Calculations

Problem Statement:

You are tasked with designing an absorption tower to remove ammonia from a 10%
ammonia-air mixture. The desired outlet gas concentration is 0.1% ammonia. The
tower will operate at a temperature of 293 K and a total pressure of 101.3 kN/m².
The inlet gas #low rate is 0.034 kmol/m²·s, and the liquid low rate is 0.036 kmol/m²·s.
The absorption coefficient, KoG.a, is given as 0.081 kmol/m³·s.

The equilibrium data is given by the following data:

kmol NH 3/ kmol H 2 O Partial Pressure NH3 in gas phase
(kN/m2)
0.021 1.6
0.031 2.4
0.042 3.3
0.053 4.2
0.079 6.7
0.106 9.3
0.159 15.2

Solution

First, let’s convert all equilibrium data to mole ratio:

PA
y NH =
3
PT
1.6
¿
101.3
¿ 0.0158

y NH
y NH = 3

3
1− y NH 3

0.0158
¿
1−0.0158
¿ 0.0160

The equilibrium data is becomes the following:

kmol NH 3/ kmol H 2 O Partial Pressure NH3 in gas phase
(kN/m2)
0.021 0.0160
0.031 0.0243
0.042 0.0337
0.053 0.0433
0.079 0.0708
 0.106 0.1011
0.159 0.1765

Gs
HOG=
KoG .a
0.034
¿
0.081
¿ 0.419 m

Y1
dY
NOG=∫ ¿
Y2 (Y −Y )

The equilibrium data will not represent a linear relation; thus the integrated values
should be solved either by plotting or utilizing Simpson’s rule.

1. Draw the equilibrium data:

2. Draw the operating line from two points: (X 1 ; Y 1) and (X 2 ; Y 2 )

y1
y 1=
1− y 1
0.1
¿
1−0.1
¿ 0.11

y2
y 2=
1− y 2
0.001
¿
1−0.001
¿ 0.001

Overall ammonia material balance:

Gs ( y 1− y 2 ) =Ls (X 1−X 2 )
Gs
X 1 = ( y 1− y 2 ) + X 2
Ls
0.034
¿ ( 0.11−0.001 )+ 0
0.036
¿ 0.0935

Operating line:

(X 1 ; Y 1) ¿(0.0935 ; 0.11)
( X 2 ; Y 2 ) ¿(0.001)

Solve the integral by using Simpson’s Rule:

 Y 1 −Y 2
h=
n
∴ n=4

0.11−0.001
h=
4
¿ 0.02725

¿
Y Y 1
¿
Assume points between Calculated from plot (Y −Y )
( y 1− y 2)
0.11 0.088 f 0=45.45
0.08275 0.061 f 1=45.98
0.05550 0.0375 f 2=55.56
0.02825 0.0175 f 3=93.02
0.001 0.00 f n=1000

h
NOG= ¿
3
0.02725
NOG= ¿
3
NOG=15.56

Z=HOG∗NOG
¿(0.419)(15.56)
¿ 6.52 m