, the liquid holdup in a packed column is independent of the vapor velocity. The loading point is typically about 70% of the flooding point and most packed columns are designed to operate in the preloading region at from 50% to 70% of flooding. From the GPDC chart of Figure 6.36, the flooding point can be estimated, from which the column diameter can be determined with (6-98

19. 11. One significant advantage of a packed column is its relatively low pressure drop per unit of packed height, as compared to a trayed tower. Packed column pressure drop can be roughly estimated from Figure 6.36 or more accurately from (6-100).
12. Numerous rules of thumb are available for estimating the HETP of packed columns. However, the preferred approach is to estimate hog from separate semitheoretical mass transfer correlations for the liquid and gas phases, such as those of (6-123) and (6-124) based on the extensive experimental work of Billet and Schultes.
13. Determination of theoretical stages for concentrated solutions involves numerical integration because of curved equilibrium and/or operating lines.

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