FACULTY OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

(CHEMICAL-BIOPROCESS) ENGINEERING

SKKK3731 SEPARATION PROCESS 1 LABORATORY

EXPERIMENT 3: PACKED ABSORPTION COLUMNRASCHIG RING

LECTURER: DR JAMAROSLIZA JAMALUDIN

GROUP MEMBERS:

MOHAMAD KHAIRUL HAFIZ BIN IDRIS ZURIATI BINTI BAHARUDIN NOR AZRINI NADIHA BINTI AZMI REBECCA GOH KAR YEE

A11KK0066 A11KK0150 A11KK0123 A11KK0102

ABSTRACT

The objectives of this experiment are to study the effect of manipulated air flow rate and water flow rate on flooding in the absorber and to study the correlation and effect of water and air flow rates on pressure difference. For these purposes, laboratory-sized pack absorption column was used. Based on the experimental data and observation, it can be seen that flooding happens when liquid begins to spray out of the top of the column and pressure difference is significantly affected when the flow rates of liquid and air are varied accordingly. As a conclusion, in this experiment flooding takes place when the flow rate of air is increased to 70 L/min with constant flow rate of liquid at 2.0 L/min and vice versa, when liquid flow rate is increased to 3.5 L/min with constant air flow rate at 50 L/min. Also, pressure difference increase when the flow rates of liquid and gas is increased.

INTRODUCTION

This experiment was structured with two purposes; those are to study the effect of manipulated air flow rate and water flow rate on flooding in the absorber and to study the correlation and effect of water and air flow rates on pressure difference.

This type of separation process involves the usage of gas and liquid as the medium. Separation usually takes place when these two phases are brought into contact with each other. Once they have come into contact, separation process (transfer of solute) takes place at the interface of these phases. Commonly, solute is contained in the gas phase, and during separation, the solute will move from gas phase into the liquid phase. Once this happens, the concentration of solute in the gas phase will be depleted while the concentration of solute in the liquid phase will be enriched.

Efficiency of the packed column depends on the intimacy of the contact between the gas and the liquid phase. Thus, as to achieve high degree of separation, the laboratory-sized absorption packed column was so designed in a way that the time and area of contact between the two phases are high enough. Therefore, the column was packed with small perforated tubes and the flows of fluids were made counter-current. This way, high degree of mass transfer can be obtained and in turn, the whole system acquires high efficiency.

Basing on the objective of the experiment, this experiment does not focus on the separation of component mixture, rather, it focuses on the physical principle of the process emphasizing on the flooding of the absorber and the pressure difference. Related data were recorded as the system works and these data will be used for the mathematical calculation and presentation of the experiment.

LITERATURE REVIEW Absorption is a physical or chemical phenomenon or a process in which atoms, molecules, or ions enter some bulk phase gas, liquid, or solid material. Absorption is a condition in which something takes in another substance. It is one of the separation techniques that involved gas and liquid. One or more components in gas mixture can be separated when a certain liquid is flowing through it in cross-flow or counter-currently. The liquid will absorb the component and mass transfer will take place to separate the component from gas mixture. The efficiency of packed column is expressed as the height of transfer unit. Inside a packed absorption column, there are packing materials. The packing materials are used to increase the contact surface area for the absorption process so that the process will become more efficient and take shorter time. There are many type of packing materials in packed absorption column such as raschig ring and intalox saddle. In this experiment, the packing materials used are raschig ring. The Raschig Ring is a cylinder of equal length and diameter used as tower packing in many chemical processes and mass transfer applications. They are usually made of ceramic or metal. Raschig rings are named after their inventor, the German chemist Friedrich Raschig. Before the invention of the tower packing shape by Friedrich Raschig, packed columns were filled with quartz, broken glass bottles, broken pieces of pottery, or coke. Operating data obtained from one tower could not be used in a second tower as the packing material was not consistent.The invention of the Raschig Ring gave the packed column consistency and dependability. Raschig Rings significantly improved the operating characteristics of the column. Due to the low cost, raschig rings are widely used.

METHODOLOGY 1. All valves and components are checked and ensured that they are in place and in good conditions before the experiment was started. The water flow rate was set at 2.0 L/min. 2. The air flow rate is adjusted at 30 L/min. At the same time, the stopwatch is started and continued for 5 minutes. The water and air flow rates are ensured that they were at the setting value. 3. The pressure difference, P is recorded after 5 minutes. 4. Steps 3 and 4 are repeated for 10 L/min increment of air flow rate for every 5 minutes until flooding occurred. 5. When flooding occurred, P is recorded and the air flow rate is reduced back to 30L/min. 6. Steps 3 to 7 are repeated for water flow rates of 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5 L/min. 7. Next, air flow rate is set at 50 L/min and for every two minutes, the pressure difference at water flow rate 2.0 to 3.5 L/min is recorded with each increment of 0.5 L/min.

CONCLUSION To conclude, the flooding happen when the air flow rate completely blocks the flow of water down the column making it splash backward at the top column and disrupting the absorption column operation. For water with 2.0 L/min, 2.5 L/min, 3.0 L/min, and 3.5 L/min, the correlation of the pressure drop are y = 71.204X 12.736, y = 84.938X 12.794, y = 59.767X -- 10.621 and y = 56.275X 15.502 respectively. For air flow with 50 L/min flow rate, the correlation for the pressure drop is y=1.7813x+0.2502. Besides, the pressure drop increases with the increasing of water flow rate and air flow rate. Lastly, packed column that use Intallox Saddle is more efficient compared to the packed column that use Raschig Ring.

RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Ensure that the eye of the observer should be perpendicular to the reading scale. 2. Ensure the instrument is set up and in place especially all the valves. 3. The person who acts as time keeper, liquid flow rate adjuster and gas flow rate adjuster are different people. 4. Make sure the flow rate of liquid and gas were adjusted to the correct level. 5. Ensure that the time keeper must be alert with the time. 6. Make sure all group members wore appropriate attires before starting the experiment.