Faculty of Science and Engineering

BEng (Hons) Chemical Engineering

Assignment 2 Unit Operations and Separations Processes

Student name: Bassama Kana Fabrice

Student number: 1325005
The module number: 4ET012
Module title: Principles of Separation Processes
The module leaders name: Dr Oduoza, Chike
The date of submission: 27/03/2016

Question 2a
Solution
At the bottom of the tower:
y 1 = 315 10 6 ,

G
= 0.34 kg/m2 s

Gm
= (0.34/29) = 0.0117 kmol/m2 s

and:

At the top of the tower: y2 = 31 106 ,

x2 = 0

L = 3.94 kg/m s

and:

The NaOH, solution contains 100 kg/m3 NaOH.

The mean molecular mass of liquid is:
(100 40) + (900 18)
= 20.2 kg/kmol
1000


Lm
= (3.94/20.2) = 0.195 kmol/m2 s

Thus:

For dilute gases, y = Y and a mass balance over the tower gives:
G
m (y1 y2 )A = K G aP (y ye )lm ZA
Therefore the driving force at the top of the tower = (y2 0) = 31 10 6
and:

at the bottom of the tower = (y1 0) = 315 10

The log mean driving force, (y ye )lm =

Therefore:

(315 31) 106

= 122.5 10
ln(315/31)

0.0117(315 31)10 6 = KG a(101.3 122.5 106 3)

from which:

KG a = 8.93 10 5 kmol/m 3s (kN/m2 )

2b
It is the gas film controlled process. Assuming the concentration of caustic soda is high the vapor pressure released
of the carbon dioxide over the solution can be neglected thus all the resistance lies in the Gas phase.

Question 3a
The rate of diffusion through a stagnant layer is given by the equation below where the stagnant layer are represented as A1
for ammonia and A2 for air respectively.

From
Where,

x = 0.001m, D = 1.8 x 10-5 m2/s,

R = 8314 J/kmol K, T = 295 K and P = 101.3 kN/m2
This implies that PA1 = (0.50x 101.3) = 50.65 kN/m2

equation... 1.0

- PB1 = (101.3 - 50.65) = 50.65 kN/m2 = 5.065 x 104 N/m2

- PB2 = (101.3 - 0) = 101.3 kN/m2 = 1.013 x 105 N/m2

Thus
- PBM = (101.3 - 50.65) / ln(101.3/50.65) = 73.07 kN/m2 = 7.307 x 104 N/m2
P/PBM = (101.3/73.07) = 1.386

Substituting in equation 1.01

Hence, NA = -[.1.8 x 10~5/(8314 x 295 x 0.001)] 1.386(0 - 5.065 x 105)
=5.15 x 10-4 kmol/m2

Question 4
Solution
For co-current contact unit processes with insoluble solvent
Xn = [A/(A + Sm)] n Xf
At 100 kg feed:
mass of solvent in the feed, A = 95 kg,
mass of solvent added, S = 25 kg,
At equilibrium, m = 2 20 kg/kg, .
number of stages, n = 5, and
mass ratio of solute in the feed Xf = (5/95) = 0.0527 kg/kg.
mass ratio of solute

, Xn = [95/(95 + 2.2 25)]5 0.0527

= 0.00538 kg/kg solvent

Hence, 0.00538 kg acetaldehyde is contain in 1.00538 kg solution

Thus final solution concentration = (100 0.00538)/1.00538 = 0.536 %
the mass of acetaldehyde With 95 kg toluene = (0.00538 95) = 0.511 kg
Mass of acetaldehyde extracted = (5.0 0.511) = 4.489 kg/100 kg feed

Question 1a
Adsorption Processes

Adsorption is a mass transfer process by which a substance is transferred from the liquid phase to the surface of a solid, and becomes
bound by physical and/or chemical interactions or the process of deporting material from a fluid phase to a solid phase by providing a
dynamic phase equilibrium for the transportation of the solute between the fluid(gas, vapour, liquid) and the solid surface with
common mechanism for organic and inorganic pollutant removal such as deodorize drinking water "carbon filter", adsorption of
gasoline vapor in automobile fuel tank "carbon canister" and to adsorb moisture from packages electronic or optical equipment "silica
gel", adsorption of dyes, phenol and pesticides. Unlike vapour-liquid and liquid-liquid where each estimate of phase distribution is the
application of theory, here the equilibrium is usually expressed in terms of partial pressure (gas, vapour) or concentration (liquid) of
the adsorbate (solute retained of the solid surface in the adsorption process) in the fluid on to the surface of porous solid adsorbent (he
solid on which it is retained).

