Laboratory Manual

For

Absorption of CO2 Gas in

Packed Bed

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 Absorption of Carbon Dioxide in Water

OBJECTIVE

 Study the basic principles of the absorption of a gas into

liquid using packed-column

 Study the absorption of carbon dioxide into water.

 Study the effect of water flow rate on absorption of

carbon dioxide into water.

INTRODUCTION

Gas absorption is a widely used unit operation in chemical

engineering. The gas absorption unit is pilot plant scale

unit designed to demonstrate the principles of gas

absorption and for students to investigate the principles of

packed tower absorption processes and hydrodynamics as

well as provide practical training in the operation of gas

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absorption plant. This absorption column is designed to

absorb carbon dioxide, CO2 from an air/CO2 mixture into

water flowing down the column.

The objective of the experiment is to examine the basic

principles of absorption of a gas into liquid using packed-

column, as well as the absorption of carbon dioxide in

water and the effect of water flow rate on the absorption of

the same chemical in water.

Procedure

1. The experiment is conducted for ten minutes, with the

intervals of 2 minutes.

2. The flowrate for carbon dioxide & air is maintained at

fixed value of 2 LPM.

3. At t0 = 0 minute, water sample is taken.

4. At t1 = 1 minute, water sample is taken.

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5. And similarly sample are taken at interval of 1 minutes

At t10 = 10 minute, water sample is taken.

6. Samples can be taken to laboratory for calculating

percentage of CO2 in water.

Observations

During the initial stage, carbon dioxide is absorbed. The

similar occurs in the following 1 minutes where the

readings continue to increase marginally, with only slight

difference per increment. In the final 10 minutes resulted

in the reduction in number of CO2 absorbed. This is

because the absorption limit had already reached for the

device, hence the reduction in reading.

CONCLUSION

It can be concluded from the experiment that the rate of

absorption differs from system to another system. During

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the experiment, it is easier to describe the flow since the

values are ascending until it reaches a constant stage. This

displays the nature of the chemical (carbon dioxide) and

the device that it will reach a saturated point