Chemical Engineering Department

Advanced Mass Transfer Graduate Student Program

Che630 Fall 2023 First Midterm exam Eng. Massoud
Haybah

Examiner: Dr. Mohamed Ali EL-Behlil Time allowed: 120

minutes

Question No.1 (25 points)

We assumed a model for the sizing of packed tower such that

it was the flow of A through a stagnant solvent B. What
happens if we have extremely high mass transfer rates so that
the model for mass transfer is the general case where:

[ ]
NA ¿
−yA
N A D AB C N A+ N B
N A= ln ?
N A+ NB Z NA
− y AG
N A +NB
Derive the equation for the tower height Z using this model
along with the differential material balance to determine the
φ
form of the equation where Z= (HOG) (NOG). Take A=¿
NA
N A+ NB
¿ .
Define the HOG and the NOG for this case.

Question No.2 (25 points)

Design an air stripping tower that will be used to remove

Trichloroethylene (TCE) chemical formula (C2H3Cl3) from
groundwater. The data needed for design are tabulated below:
For complete design one must calculate the following
parameters:
a) Calculate liquid loading rate (Lm) in kg-mol/(m2-sec).
b) Stripping Factor (S).

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c) Height of the transfer unit (HTU) in m.
d) Number of Transfer Unit (NTU).
e) The air stripping tower height [ Zt=1.2 (Z) ] in m. assuming
20% extra height,
f) How many possible towers can be used for TCE removal.

Important Note: tower height should be between 1 m to 15 m,

(If tower height calculated 30 m, then you can use two
identical heights 15 m each)
The data needed for design Problem (2)

Pollutant to be removed TCE C2H3Cl3

Initial concentration of TCE 11 mg/L
(Cin)
Effluent concentration of TCE 65 ug/L
(Cout)
Liquid mass transfer coeff. 20.4 cm/hr
For TCE
Air to water ratio (QA/QW) 12.0
Water Flowrate 420 gal/min
Column diameter (D) 1.6 ft
Baking material 1-inch Berl Saddles
Universal Gas constant (R) 8.206 x10-5 atm-
m3/(kgmol-K)
Henry’s Law constant (H) 0.254 (dim)

(1 gallon =3.785 Liter 1 liter =1000 cm3 1 ft =30.48 cm

1m = 3.28 ft)

Question No.3 (25 points)

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A tray absorption column is designed where 1000 kg mole/h of air containing 100
ppm of chloroform at 25° C and 2 atm is to be processed. Pure water is used to
absorb the chloroform at 25° C. Operation is at (L/V) act =1.4 (L/V) min. If the outlet
air stream containing 10 ppm chloroform, calculate how many equilibrium stages
are required for this absorption process. The Henry’s law constant (m) for
chloroform in water is 212.2 (dim).

a) Draw a schematic diagram of the absorption column and label it clearly

using all known and unknowns.
b) Complete the material balance and calculate the chloroform content in the
liquid phase.
c) Calculate the number of equilibrium stages using Kremser equation
involving the absorption factor A = L/(mV).

Question No.4 (25 points)

Sulfur dioxide is to be recovered from an air-SO 2 mixture by

contacting the gas mixture with pure water in a packed tower.
The tower will be operated at 30o C and 1 atm (abs). The
entering gas contains 5% mole SO 2 and the exiting gas is to
contain no more than 0.5% mole SO 2. Since the concentration
of SO2 in water is small, the system can be considered as
dilute system. The total gas flow rate entering the tower is 100
kg-mole/m2.hr. The molecular weights of SO2 and H2O are 64
and 18 respectively. If the overall mass transfer coefficient for
the vapor phase is KYa = 60 kg-mole/(m3-hr- mole fraction).

Determine the following:

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 a) The minimum pure water rate (in kg-mole/m 2.hr) needed
for this separation.
b) The height of the tower (in m) required if the actual water
rate entering the tower is 1.2 times the minimum value.

Vapor liquid equilibria from solubility data

The equilibrium data for SO2-water system at 30o C and 1

atm (abs) for 1 atm =760 mmHg

Atomic weights: C= 12 H= 1.0 Cl= 35.5 S = 32 O=16

Pertinent equations
1)Absorption tower design assuming dilute system:
y 1− y 2
NOG= (1)
( y − y ¿ ) LM

G
HOG= ¿ (2)
K y a 1− y )LM
(

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 ¿
¿ ( 1− y 1 )−( 1− y 1 )
( 1− y ) = (3)

[ ]
LM
1− y 1
ln ¿
1− y 1

¿ ¿
( y 1− y 1 ) − ( y 2− y 2 )
( y− y ¿ ) LM = ( 4)

[ ]
¿
y −y
ln 1 1¿
y 2− y 2

2)Absorption tower design calculations (tray towers)

Kremser equation:

N=
ln
[ y N+ 1−m x o
(
y 1−m x o )1 1
1− +
A A ]
ln A

Lo LN
A 1= A N= A ≠ A N A=√ A 1 A N
mV1 mV N +1 1

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 Lo L2
¿ A 1= AN = A=√ A1 A 2
mV1 mV 2

3)Air Stripping tower design equations

a) y e =H C o

b) Q( )
Qa
L min
=
Co −Ce ( C o−0 ) 1
H Co
=
H Co
=
H

c) Stripping factor ( S )=
( )
Qa
QL

( )
Qa
QL min

( ) ( )( )
m

m
G a
d) L =¿ Q ρ
L
g

L
Q ρ

( )( )
0.5
Lm ρg
e) Value ¿ x−axis=
Gm ρ L− ρg

[ ]
2 0.1
( Gm ) ( C F ) ( μ L )
f) Value ¿ y−axis=
3.28 ( ρg ) ( ρL −ρ g )
( Q a ) ( ρL )
( )
0.5
Gm ( 4 )( Area )
L m= , Area= , D=

( )( ) ( Lm )
g) Q a ρg π
QL ρL

[ ( ) ]
Co
QL ( S−1 ) +1
h) HTU = ( ) ( , Ce ,
A KLa ) NTU = ( )S
S−1
ln
S

i) Z=( HTU )( NTU ) ,Total tower height ( Zt )=1.2 ( Z )

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