Gas Absorption: This chapter deals with the mass-transfer operations known as gas

absorption and stripping, or desorption. In gas absorption a soluble vapour is absorbed from
its mixture with an inert gas by means of a liquid in which the solute gas is more or less
soluble. A major application of absorption technology is the removal of CO2 and H2S from
natural gas or synthesis gas by absorption in solutions of amines or alkaline salts. Another
example is the washing of ammonia from a mixture of ammonia and air by means of liquid
water. The solute is subsequently recovered from the liquid by distillation, and the absorbing
liquid can be either discarded or reused. Sometimes a solute is removed from a liquid by
bringing the liquid into contact with an inert gas; such an operation, the reverse of gas
absorption, is desorption or gas stripping.
Desorption is a phenomenon whereby a substance is released from or through a surface. The
process is the opposite of sorption (that is, either adsorption or absorption). This occurs in a
system being in the state of sorption equilibrium between bulk phase (fluid, i.e. gas or liquid
solution) and an adsorbing surface (solid or boundary separating two fluids). When the
concentration (or pressure) of substance in the bulk phase is lowered, some of the absorbed
substance changes to the bulk state.
In chemistry, especially chromatography, desorption is the ability for a chemical to move
with the mobile phase. The more a chemical desorbs, the less likely it will adsorb, thus
instead of sticking to the stationary phase, the chemical moves up with the solvent front.
In chemical separation processes, stripping is also referred to as desorption as one component
of a liquid stream moves by mass transfer into a vapor phase through the liquid-vapor
interface.
After adsorption, the adsorbed chemical will remain on the substrate nearly indefinitely,
provided the temperature remains low. However, as the temperature rises, so does the
likelihood of desorption occurring. The general equation for the rate of desorption is:
R = rNx
Where r is the rate constant for desorption, N is the concentration of the adsorbed material,
and x is the kinetic order of desorption.

Usually, the order of desorption can be predicted by the number of elementary steps involved:
Atomic or simple molecular desorption will typically be a first-order process (i.e. a simple
molecule on the surface of the substrate desorbs into a gaseous form).
Recombinative molecular desorption will generally be a second-order process (i.e. two
hydrogen atoms on the surface desorb and form a gaseous H2 molecule).
The rate constant r may be expressed in the form
r = Ae- Ea/kT
Where A is the "attempt frequency" (often the Greek letter ), the chance of the adsorbed
molecule overcoming its potential barrier to desorption, Ea is the activation energy of
desorption, k is the Boltzmann constant, and T is the temperature.
ABSORPTION
Counter-current multi-stage absorption (Tray absorber) In tray absorption tower, multi-stage
contact between gas and liquid takes place. In each tray, the liquid is brought into intimate
contact of gas and equilibrium is reached thus making an ideal stage. In ideal stage, average
composition of liquid leaving the tray is in equilibrium with liquid leaving that tray. The most
important step in design of tray absorber is the determination of number of trays. The
schematic of tray tower is presented in figure 4.7. The liquid enters from top of the column
whereas gas is added from the bottom. The efficiency of the stages can be calculated as

The following parameters should be known for the determination of number of stages
(1) Gas feed rate
(2) Concentration of gas at inlet and outlet of the tower
(3) Minimum liquid rate; actual liquid rate is 1.2 to 2 times the minimum liquid rate.
(4) Equilibrium data for construction of equilibrium curve Now, the number of theoretic
stages can be obtained graphically or algebraically.

Example Problem 1
It is desired to absorb 95% of acetone by water from a mixture of acetone and nitrogen
containing 1.5% of the component in a countercurrent tray tower. Total gas input is 30
kmol/hr and water enters the tower at a rate of 90 kmol/hr. The tower operates at 27C and 1
atm. The equilibrium relation is Y=2.53X. Determine the number of ideal stages necessary
for the separation using (a) graphical method as well as (b) Kremser analysis method.

Solution