Absorption, Stripping, and Distillation

For absorption, stripping, and distillation, there are three main steps involved in design ... 

Data on the gas-liquid or vapor-liquid equilibrium for the system at hand. If absorption, stripping, and distillation operations are considered equilibrium-limited processes, which is the usual approach, these data are critical for determining the maximum possible separation. In some cases, the operations are are considerea rate-based (see Sec. 13) but require knowledge of eqmlibrium at the phase interface. Other data required include physical properties such as viscosity and density and thermodynamic properties such as enthalpy. Section 2 deals with sources of such data. 

Introduction Packed columns for gas-liquid contacting are used extensively for absorption, stripping, and distillation operations. Usually the columns are filled with a randomly oriented packing material, but for an increasing number of applications the packing is very care-... 

Figure 13.15. Mechanism, nomenclature, and constructions for absorption, stripping and distillation in packed towers, (a) Two-film mechanism with equilibrium at the interface, (b) Sketch and nomenclature for countercurrent absorption or stripping in a packed tower, (c) Equilibrium and material balance lines in absorption, showing how interfacial concentrations are found, (d) Equilibrium and material balance lines in stripping, showing how interfacial concentrations are found, (e) Equilibrium and material balance lines in distillation, showing how interfacial concentrations are found.

Equipment Absorption, stripping, and distillation operations are usually carried out in vertical, cylindrical columns or towers in which devices such as plates or packing elements are placed. The gas and liquid normally flow countercurrently, and the devices serve to provide the contacting and development of interfacial surface through which mass transfer takes place. Background material on this mass transfer process is given in Sec. 5. 

Vapor-liquid mass-transfer operations, such as absorption, stripping and distillation, are carried out in packed and plate columns. The key difference is that counterflowing vapor and liquid are contacted continuously with packings, and discretely with plates. The equilibrium and operating lines of packed and plate columns are identical under the same operating conditions—feed and product flowrates and compositions, temperature and pressure. Models for the design and analysis of packed columns are based on their close analogy to plate devices. 

It may be noted that the cascade arrangement of Figure 19.7, if suitably disentangled, will correspond to a multistage operation as encountered in absorption, stripping, and distillation practices. 

Earlier chapters use simplified and binary models to analyze in a very informative manner some fundamentals such as the effect of reflux ratio and feed tray location, and to delineate the differences between absorption/stripping and distillation. Following chapters concentrate on specific areas such as complex distillation, with detailed analyses of various features such as pumparounds and side-strippers, and when they should be used. Also discussed are azeotropic, extractive, and three-phase distillation operations, multi-component liquid-liquid and supercritical extraction, and reactive multistage separation. The applications are clearly explained with many practical examples. 

In this section we turn our attention to more complex shapes represented by tower packings used in operations such as gas absorption, stripping, and distillation. The operation of such columns is addressed in more detail in Chapter 8. 

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