Unit Operation

Absorption
Absorption: Main Problem> Good Gas&Liquid contact is challenging.
1. Use diameter of column > 8 times diameter of packing
2. Distributors are used at every 5 – 10 m to direct & regulate the flow
within the columns, especially for large columns
3. Pressure drop in packed towers is due to friction between the flowing
fluids and the packing material inside the tower. It is therefore monitored
in terms of pressure drop per unit length of packing versus the gas
velocity (kg/m2.s) or (lb/ft2.h)
4. The Loading Point: is when the downward liquid flow is held up inside the
column due to the upward flow of gas (i.e. significant gas – liquid)
interference. (characterized by increased pressure drop & high mass
transfer rate)
5. The choice of the optimum L / V ratio to use in the design depends on an
economic balance. In absorption, too high a value requires a large liquid
flow and hence a large- diameter tower. The cost of recovering the solute
from the liquid by distillation will be high. A small liquid flow results in a
high tower, which is also costly. As an approximation, for absorption the
optimum liquid flow rate can be taken as 1.2 -1.5 times the limiting rate
Lmin, with 1.5 usually used.
6. As discussed previously, the diameter of a packed absorption tower
depends on the quantities of gas and liquid handled their properties, and
the ratio of one stream to the other. The height of the tower, and hence
the total volume of packing, depends on the magnitude of the desired
concentration changes and on the rate of mass transfer per unit of
packed volume.
 Material balance - the operating line:

If x and y are very dilute, (1 - x) and (1 - y) can be taken as 1.0 .

L/V is the slope of the operating line. It is virtually straight for such dilute systems.
 Using minimum liquid flow Lmin to limit the L/V ratio and therefore more economic feasible.

The operating line for minimum liquid flow Lmin is drawn from y2, x2 to point P, touching the
equilibrium line

Calculation of overall mass transfer (Rate of absorption)

Calculation of the Tower Height z:

If it is a dilute system, it follows Henry’s law and therefore the equilibrium relation is a

straight line given as y* = m·x.

And
[V/ S Kg.a.] is known as the height of each transfer unit. This analogous to
the tray spacing in plate towers.
And
[(y1 – y2)/(y - y*) lm] is known as the number of transfer units, which is
analogous to the number of tray in a plate tower.
Where N is number of stage.
 Membrane Separation
1. Membrane separation is the separation of components in solution on the basis of
difference in their molecular weights / sizes.
In microfiltration, pressure-driven flow through a membrane is used to
separate micron-size particles from fluids. Usually, the pressure drop used
across the membranes varies from 1 psi to 50 psi (H2). The types of
membranes are extremely varied and can be ceramics, polymers, and so
on.

Ultrafiltration is a membrane process that is quite similar to reverse

osmosis. It is a pressure-driven process where the solvent and, when
present, small solute molecules pass through the membrane and are
collected as a permeate. Unlike reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration membranes
are too porous to be used for desalting. The osmotic pressure is usually
negligible because of the high molecular weights Ultrafiltration units
operate at about 5–100 psi pressure drop, compared to 400–2000 for
reverse osmosis. For low-pressure drops of, say, 5–10 psi and dilute
solutions of up to 1
Reverse Osmosis Membrane Processes
In osmosis, a spontaneous transport of solvent occurs from a dilute solute or salt solution to a
concentrated solute or salt solution across a semi permeable membrane, which allows the
passage of a solvent but impedes passage of salt solutes
 Dialysis
In practice, dialysis is used to separate species that differ appreciably in
size and thus have a reasonably large difference in diffusion rates. Solute
fluxes depend on the concentration gradient in the membrane. Hence,
dialysis is characterized by low flux rates in comparison to other
membrane processes, such as reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration, which
depend on applied pressure. Applications include recovery of sodium
hydroxide in cellulose processing, recovery of acids from metallurgical
liquors, removal of products from a culture solution in fermentation,
desalting of cheese whey solids, and reduction of the alcohol content of
beer.

Summary
Dead End filtration