Chapter #

Absorber Design
: Theoretical Background
Gas absorption is the removal of one or more selected components from a mixture of gases by
absorption into a suitable liquid. It is second major operation in chemical engineering that based
on mass transfer.
The gas absorption process involves re-distribution of solute between gas phase and the liquid
phase when the two phases come into close contact and achieve equilibrium condition.
The purpose of gas absorption may be any of the following:

For separation of component having the economical value

As a stage in the preparation of some compound
For removing of undesired component (pollution)

Types of Absorption:
Physical Absorption:
In physical absorption mass transfer takes place purely by diffusion and physical absorption is
governed by the physical equilibrium.

Chemical Absorption:
In this type of absorption as soon as a particular component comes in contact with the absorbing
liquid a chemical reaction take place, thus reducing the concentration of component in liquid
phase, which enhances the rate of diffusion.

Selection of Absorbent:
The choice of the process solution is determined by the process pressure and temperature
conditions at which the gas to be treated is available, its composition with respect to major and
minor constituents and the purity requirement of the treated gas.

Properties of an ideal Absorber:

A high solubility for the solute(s)
A low volatility to reduce loss
Stability and inertness
Low corrosiveness
Low viscosity and high diffusivity
Low foaming proclivities
Low toxicity and flammability
Availability, if possible, within the process
A low cost

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Types of Absorber Equipment:

The major types of equipments which are used for absorption purposes are:
a) Trayed column
b) Packed Column
c) Spray Tower
d) Bubble Column
e) Centrifugal Contactor

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Trayed Column
A trayed tower is a vertical, cylindrical pressure vessel in which vapor and liquid, flowing
counter currently, are contacted on trays or plates that provide intimate contact of liquid with
vapor to promote rapid mass transfer. Liquid flows across each tray, over an outlet weir, and into
a down comer, which takes the liquid by gravity to the tray below. Gas flows upward through
openings in each tray, bubbling through the liquid on the tray.

When the openings are holes, any of the five two-phase-flow regimes as shown below may occur:

a. Spray Regime
b. Froth Regime
c. Emulsion Regime
d. Bubble Regime
e. Cellular foam Regime

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The most common and favored regime is the froth regime, in which the liquid phase is
continuous and the gas passes through in the form of jets or a series of bubbles. The spray
regime, in which the gas phase is continuous, occurs for low weir heights (low liquid depths) at
high gas rates. For low gas rates, the bubble regime can occur, in which the liquid is fairly
quiescent and bubbles rise in swarms. At high liquid rates, small gas bubbles may be undesirably
emulsified. If bubble coalescence is hindered, an undesirable foam forms. Ideally, the liquid
carries no vapor bubbles (occlusion) to the tray below, the vapor carries no liquid droplets
(entrainment) to the tray above, and there is no weeping of liquid through the holes in the tray.
With good contacting, equilibrium between the exiting vapor and liquid phases is approached on
each tray, unless the liquid is very viscous.

Packed Column:
A packed column, shown in figure below, is a vessel containing one or more sections of packing
over whose surface the liquid flows downward as a film or as droplets between packing
elements. Vapor flows upward through the wetted packing, contacting the liquid. The packed
sections are contained between a gas-injection support plate, which holds the packing, and an
upper hold-down plate, which prevents packing movement. A liquid distributor, placed above the
hold-down plate, ensures uniform distribution of liquid over the crosssectional area of the
column as it enters the packed section. If the height of packing is more than about 20 ft, liquid
channeling may occur, causing the liquid to flow down near the wall, and gas to flow up the
center of the column, thus greatly reducing the extent of vaporliquid contact. In that case, liquid
redistributors need to be installed.

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Packing may include:

Random Packing
Structured Packing
Stacked Packcing

Spray, Bubble, and Centrifugal Contactors:

If only one or two stages and very low pressure drop are required, and the solute is very soluble
in the liquid, use of the spray tower is indicated for absorption. This consists of a vessel through
which gas flows countercurrent to a liquid spray.
The bubble column for absorption consists of a vertical vessel partially filled with liquid into
which vapor is bubbled. Vapor pressure drop is high because of the high head of liquid
absorbent, and only one or two theoretical stages can be achieved. This device has a low vapor
throughput and is impractical unless the solute has low solubility in the liquid and/or a slow
chemical reaction that requires a long residence time.
A novel device is the centrifugal contactor, which consists of a stationary, ringed housing,
intermeshed with a ringed rotating section. The liquid phase is fed near the center of the packing,
from which it is thrown outward. The vapor flows inward. Reportedly, high mass-transfer rates
can be achieved. It is possible to obtain the equivalent of several equilibrium stages in a very
compact unit. These short-contact-time type of devices are practical only when there are space
limitations, in which case they are useful for distillation.

