Nonisothermal case: adiabatic approach

Prof. Dr. Marco Mazzotti - Institut fr Verfahrenstechnik

1. Approach

In the adiabatic approach energy balances are calculated under following assumptions: There is no heat exchange through the walls of the column The gas and liquid stream leaving a stage are at the same temperature

Therefore two new concepts become important: 1. 2. Energy balances Changes of L and G within the column

Calculating changes of L and G within the column are important when dealing with large solute fractions. This is often the case when calculating non-isothermal columns.

Once, pressure and initial composition and temperature of the solvent are set we can consider them as data. This is a list of known variables: TG1 Data and set values Pressure, p Gas flow rate, Gin Gas initial composition, yn+1 Equilibrium data, y=f(x,T) Specifications Gas final composition, y1 Unknowns Solvent flow rate at inlet, L2 Number of stages, n Solvent final composition, xn Solvent flow rate outlet, L1 G1 y1 TL0 L0 x0

Solvent initial composition, x0

Gas Temp. at inlet TG1 Liquid Temp. at inlet, TL2

Gas Temp. at outlet TL1

Gas Temp. at outlet TG2 n p

y = f(x,T)

yn+1 Gn+1 TGn+1

xn Ln TLn

2. Balances
Material Balance of column:

L 0 Gn1 Ln G1 L 0 x 0 Gn1y n1 Ln x n G1y1 y f(x, T)

Energy Balance of column H H0 Enthalpy Enthalpy at reference state Change of solute enthalpy between liquid and gas phase Heat capacity J/mol J/mol J/mol

L 0HL0 Gn1HGn 1 L nHLn G1HG1

0 HL HL cpL (T T 0 ) HS 0 HG H0 G cpG (T T )

Hs

cp

J/(mol K)

HS represents the molar enthalpy of mixing or the integral heat of solution, at the prevailing concentration and at the base temperature T0 The amount of liquid increases from the bottom to the top of the column. It is calculated by adding up the amount of solvent and the amount of absorbed solute. The same way the amount of gas is calculated. It deacreases from the top to the bottom of the column as the solute absorbs to the liquid.

3. Solution of the system

To solve the problem the gas outlet temperature and the amount of liquid solvent have to be estimated or calculated by a nother method, e.g. the isothermal approach Now all necessary values of the bottom of the column can be calculated by the energy and mass balances. From the bottom of the column a new set of mass and material balances can be made including the first stage. (green canvas) From these balances all unknowns of the first stage can be calculated. This is repeated including one more stage every time until the required specification is reached.