UNIVERSIDAD MANUELA BELTRÁN

Environmental Engineering – Chemical Physics – Assignment Task 05 – Solubility of Gases in Water – 2018 I

Gases are fluids, and due to their nature, they may dissolve into other fluids. A particular case, of special interest for
Environmental Engineering, is the study of solubility of gases in liquid water. For instance, setting conditions to
stimulate solubility of oxygen into water, allows an adequate analysis of its incidence on biological processes that
are carried out inside body waters.

The solubility of gas is defined specifically for the equilibrium between gaseous phase and liquid phase, meaning
that gas and liquid have been in contact enough time to reach this equilibrium condition. Thus, the solubility is
associated to the maximum concentration of gas allowed into the liquid, ruled by both gas partial pressure in
gaseous phase and liquid temperature.

As higher gas partial pressure, higher solubility is obtained; also, as higher water temperature, lower solubility is
obtained. Then, concerning specifically to air as gaseous phase and water as liquid phase, in order to find the
maximum concentrations of gas (oxygen or nitrogen) in water, it may be used Henry’s Law, which relates gas i
partial pressure ( ) in air, with the molar fraction of the same gas xi dissolved in equilibrium into liquid water:

= ∙

The proportionality constant Hi is named Henry’s constant, and depends on temperature and can be found in
thermodynamics tables. Henry’s constants for oxygen and nitrogen can be seen as follows:

Oxygen
T (°C) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
-4
H (atm) x 10 2,55 2,91 3,27 3,64 4,01 4,38 4,75 5,07
Nitrogen
T (°C) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
-4
H (atm) x 10 5,29 5,97 6,68 7,36 8,04 8,65 9,24 9,85
From: Perry, Robert (1994) Manual del Ingeniero Químico de Perry. McGraw Hill.

Of special interest for Environmental Engineering issues is the oxygen dissolved in water. The concentration of
oxygen is measured using an oximeter, which has a sensor that immerse in determined water body, and reports the
oxygen content expressed as Parts per Million (ppm) or as percentage. This percentage refers to the maximum
concentration of oxygen, meaning solubility. Thus, an oxygen content expressed as 5ppm or 40% by the oxymeter,
means that the maximum oxygen content in those conditions is 12,5ppm

According to previous information, calculate for each item and for each named gases:

Molar Fraction, Mass Fraction and Concentration (g/L) for gaseous phase

Molar Fraction, Mass Fraction and Solubility (g/100gH2O and ppm) for water phase

1. Oxygen with partial pressure of 0,1atm at 20°C. Water temperature: 15°C

2. Nitrogen with partial pressure of 150mmHg at 25°C. Water temperature: 20°C

3. Oxygen and nitrogen of pure air at 35°C and sea level. Water temperature: 5°C

4. Oxygen and nitrogen of pure air at 18°C and at Bogotá. Water temperature: 10°C
 5. Oxygen and nitrogen of pure air at 27°C at Manizales. Water temperature: 18°C

6. Oxygen and nitrogen of pure air at 14°C at Cali. Water temperature: 21°C

For the following items, calculate the dissolved oxygen concentration in ppm, or percent of dissolved oxygen:

7. Bogotá, water temperature: 10°C; 100% of saturation.

8. Pasto, water temperature: 7,3°C; 35% of saturation.

9. Cali, water temperature: 63°F; 2,3ppm

10. Leticia (Amazonas), water temperature: 87°F; 4ppm

Adaptado de: Tyler G. Hicks, P.E. (2012) Handbook of Energy Engineering Calculations. McGraw-Hill Education.
Answers:

1. yO2 ymásicaO2 CO2 (g/L) xO2 xmásicaO2 SO2 (g/100g) SO2 (ppm)
1 1 0,133 0,000002747 0,000004883 0,0004883 4,88

2. yN2 ymásicaN2 CN2 (g/L) xN2 xmásicaN2 SN2 (g/100g) SN2 (ppm)
1 1 0,226 0,000002455 0,000003819 0,0003819 3,82

3. yO2 ymásicaO2 CO2 (g/L) xO2 xmásicaO2 SO2 (g/100g) SO2 (ppm)
0,21 0,233 0,266 0,000007216 0,00001283 0,001283 12,83
yN2 ymásicaN2 CN2 (g/L) xN2 xmásicaN2 SN2 (g/100g) SN2 (ppm)
0,79 0,767 0,876 0,00001323 0,00002058 0,002058 20,58

4. yO2 ymásicaO2 CO2 (g/L) xO2 xmásicaO2 SO2 (g/100g) SO2 (ppm)
0,21 0,233 0,207 0,000004732 0,00000525 0,000525 5,25
yN2 ymásicaN2 CN2 (g/L) xN2 xmásicaN2 SN2 (g/100g) SN2 (ppm)
0,79 0,767 0,683 0,000008714 0,00000846 0,000846 8,46