Air-water system

The humidity term and such derivatives as relative humidity and molal humid volume were developed for the air—water system. Use is generally restricted to that system. These terms have also been used for other vapor—noncondensable gas phases. 

For the air—water system, the humidity is easily measured by using a wet-bulb thermometer. Air passing the wet wick surrounding the thermometer bulb causes evaporation of moisture from the wick. The balance between heat transfer to the wick and energy requited by the latent heat of the mass transfer from the wick gives, at steady state,... 

The use of molal humidity as the mass-transfer driving force is conventional and convenient because of the development of humidity data for, especially, the air—water system. The mass-transfer coefficient must be expressed in consistent units. 

For the air—water system, Lewis recognized that Cf = hg/ ky based on empirical evidence. Thus, the adiabatic saturation equation is identical to the wet-bulb temperature line. In general, again based on empirical evidence (21),... 

For the air—water system, the Lewis relation shows that r = 1. Under these conditions, the two parenthetical terms on the right-hand side of equation 33 ate enthalpies, and equation 33 becomes the design equation for humidification operations ... 

The integration can be carried out graphically or numerically using a computer. For illustrative purposes the graphical procedure is shown in Figure 5. In this plot of vapor enthalpy or FQ vs Hquid temperature (T or T, the curved line is the equiHbtium curve for the system. For the air—water system, it is the 100% saturation line taken direcdy from the humidity diagram (see Fig. 3). 

U. Single water drop in air, liquid side coefficient / jy l/2 ki = 2 ), short contact times / J 1 lcontact times dp [T] Use arithmetic concentration difference. Penetration theory, t = contact time of drop. Gives plot for k a also. Air-water system. [lll]p.. 389... 

Experimentally it has been shown that for air-water systems the value of Tj /Zc c, the psychrometric ratio, is approximately equal to 1. Under these conditions the wet-bulb temperatures and adiabatic-saturation temperatures are substantially equal and can be used interchangeably. The difference between adiabatic-saturation temperature and wet-bulb temperature increases with increasing humidity, but this effect is unimportant for most engineering calculations. An empirical formula for wet-bulb temperature determination of moist air at atmospheric pressure is presented by Liley [Jnt. J. of Mechanical Engineering Education, vol. 21, No. 2 (1993)]. 

Example 1 Compare Wet-Bulb and Adiabatic-Saturation Temperatures For tne air-water system at atmospheric pressure, the measured values of dry-bulh and wet-hulh temperatures are 85 and 72 F respectively. Determine the absolute humidity and compare the wet-bulb temperature and adiabatic-saturation temperature. Assume that h /k is given by Eq. (12-4). 

Many experimental studies of entrainment have been made, but few of them have been made under actual distillation conditions. The studies are often questionable because they are hmited to the air-water system, and they do not use a realistic method for collecting and measuring the amount of entrainment. It is clear that the dominant variable affecting entrainment is gas velocity through the two-phase zone on the plate. Mechanisms of entrainment generation are discussed in the subsection Liquid-in-Gas Dispersions. ... 

Flooding and Loading Since flooding or phase inversion normally represents the maximum capacity condition for a packed column, it is desirable to predict its value for new designs. The first generalized correlation of packed-column flood points was developed by Sherwood, Shipley, and Holloway [Ind. Eng. Chem., 30, 768 (1938)] on the basis of laboratory measurements primarily on the air-water system. 

FIG. 14-53 Pressure for metal Intalox saddles, sizes No, 25 (nominal 25 mm) and No, 50 (nominal 50 mm). Air-water system at atmospheric pressure, 760-mm (30-in) column, hed height, 3,05 m (10 ft), L = liquid rate, kg/(s-m ). To convert kilograms per second-square meter to pounds per hour-square foot, multiply hy 151,7 to convert pascals per meter to inches of water per foot, multiply hy 0,1225, (Coutiesy Notion Company, Akron, Ohio.)... 

FIG. 14-54 Pressure drop for Flexipac packing, sizes No, 1 and No.. 3, Air-water system at atmospheric pressure. Liquid rate in gallons per minute-square foot. To convert (feet per second) (younds per cubic foot) " to (meters per second) (kilograms per cubic meter) " , multiply by 1,2199 to convert gallons per minute-square foot to pounds per hour-square foot, multiply by 500 to convert inches of water per foot to millimeters of water per meter, multiply by 83,31 and to convert pounds per hour-square foot to kilograms per second-square meter, multiply by 0,001.356, Coutiesy Koch Engineering Co., Wichita, Kansas.)... 

FIG. 14-58 Typical holdup data for random packings and the air-water system. The raschig rings are of ceramic material. To convert pounds per hour per fr to Idlograms per second per m , multiply hy 0.001.356 to convert inches to millimeters, miinltiplyhy 25.4. [Shulman etal., AIChE J. i, 247 (I.9.5.5).]... 

FIG. 14-60 Comp arison of measured and calculated values of liquid holdup for Gempak 2A structured packing, air-water system. [Rocha et al., Ind. Eng. Chem., 32, 641 (1.9.93).] Reproduced with permission. Copyright 199.3 American Chemical Society. 

