Staged columns absorption

The process for absorbing acid gas takes place in two stages (1) absorption and (2) regeneration. The absorption takes place in a column where the sour gas is contacted with the lean solvent. The rich solvent is sent to a second column where the solvent is regenerated. Heat is applied to the system via a reboiler and the overheads are condensed, typically in an aerial cooler. The solvent regeneration is done not only at higher temperature, but also at lower pressure. Figure 1.1 is a schematic of the process. 

Absorber and strippers may be classified as complex columns because they possess two feeds and because they possess neither an overhead condenser nor a reboiler. The sketch of the absorber in Fig. 4-1 depicts an historic application of absorbers in the natural gas industry. From a light gas stream such as natural gas that contains primarily methane plus small quantities of, say, ethane through n-pentane, the desired quantities of the components heavier than methane may be removed by contacting the natural gas stream with a heavy oil stream (say n-octane or heavier) in a countercurrent, multiple-stage column such as the one shown in Fig. 4-1. Since absorption is a heat-liberating process, the lean oil is customarily introduced at a temperature below the average temperature at which the column is expected to operate. The flow rate of the lean oil is denoted by L0, and the lean oil enters at the top of the column as implied by Fig. 4-1. The rich gas (which is sometimes called the wet gas) enters at the bottom of the... 

The terms "number of stages N" and "height equivalent to a theoretical plate HETP" are used in chromatography however, their meanings are quite different in comparison to continuously operated countercurrent columns (absorption, extraction, rectification). Here, the column length or height must be sufficient to draw apart the bands of components or fractions. This reqnires favorable eqnUibria, certain retardation differences, and limited axial dispersion. 

The actual stage can be a mixing vessel, as in a mixer-settler used for solvent extraction applications, or a plate of a distillation or gas absorption column. In order to allow for non-ideal conditions in which the compositions of the two exit streams do not achieve full equilibrium, an actual number of stages can be related to the number of theoretical stages, via the use of a stage-efficiency factor. 

The amount of a component absorbed or stripped in a column is dependent on the column design (the number of stages), the component solubility, and the gas and liquid rates. The fraction absorbed can be estimated using the absorption factor method, attributed to Kremser (1930) (see Volume 2, Chapter 12). If the concentration of solute in the solvent feed to the column is zero, or can be neglected, then for the solute component the fraction absorbed =... 

In a typical process, the conversion of isobutene in the reactor stage is 97 per cent. The product is separated from the unreacted methanol and any C4 s by distillation. The essentially pure, liquid, MTBE leaves the base of the distillation column and is sent to storage. The methanol and C4 s leave the top of the column as vapour and pass to a column where the methanol is separated by absorption in water. The C4 s leave the top of the absorption column, saturated with water, and are used as a fuel gas. The methanol is separated from the water solvent by distillation and recycled to the reactor stage. The water, which leaves the base of the column, is... 

The gas liquid contact in a packed bed column is continuous, not stage-wise, as in a plate column. The liquid flows down the column over the packing surface and the gas or vapour, counter-currently, up the column. In some gas-absorption columns co-current flow is used. The performance of a packed column is very dependent on the maintenance of good liquid and gas distribution throughout the packed bed, and this is an important consideration in packed-column design. 

Though packed absorption and stripping columns can also be designed as staged process, it is usually more convenient to use the integrated form of the differential equations set up by considering the rates of mass transfer at a point in the column. The derivation of these equations is given in Volume 2, Chapter 12. 

Mass transfer in packed columns is a continuous, differential, process, so the transfer unit method should be used to determine the column height, as used in absorption see Section 11.14.2. However, it often convenient to treat them as staged processes and use the HETS for the packing employed. For random packings the HETS will, typically, range from 0.5 to 1.5 m, depending on the type and size of packing used. 

In this case, the reactions can be reversed at a regeneration stage in a stripping column by the input of heat in a reboiler. If the solvent is to be recovered by stripping the solute from the solvent, the chemical absorption requires more energy than physical absorption. This is because the energy input for chemical absorption must overcome the heat of reaction as well as the heat of solution. However, chemical absorption involves smaller solvent rates than physical absorption. 

Gill and Fitzgerald [481] determined picomolar quantities of mercury in seawater using stannous chloride reduction and two-stage amalgamation with gas-phase detection. The gas flow system used two gold-coated bead columns (the collection and the analytical columns) to transfer mercury into the gas cell of an atomic absorption spectrometer. By careful control and estimation of the blank, a detection limit of 0.21 pM was achieved using 21 of seawater. The accuracy and precision of this method were checked by comparison with aqueous laboratory and National Bureau of Standards (NBS) reference materials spiked into acidified natural water samples at picomolar levels. Further studies showed that at least 88% of mercury in open ocean and coastal seawater consisted of labile species which could be reduced by stannous chloride under acidic conditions. 

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