LI TERATURE REVI EW

G as absorption (also known as scrubbing) is an operation in which a gas mixture is

contacted with a liquid for the purpose of preferentially dissolving one or more
components of
the gas mixture and to provide a solution of them in the liquid. Therefore we can see
that there is
a mass transfer of the component of the gas from the gas phase to the liquid phase. The
solute so
transferred is said to be absorbed by the liquid. In gas desorption (or stripping), the
mass transfer
is in the opposite direction, i.e. from the liquid phase to the gas phase. The principles
for both
systems are the same. (http://www.separationprocesses.com)
There are 2 types of absorption processes: physical absorption and chemical absorption,
depending on whether there is any chemical reaction between the solute and the solvent
(absorbent). When water and hydrocarbon oils are used as absorbents, no significant
chemical
reactions occur between the absorbent and the solute, and the process is commonly
referred to
as physical absorption. When aqueous sodium hydroxide (a strong base) is used as the
absorbent
to dissolve an acid gas, absorption is accompanied by a rapid and irreversible
neutralization
reaction in the liquid phase and the process is referred to as chemical absorption or
reactive
absorption. (http://www.separationprocesses.com

When a gas or vapor is brought into contact with a solid, part of it is taken up by the
solid. The molecules that disappear from the gas either enter the inside of the solid, or
remain on
the outside attached to the surface. The former phenomenon is termed absorption (or
dissolution)
and the latter adsorption. When the phenomena occur simultaneously, the process is
termed sorption. The solid that takes up the gas is called the adsorbent, and the gas or
vapor
taken up on the surface is called the adsorbate. It is not always easy to tell whether the
gas is
inside the solid or merely at the surface because most practical' absorbents are very
porous
bodies with large internal' surfaces. It is not possible to determine the surface areas of
such
materials by optical or electron microscopy because of the size and complexity of the
pores and
channels of the material. The gas adsorption itself, however, can be used to determine
the
accesible surface area of most absorbents. (http://www.chem.ufl.edu)
Activated carbon is a highly porous, amorphous solid consisting of microcrystallites
with
a graphite lattice, usually prepared in small pellets or a powder. It is non-polar and
cheap. One of

its main drawbacks is that it is combustible. Activated carbon can be manufactured from
carbonaceous material, including coal (bituminous, subbituminous, and lignite), peat,
wood, or
nutshells (e.g., coconut). The carbonized particles are "activated" by exposing them to
an
oxidizing agent, usually steam or carbon dioxide at high temperature. This agent burns
off the
pore blocking structures created during the carbonization phase and so, they develop a
porous,
three-dimensional graphite lattice structure. The size of the pores developed during
activation is
a function of the time that they spend in this stage. Longer exposure times result in
larger pore
sizes. (http://en.wikipedia.org, Activated carbon)