Countercurrent absorber

Fluid phase only Countercurrent flow Absorber Countercurrent flow Absorber Countercurrent flow Spray tower Co-current or countercurrent Bubble column Absorber or Reactor Venturi Static mixers Falling film, etc. 

The basic flow arrangement for aU alkanolamine acid-gas absorption-process systems is shown in Figure 2-10. Gas to be purified is passed upward through the absorber, countercurrent to a stream of the solution. The rich solution from the bottom of the absorber is heated by heat exchange with lean soludon from the bottom of the stripping colunm and is dien fed to the stripping column at some point near the top. 

Caustic Soda. Diaphragm cell caustic is commercially purified by the DH process or the ammonia extraction method offered by PPG and OxyTech (see Fig. 38), essentially involving Hquid—Hquid extraction to reduce the salt and sodium chlorate content (86). Thus 50% caustic comes in contact with ammonia in a countercurrent fashion at 60°C and up to 2500 kPa (25 atm) pressure, the Hquid NH absorbing salt, chlorate, carbonate, water, and some caustic. The overflow from the reactor is stripped of NH, which is then concentrated and returned to the extraction process. The product, about 62% NaOH and devoid of impurities, is stripped free of NH, which is concentrated and recirculated. MetaUic impurities can be reduced to low concentrations by electrolysis employing porous cathodes. The caustic is then freed of Fe, Ni, Pb, and Cu ions, which are deposited on the cathode. 

A flow diagram for the system is shown in Figure 5. Feed gas is dried, and ammonia and sulfur compounds are removed to prevent the irreversible buildup of insoluble salts in the system. Water and soHds formed by trace ammonia and sulfur compounds are removed in the solvent maintenance section (96). The pretreated carbon monoxide feed gas enters the absorber where it is selectively absorbed by a countercurrent flow of solvent to form a carbon monoxide complex with the active copper salt. The carbon monoxide-rich solution flows from the bottom of the absorber to a flash vessel where physically absorbed gas species such as hydrogen, nitrogen, and methane are removed. The solution is then sent to the stripper where the carbon monoxide is released from the complex by heating and pressure reduction to about 0.15 MPa (1.5 atm). The solvent is stripped of residual carbon monoxide, heat-exchanged with the stripper feed, and pumped to the top of the absorber to complete the cycle. 

Absorbers These have a two-phase flow system. The absorbing medium is put in film flow during its fall downward on the tubes as it is cooled by a coohng medium outside the tubes. The film absorbs the gas which is introduced into the tubes. This operation can be cocurrent or countercurrent. 

Plate Towers Plate (tray) towers are countercurrent gas-atomized spray scrubbers using one or more plates for gas-liquid contacting. They are essentially the same as, if not identical to, the devices used for gas absorption and are frequently employed in apphcations in which gases are to be absorbed simultaneously with the removal of dust. Except possibly in cases in which condensation effects are involved, countercurrent operation is not significantly beneficial in dust collection. 

The term three-phase fluidization requires some explanation, as it can be used to describe a variety of rather different operations. The three phases are gas, liquid and particulate solids, although other variations such as two immiscible liquids and particulate solids may exist in special applications. As in the case of a fixed-bed operation, both co-current and counter- current gas-liquid flow are permissible and, for each of these, both bubble flow, in which the liquid is the continuous phase and the gas dispersed, and trickle flow, in which the gas forms a continuous phase and the liquid is more or less dispersed, takes place. A well established device for countercurrent trickle flow, in which low-density solid spheres are fluidized by an upward current of gas and irrigated by a downward flow of liquid, is variously known as the turbulent bed, mobile bed and fluidized packing contactor, or the turbulent contact absorber when it is specifically used for gas absorption and/or dust removal. Still another variation is a three-phase spouted bed contactor. 

Basically, a gas absorption tower is a unit in which the desirable light ends components are recovered from the gas feed by dissolving them in a liquid passing through the tower countercurrently to the gas. The liquid absorbent is called lean, oil, and it usually consists of a hydrocarbon fraction in the gasoline boiling range. After the absorption step, the liquid which now contains the desired constituents in solution is referred to as fat oil. A similarly descriptive nomenclature is applied to the gas, which is referred to as wet gas when it enters the tower and as dry gas when it leaves the absorber. 

It is possible to inject glycol in a gas line and have it absorb the water vapor in co-current flow. Such a process is not as efficient as countercurrent flow, since the best that can occur is that the gas reaches near equilibrium with the rich glycol as opposed to reaching near equilibrium with... 

Important processes commercially used are the Selexol, the Sulfinol, and the Rectisol processes. In these processes, no chemical reaction occurs between the acid gas and the solvent. The solvent, or absorbent, is a liquid that selectively absorbs the acid gases and leaves out the hydrocarbons. In the Selexol process for example, the solvent is dimethyl ether of polyethylene glycol. Raw natural gas passes countercurrently to the descending solvent. When the solvent becomes saturated with the acid gases, the pressure is reduced, and hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide are desorbed. The solvent is then recycled to the absorption tower. Figure 1-1 shows the Selexol process. ... 

An amine absorber (Figure 1-15) removes the bulk of H2S from the sour gas. The sour gas leaving the sponge oil absorber usually flows into a separator that removes and liquefies hydrocarbon from vapors. The gas from the separator flows to the bottom of the HjS contactor where it contacts a countercurrent flow of the cooled lean amine from the regenerator. The treated fuel gas leaves the top of the HjS absorber, goes to a settler drum for the removal of entrained solvent, and then flows to the fuel system. 

By far the major portion of the available gas-absorption data have been obtained for countercurrent flow, which is the normal mode of operation for packed-bed absorbers. Special mention may be made of the results of Dodds et al. (D6), who examined mass transfer by the absorption of gas in liquid under cocurrent downward flow at flow rates higher than those corresponding to the flooding point for countercurrent operation. 

Continuing further with the recovery aspects from coke oven gas reference may be drawn to the recovery of light oil (crude benzol). In a typical process used, the coke oven gas (from which benzol is to be recovered) after removal of tar, ammonia etc. is passed through the benzol scrubber where the benzol vapours are scrubbed by wash oil flowing countercurrent to the gas. Benzolised wash oil is then pumped to the recovery section where the crude benzol, absorbed in the wash oil is stripped off by steam. The steam vapour mixture, com-... 

Figure 10.3 Equilibrium countercurrent stage operation for absorbers.

A soluble gas is absorbed from a dilute gas-air mixture by countercurrent scrubbing with a solvent in a packed tower. If the liquid fed to the top of the tower contains no solute, show that the number of transfer units required is given by ... 

Air containing ammonia is contacted with fresh water in a two-stage countercurrent bubble-plate absorber. Ln and V are the molar flowrates of liquid and gas respectively leaving the nth plate. xn and yn are the mole fractions of NH3 in liquid and gas respectively leaving the nth plate. // is the molar holdup of liquid on the nth plate. Plates are numbered up the column. 

Absorption is a commonly applied operation in chemical processing. It is used as a raw material or a product recovery technique in separation and purification of gaseous streams containing high concentrations of organics (e.g., in natural gas purification and coke by-product recovery operations). In absorption, the organics in the gas stream are dissolved in a liquid solvent. The contact between the absorbing liquid and the vent gas is accomplished in countercurrent spray towers, scrubbers, or packed or plate columns. 

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