: Absorber Selection
The choice of device is most often between a trayed and a packed column. The comparison of
favorable conditions for both is given below:

Packed Column Plate Column

Small-diameter columns (less than 0.6m) Variable liquid and/or vapour loads
More choices in materials of construction for Low liquid rates - large number of stages
packings especially in corrosive service (e.g. and/or diameter
Plastic, ceramic, metal alloys)
Lower pressure drop (important in vacuum High liquid residence time
distillation)
Less liquid entrainment - low liquid hold-up Dirty service (plate columns are easier to
clean)
Suitable for thermally sensitive material Presence of thermal or mechanical stress due to
large temperature changes which might lead to
cracked packings
Foaming liquids can be handled more readily Exotherms requiring cooling coils inside
(less agitation of liquid by the vapour) column
More expensive As a rule of thumb, plates are always used in
columns of large diameters and towers that
have more than 20 to 30 stages

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Selection of Tray Column:

Plate columns can be designed with more assurance than packed columns. There is
always some doubt that good liquid distribution can be maintained throughout a packed
column under all operating conditions, particularly in large columns that lead to the
selection of plate column.
The pressure drop per equilibrium stage (HETP) can be lower for packing than plates and
packing should be considered for vacuum columns. As pressure is high plate column is
selected.
Plates should always be considered for large diameter columns, say grater than 0.6m,
where plates would be easy to install and less expensive.
Plate columns are more suitable for handling non-foaming systems as the system is non-
foaming therefore plate column is selected.

Types of Trays used in tray column:

Different types of plates are used in a tray column for gas/liquid contact, some of them are as
follows:
a. Sieve Tray/ Perforated Plates
b. Valve Trays
c. Bubble Cap Tray

Selection of Plate Type:

The other principle decision that needs to be taken at this stage is the selection of appropriate
tray type from available options. The dictating factors in this decision making are:

Cost: Bubble cap Trays are appreciably more expensive than sieve or valve trays. For
some material of construction the ratios of bubble cap, valve and sieve are 3:1.5:1, so
sieve plates are more economical.

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Capacity: There is little difference in capacity rating of three types, the tentative ranking
is sieve, valve and bubble.
Operating Range: This is most significant factor, it means that the range of vapors and
liquid rates over which the plate will operate satisfactory, some flexibility is always
required to allow the changes in the production rate and to cover start-up and shut down
conditions. Sieve plates rely on the flow of vapor through the holes to hold the liquid on
the plate and cannot operate at very low vapor rates. But usually sieve trays are used to
give satisfactory operating range.
Pressure drop: Pressure drop over the plates can be an important design consideration,
the plate pressure drop will depend upon the detail design of plate, but in general sieve
plates give the lowest pressure drop.
Efficiency: The efficiency of three types is virtually the same when operating over their
design flow range and no real distinction can be made.

: Design Steps
Absorber design or analysis requires consideration of the following factors:

Entering gas flow rate, composition, T, and P

Desired degree of recovery of one or more solutes
Choice of absorbent
Operating P and T, and allowable gas pressure drop
Minimum absorbent flow rate and actual absorbent flow rate
Heat effects and need for cooling
Number of equilibrium stages and stage efficiency
Type of absorber equipment (trays or packing)
Need for redistributors if packing is used
Height of absorber
Diameter of absorber
Absorber operating pressure should be high and temperature low to minimize stage requirements
and/or absorbent flow rate, and to lower the equipment volume required to accommodate the gas
flow.

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9.4: Design Calculations

9.4.1: Material Balance

1 Stream 3

Absorber

2 4

Components Stream 1 Stream 2 Stream 3 Stream 4

(Kg) (Kg) (Kg) (Kg)

Ethylene - 17262.18 17262.18 -

Water 1800 86.99 122.99 1764

Acetylene - 41.99 41.99 -

Methane - 208 208 -

Ethane - 288.86 288.86 -

Ethanol - 273.51 41.02 232.48

Total 1800 18161.54 17965.05 1996.48

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: Assumptions
Steady state operation
Isothermal Process (Negligible Heat of Absorption)
Kremsers Rule is applicable
Weir height = 50 mm
Tray thickness = 5mm
Hole diameter = 5mm
Hole area/active area = 0.1
Ad = 10% Ac

: Number of Theoretical and Actual Stages

Physical properties of the system:
Pi (vapor pressure) at 25C = 6069 KPa
L (density of liquid stream) = 995.8 kg/m3.
v (density of vapor stream) = 40.67 kg/m3.
(Specific gravity of water) = 0.0704 N/m.
(Specific gravity of ethanol) = 0.0215 N/m
Specified Ethanol separation (Ea) = 99.33 %

Number of Theoretical Stages:

K=Pi/Xi *P = 12.138 (equilibrium constant)
Ai = L/(VK) = 0.1544 (absorption factor)
Operating Absorption Factor, Aio = (Lo/V N+1)(1/Ki) = 1.8734
For optimum Economic Design:
1.2<Aio<2.0

As the value in range so, our design is optimum.

