Assalamualaikum and good morning everyone,
Today, I'll be presenting the introduction and working theory part of our group presentation on
experiment 3&4: investigation on the absorption and desorption of carbon dioxide (CO₂) using a
packed column setup.
First I would like to talk about Chemical and Physical Absorption of CO₂ in Water. Carbon dioxide
(CO2) can enter water through two main processes: physical absorption and chemical absorption.
In physical absorption, CO2 simply dissolves into water without undergoing a chemical change.A
higher CO2partial pressure in gas phase or a lower operating temperature can increase the rate
of CO2 dissolves into the water. By contrast, in chemical absorption, some of the dissolved CO2
reacts with water to form carbonic acid:
And In many industrial applications—such as amine-based CO2 capture—this chemical reaction
shifts equilibrium to allow additional CO2 uptake because it consumes free dissolved CO₂ and
keeps the solution under-saturated. In our experiment, we focus mainly on physical absorption:
by using water without added bases or catalysts, the dominant uptake process follows Henry’s
law, while any conversion to H2CO3 remains slow.
The experimental setup consists of a packed column. Water circulates downward at 130 L·h⁻¹
through packing material (a total liquid volume of 40 L yields a circulation time of roughly 18
minutes). A gas mixture containing 16 vol% CO2 (balanced with air) enters at 2 L·h⁻¹ from the
column base and flows upward. Because no strong chemical promoters are present, CO2 uptake
is governed by how quickly it diffuses from the gas side into the liquid. Although dissolved CO 2
can form carbonic acid, under our operating conditions (ambient temperature, moderate CO2
partial pressure) the reaction rate to H2CO3 is slow relative to CO2 diffusion through a thin liquid
film at the interface. There for, our data mainly reflect physical absorption rather than chemical
absorption .
To describe how CO2 moves from the gas into the water in a packed column, we apply film
theory. Film theory assumes two stagnant “films” or layers at the gas–liquid interface: one on the
gas side and one on the liquid side. On the gas side, CO2 diffuses across a thin gas-phase film to
reach the interface. Once at the interface, CO2 dissolves into the water and must then diffuse
through a thin liquid-phase film before mixing into the bulk liquid. The overall mass-transfer flux
can refer to the below equations:
And under our experimental flow rates , the liquid-film resistance (H/kL ) exceeds the gas-film
resistance, so CO₂ uptake is limited by diffusion through that thin layer of water. Any chemical
conversion of CO₂ to H₂CO₃ has a near to zero impact on the rate in these conditions; hence the
experiment measures how quickly CO₂ diffuses through the liquid film into bulk water.
After the absorption part (50 minutes, with five 10-minute sampling intervals), we turn to
desorption. The same water—now containing dissolved CO₂—circulates through the column,
which is heated to lower CO₂ solubility. As the temperature rises, Henry’s constant kH decreases,
reducing the equilibrium concentration of dissolved CO₂ in water. Consequently, both free CO₂
and any carbonic acid revert to CO₂ gas. The decomposition of carbonic acid:
contributes additional CO₂ to the liquid phase, but because the column air stream is maintained
at low CO₂ partial pressure (air), a strong concentration gradient drives CO₂ out of the liquid.
Dissolved CO₂ diffuses through the liquid film and gas film into the upward-flowing air. Over five
subsequent 10-minute intervals, we collect water samples at two points—before the packing
(inlet) and after the packing (outlet)—to monitor how quickly CO₂ leaves solution and how the
concentration difference between inlet and outlet narrows as desorption approaches
equilibrium.
Measuring absorption and desorption rates is important for several reasons. First, in industrial
columns (for example, CO₂ scrubbers at power plants), designers need accurate mass-transfer
coefficients kL and kG to determine column height, packing choice, and flow rates required for a
target CO₂ removal efficiency.
Secondly the absorption and desorption principles also apply across many industrial processes. In
post-combustion CO₂ capture (carbon capture and storage), flue gas containing 10–15 vol% CO₂
contacts an aqueous solvent—often amine-based—in a packed absorber. CO₂ is absorbed both
physically and chemically. The rich solvent is then heated in a separate stripper column, releasing
CO₂ for compression and storage.
