Adiabatic absorber

In concentrated wstems the change in gas aud liquid flow rates within the tower and the heat effects accompanying the absorption of all the components must be considered. A trial-aud-error calculation from one theoretical stage to the next usually is required if accurate results are to be obtained, aud in such cases calculation procedures similar to those described in Sec. 13 normally are employed. A computer procedure for multicomponent adiabatic absorber design has been described by Feiutnch aud Treybal [Jnd. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Dev., 17, 505 (1978)]. Also see Holland, Fundamentals and Modeling of Separation Processes, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1975. 

Figure 24. Production of pure hydrochloric acid from residual chlorination gases and liquid chlorination residues a) Evaporator b) Two-stage combustion c) Quench d) Isothermic absorber e) Adiabatic absorber... 

Kantyka and Hincklieff (1954) have shown that a single-tower adiabatic absorber is capable of recovering a 28% hydrochloric acid of commercial quality from by-product gas produced during batch chlorination of organic compounds. 

Not all processes are adiabatic, so when a system is coupled to its enviromnent by diathennic walls, the heat q absorbed by the system is defined as the difference between the actual work perfomied and that which would have been required had the change occurred adiabatically. 

Genera.1 Ca.se, The simple adiabatic model just discussed often represents an oversimplification, since the real situation implies a multitude of heat effects (/) The heat of solution tends to increase the temperature and thus to reduce the solubihty. 2) In the case of a volatile solvent, partial solvent evaporation absorbs some of the heat. (This effect is particularly important when using water, the cheapest solvent.) (J) Heat is transferred from the hquid to the gas phase and vice versa. (4) Heat is transferred from both phase streams to the shell of the column and from the shell to the outside or to cooling cods. 

Fig. 10. Computed rigorous profiles through an adiabatic packed absorber during the absorption of acetone into water (43).

Nonisothermal Gas Absorption. The computation of nonisothermal gas absorption processes is difficult because of all the interactions involved as described for packed columns. A computer is normally required for the enormous number of plate calculations necessary to estabUsh the correct concentration and temperature profiles through the tower. Suitable algorithms have been developed (46,105) and nonisothermal gas absorption in plate columns has been studied experimentally and the measured profiles compared to the calculated results (47,106). Figure 27 shows a typical Hquid temperature profile observed in an adiabatic bubble plate absorber (107). The close agreement between the calculated and observed profiles was obtained without adjusting parameters. The plate efficiencies required for the calculations were measured independendy on a single exact copy of the bubble cap plates installed in the five-tray absorber. 

A general, approximate, short-cut design procedure for adiabatic bubble tray absorbers has not been developed, although work has been done in the field of nonisothermal and multicomponent hydrocarbon absorbers. An analytical expression which will predict the recovery of each component provided the stripping factor, ie, the group is known for each component on each tray of the column has been developed (102). This requires knowledge... 

Because this reaction is highly exothermic, the equiUbrium flame temperature for the adiabatic reaction with stoichiometric proportions of hydrogen and chlorine can reach temperatures up to 2490°C where the equiUbrium mixture contains 4.2% free chlorine by volume. This free hydrogen and chlorine is completely converted by rapidly cooling the reaction mixture to 200°C. Thus, by properly controlling the feed gas mixture, a burner gas containing over 99% HCl can be produced. The gas formed in the combustion chamber then flows through an absorber/cooler to produce 30—32% acid. The HCl produced by this process is known as burner acid. 

Non-Black-Surface Enclosures In the following discussion we are concerned with enclosures containing gray sources and sinks, radiatively adiabatic surfaces, and no absorbing gas. The calculation of interchange between a source and a sink under conditions involving successive multiple reflections from other source-sink surfaces in the... 

Example 6 Solvent Rate for Absorption Let us consider the absorption of acetone from air at atmospheric pressure into a stream of pure water fed to the top of a packed absorber at 25 C. The inlet gas at 35 C contains 2 percent by volume of acetone and is 70 percent saturated with water vapor (4 percent H2O by volume). The mole-fraction acetone in the exit gas is to be reduced to 1/400 of the inlet value, or 50 ppmv. For 100 kmol of feed-gas mixture, how many Idlomoles of fresh water should be fed to provide a positive-driving force throughout the pacldug How many transfer units will be needed according to the classical adiabatic method What is the estimated height of pacldug required if Hqq = 0.70 m ... 

The adiabatic expansion and compression serve only to change the temperature of tire gas widrout heat being absorbed or evolved, i.e. iso-entropic changes. The heat changes are therefore only related to the work which is done during the isothermal stages, which is given by... 

The modulus indicates that heat is absorbed (+), during die isodrermal expansion, but released (—) during die isothermal compression. In the adiabatic processes no heat is supplied or removed from die working gas, and so... 

To calculate the heat duty it must be remembered that the pressure drop through the choke is instantaneous. That is, no heat is absorbed or lost, but there is a temperature change. This is an adiabatic expansion of the gas w ith no change in enthalpy. Flow through the coils is a constant pressure process, except for the small amount of pressure drop due to friction. Thus, the change in enthalpy of the gas is equal to the heat absorbed. 

The heats of these reactions (2, 3) (Figure 1) indicate that all the reactions are exothermic over the cited range of conditions. For example, the heat liberated under typical reaction conditions for the conversion of CO to methane is 52,730 cal/mole CO that for carbon dioxide is 43,680 cal/mole. Such high heats of reaction cannot be absorbed by the process stream in an adiabatic reactor unless the CO and/or C02 conversion is limited to less than about 2.5 moles/100 moles feed gas. Since... 

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