Theoretical number of trays at operating (Lo/V N+1)

After solving the equation by iteration method we get,

N=8

Actual Plates at Operating (Lo/VN+1):

Stage efficiency around 40-50 %
Actual trays Nac= N/Eo
Where,

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Eo = 0.50
Nac: Actual number of Plates
N: Theoretical number of Plates
So, Nac = 8/0.50
16 trays are used

: Column Diameter
Vnf = Csb ( /20)0.2 (L-G)0.5

Vnf = Net vapor velocity at flooding velocity m/s

= Surface tension

L = Density of liquid

G = Density of Gas

Csb = Souder and brown factor at flood conditions m/s. It is obtained after specifying reasonable tray
spacing, standard tray spacings for large diameter columns are: 0.4 or 0.60m.

Tray spacing of 0.45m is selected.

Vnf = 7.97 m/s.

So, VN = (0.6) Vnf=4.78 m/s

An = mv/VN = 4.47 m2

Where,

An = Net column area.

VN = Actual vapor velocity.

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Ac = 85% of AN = AN /0.85 =3.79 m2

Dc= (4AN/ pi)0.5 = 0.569 m.

Diameter of column= 2.2 m

Where,

Ac is the cross-sectional area of the column.

D is the diameter of the column.

: Plate Design
Specification of Tray Layout:
Ad (down comer area) = 0.569 m2
AN (Net area of the column) = Ac- Ad =4.47 m2.
lw (weir length) = 0.150
hw (Weir height) = 48mm.
dh (Hole diameter) = 5mm.
Plate thickness = 5mm for Carbon Steel
Weir crest,

how = 32.23 mm of liquid.

Weep point Calculation:

Minimum Vapor velocity through holes:

hw= 48 mm
hw+ hwo = 80.23 mm

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So, Uh= 1.604 m/s.

Actual Vapor velocity through holes:

Ah = 0.6719 m2
Uact = 0.7 x (Vm/ Ah) = 1.70 m/s.
As Uhact> Uhmin so weeping will not occur.

: Column Height
Hc= ( Nact-1) Hs+H =8.28 m.

Where,

Hc = is the actual column height

H = plate spacing (selected to be 0.45 m)

: Pressure Drop Calculations

The ratio of hole to perforated area:

Lp (hole pitch) = Between 2.5 to 4 times dh

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Plate thickness of 5mm is selected.

hd = 51[uh / Co]2 v/L

hd= Tray plate pressure drop = 73.73 mm of liquid.
hr = 12.5 x 103/L
hr = Residual head = 12.55 mm of liquid
ht = hd+ (hw+ how) + hr
Pressure drop for the column = N x P =16.5 KPa (16 Plates)

Down comer design:

Downcomer pressure loss:
Take hap= hw -10 = 40 mm
Clearance area under the downcomer:
Aap= hap x lw = 0.0712 Sq m
Where, hap is the height of the bottom edge of the apron above the plate.

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hdc= 166 [ Lwd / LAm]2

hdc = head loss in the down comer (mm)
Lwd = either the down comer area Ad or the clearance area under the down comer Aap whichever
is smaller (m2)
Ad is smaller than Aap so it is taken,
hdc= 8.25 mm liquid
hb = (hw + how) + hl + hdc
hb = Down comer back up (mm) = 249 mm liquid
(plate spacing and weir length)= 0.249
0.245<0.255
So, plate spacing is acceptable.

Down comer Residence Time:

Tr= AdhbcL/ Lwd
Tr = Residence time
Hbc = Clear liquid back up m
So tr = 28 s.
(Time is more than 3 second, so our time is sufficient)

Number of Holes:
Area of one hole 1.96x10^-5 sq.m (N=Ah/Aa)

Total Number of Holes = 13503

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: Specification Sheet
Identification

Item Gas Absorber

No. of items 1

Type Plate Column

Function: Removal of Ethanol from gases

Operation: Continuous

Design Specifications

Actual Number of plates 16

Net area of column 8.44m2

Column Diameter 2.2 m

Height of Column 8.28 m

Total Pressure drop 16.5 kPa

Tray Type Sieve Tray

Plate thickness 5 mm

Hole Diameter 5 mm

No. of Holes 13503

0.003
Weir Height 48 mm

Weir length 1.78 m

Flv 0.020

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