This surface accumulation of adsorbate on adsorbent is called adsorption. This creation of an adsorbed phase having a composition
different from that of the bulk fluid phase forms the basis of separation by adsorption technology.Generally the absorbed amount
constitute of a fraction a monolayer hence the specific area of the adsorbent must be great in order for a significant amount of material
to be adsorb.As the adsorption progress, an equilibrium of adsorption of the solute between the solution and adsorbent is reached
(where the adsorption of solute is from the bulk onto the adsorbent is minimum). The adsorption amount (qe, mmol g1) of the
molecules at the equilibrium can be determine from the equation below:
qe = V(Co-Ce) /M
6. Adsorption of pesticides and herbicides
where V= solution volume (L)
M= mass of monolithic adsorbents (g)
Co& Ce= initial and equilibrium adsorbate concentrations.
Hence equilibrium data are obtained experimentally for each particular solute, mixtures of solutes, solvent and samples of the actual
solid absorbent because no acceptable theory has been developed to estimate fluid-solid adsorption equilibria.
Adsorption isotherms and models
An adsorption isotherm is the presentation of the amount of solute adsorbed per unit weight of adsorbent as a function of partial
pressure or concentration in the bulk solution at constant temperature. Langmuir adsorption isotherm is commonly used for the
description of adsorption data because it is assumed that adsorbent has S site per unit mass of which S0 are vacant and S1 are occupied
by adsorbate molecules, Hence the amount adsorbed is proportional to the number of S site, thus a saturation value of adsorption is
suggested.
S = S0 + S1
The Langmuir equation is expressed as:
Ce/qe = 1/bXm+Ce/Xm
Where Ce = equilibrium concentration of solute (mmol L-1)
qe = amount of solute adsorbed per unit weight of adsorbent (mmol g-1 of clay)
Xm= adsorption capacity (mmol g-1), or monolayer capacity,
b = a constant (L mmol-1 ).

Case Study: Adsorption of pesticides and herbicides

Pesticides and herbicides are dangerous to life as there contain toxic's, carcinogenics and mutagenics thus considered as hazardous
substances yet globally disposed into the environment, are ubiquitous in aquatic systems; usually detected at low levels and commonly
occur in the form of complex mixtures eg Ceriodaphniadubia. Exuding of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, applied to agricultural and
forest land is at the core of organic pollution in various water streams. They have raised serious concerns about aquatic ecosystem and
human health because of the long-term accumulation of their single and/or combined toxicological effects. The contamination of ground
water,surface water and soils, by pesticides and herbicides are currently a major concern, and this because of exponential use of
pesticides in agriculture, and domestic activities.
Organophosphorous pesticides are most commonly used among recent developed pesticides. This class of chemicals is divided into
several forms; however the two most common forms are phosphates and phosphorothionates. Methyl parathion (O,O-dimethyl
O-4-nitrophenyl phosphorothioate) is a class I insecticide. Once methyl parathion introduced into the environment from spraying on
crops, droplets of methyl parathion in the air fall on soil, plants or water. While most of the methyl parathion will stay in the areas where
it is applied, some can move to areas away from where it was applied by rain, fog and wind.

Modified polymer adsorbents were prepared for the removal of organic pollutants from water and wastewater. Adsorption of
organic pollutants using cyclodextrin-based polymer (CDPs) as adsorbent, is an efficient technique with the advantages of specific
affinity, low cost and simple design . Cyclodextrin polymers (CDPs) can be synthesized using cyclodextrin (CD) as complex
molecule and polyfunctional substance (e.g., epichlorohydrin (EPI)) as cross-linking agent.Though a number of CDPs with various
structures and properties have been developed, it is still ambiguous how CDP properties affect adsorption affinity toward organic
contaminants, particularly mixed pollutants. Liu et al. illustrated the cross-linked structure of cyclodextrin polymer and related
adsorption mechanisms in Scheme ( 1 ). Other organic pollutants were found as a pollutants in water and wastewater, this include
pharmaceutical effluents, surfactants, organic solvents, phthalates, hydrocarbons, esters, alcohols,volatile, semi-volatile and
non-volatile chlorinated organic pollutants. Activated carbons, calys and clay minerals are used widely for the removal of organic
pollutants.

Langmuir Adsorption Isotherm

1.0
0.9
Fractional Coverage

0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
0.

2.

6.

4.

8.

10.

K*P

Fig.1 Langmuir adsorption isotherm

1b
Oil and water Separation
For oil and water to be separated the coalescing plate which is the perfect solution as it is used to absorb the oil from the
water simply by using gravity as the main force as it enables a greater average droplet size in order for a better chance of
removal. A mathematician named George Stokes describes the physical relationship.
The reason we have the coalescing plate is to remove oil and other water insoluble hydrocarbons from storm water,
separators are multi-chambered devices are designed for this there are various types of separators such as Spill control which
is the least expensive compared to the three, this separator is a simple underground vault also known as manhole with a T
this is created to trap small spills od oil.