In work with the hydrogen chloride-air-water system, Dobratz, Moore, Barnard, and Mever [Chem. Eng. Prog., 49, 611 (1953)] using a cociirrent-flowsystem found that /cg (Eig. 14-77) instead of the 0.8 power as indicated by the Gilliland equation. Heat-transfer coefficients were also determined in this study. The radical increase in heat-transfer rate in the range of G = 30 kg/(s m ) [20,000 lb/(h fH)] was similar to that obsei ved by Tepe and Mueller [Chem. Eng. Prog., 43, 267 (1947)] in condensation inside tubes. 

Hydraulic (Pressure) Nozzles Manufacturers data such as shown by Fig. 14-88 are available for most nozzles for the air-water system. In Fig. 14-88, note the much coarser solid-cone spray. The coarseness results from the less uniform discharge. 

Figure 24. Example of flow pattern map for air water system in horizontal pipes.

Figure 4-17C. Pressure drop vs K-factor for standard York-Vane mist eliminators, air-water system. By permission, Otto H. York Co., Inc.

Generally, this style of unit will remove particles of 12 to 15 microns efficiently. The typical droplet separator is shown for an air-water system in Figure 4-17A. This will vary for other systems with other physical properties. The variations in capacity (turndown) handled by these units is in the range of 3 to 6 times the low to maximum flow, based on k values [33]. 

V ,ax = Calculated maximum allowable superficial gas velocity, ft/sec, or ft/min tvire mesh pad Vs = Superficial gas velocity, ft/sec Vsa = Separator vapor velocity evaluated for air-water system, ft/sec... 

Tray Stability with Varying Liquid Head, Air-Water System... 

If foaming characteristics of the system are less than air-water, results will be conservative. For systems tending to greater foam and bubbles than the air-water system, approximate a value of h i by multiplying calculated value by 2, or 3 or known relative relationship. 

Packing iactors determined with an air-water system in 30" I.D. Tower. 

An existing lO-in. I.D. packed tower using 1-inch Berl saddles is to absorb a vent gas in water at 85°F. Laboratory data show the Henry s Law expression for solubility to be y = 1.5x, where y is the equilibrium mol fraction of the gas over water at compositions of x mol fraction of gas dissolved in the liquid phase. Past experience indicates that the Hog for air-water system will be acceptable. The conditions are (refer to Figure 9-68). 

Figure 9-73 presents some of the data of Fellinger [27] as presented in Reference 40 for Hqg for tho ammonia-air-water systems. This data may be used with the Sherwood relations to estimate Hl and Hg values for other systems. 

Ammonia-air-water system data, Figure 9-73, is often used by converting Hqg (ammonia-air) to its corresponding Kca, and then substituting the above relation for the unknown Kca. 

Viswanathan et al. (V6) measured gas holdup in fluidized beds of quartz particles of 0.649- and 0.928-mm mean diameter and glass beads of 4-mm diameter. The fluid media were air and water. Holdup measurements were also carried out for air-water systems free of solids in order to evaluate the influence of the solid particles. It was found that the gas holdup of a bed of 4-mm particles was higher than that of a solids-free system, whereas the gas holdup in a bed of 0.649- or 0.928-mm particles was lower than that of a solids-free system. An attempt was made to correlate the gas holdup data for gas-liquid fluidized beds using a mathematical model for two-phase gas-liquid systems proposed by Bankoff (B4). 

Calderbank (Cl) obtained similar results for the air-water system with a six-blade turbine. His data for gas holdup could be expressed as... 

In order that hot condenser water may be re-used in a plant, it is normally cooled by contact with an air stream. The equipment usually takes the form of a tower in which the hot water is run in at the top and allowed to flow downwards over a packing against a countercurrent flow of air which enters at the bottom of the cooling tower. The design of such towers forms an important part of the present chapter, though at the outset it is necessary to consider basic definitions of the various quantities involved in humidification, in particular wet-bulb and adiabatic saturation temperatures, and the way in which humidity data are presented on charts and graphs. While the present discussion is devoted to the very important air-water system, which is in some ways unique, the same principles may be applied to other liquids and gases, and this topic is covered in a final section. 

For the air-water system, Pw is frequently small compared with P and hence, substituting for the molecular masses ... 

The wet-bulb temperature 6W depends only on the temperature and the humidity of the gas and values normally quoted are determined for comparatively high gas velocities, such that the condition of the gas does not change appreciably as a result of being brought into contact with the liquid and the ratio (h/ho) has reached a constant value. For the air-water system, the ratio (h/hDpA) is about 1.0 kJ/kg K and varies from 1.5 to 2.0 kJ/kg K for organic liquids. 

Comparing equations 13.8 and 13.9, it is seen that the adiabatic saturation temperature i > equal to the wet-bulb temperature when s = h/hDpA. This is the case for most water vapour systems and accurately so when Jf = 0.047. The ratio (h/hopAs) = b is sometimes known as the psychrometric ratio and, as indicated, b is approximately unity for the air-water system. For most systems involving air and an organic liquid, b = 1.3 - 2.5 and the wet-bulb temperature is higher than the adiabatic saturation temperature. This was confirmed in 1932 by SHERWOOD and COMINGS 2 who worked with water, ethanol, n-propanol, n-butanol, benzene, toluene, carbon tetrachloride, and n-propyl acetate, and found that the wet-bulb temperature was always higher than the adiabatic saturation temperature except in the case of water. 

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