DESIGN OF SCRUBBER FOR THE REMOVAL OF

CARBON DIOXIDE FROM BIOGAS FEED

A PROJECT REPORT

In
CHE2002 PROCESS EQUIPMENT DESIGN AND ECONOMICS
By

Reg. No. Name

17BCM0027 Sahil Singh

18BCM0006 Abhimanyu Milan

18BCM0116 Annikka Kumar

18BCM0127 Ananyo Sengupta

18BCM0154 Jebril Hassen Kedir

Under the guidance of

Dr. Aruna Singh

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

School of Chemical Engineering

December 2021

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 DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE

This is to certify that the project report entitled “Design of Scrubber for the Removal of
Carbon Dioxide from Biogas Feed” submitted by Sahil Singh (17BCM0027), Abhimanyu
Milan (18BCM0006), Annikka Kumar (18BCM0116), Ananyo Sengupta (18BCM0127),
Jebril Hassen Kedir (18BCM0154) as „J‟ component for the course CHE2002 Process
Equipment Design and Economics.

Place: Vellore
(Virtual)
Date: 2/12/2021

2
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

LIST OF TABLE 4

1. INTRODUCTION 5

2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 6

3. LITERATURE REVIEW 6

4. MATERIALS AND METHODS

4.1 Design Calculations for CO2 Scrubber
14
4.2 Design Modeling on SolidWorks
22
4.3 Cost Estimation 23

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 27

REFERENCES 28

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 LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE NO

1.1 Capital Cost Factors for 24

Gas Absorbers

1.2 Direct installation costs 24

1.3 Indirect costs (Installation) 25

1.4 Suggested Annual Cost 26

Factors for Gas Absorber
Systems

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 1. INTRODUCTION
Gas absorbers are used extensively in industry for separation and purification of gas streams, as
product recovery devices, and as pollution control devices. This chapter focuses on the application
of absorption for pollution control on gas streams with typical pollutant concentrations ranging
from 250 to 10,000 ppmv. Gas absorbers are most widely used to remove water soluble inorganic
contaminants from air streams.
Absorption is a process where one or more soluble components of a gas mixture are dissolved in a
liquid (i.e., a solvent). The absorption process can be categorized as physical or chemical. Physical
absorption occurs when the absorbed compound dissolves in the solvent; chemical absorption
occurs when the absorbed compound and the solvent react. Liquids commonly used as solvents
include water, mineral oils, non volatile hydrocarbon oils, and aqueous solutions.

The suitability of gas absorption as a pollution control method is generally dependent on the
following factors:
 Availability of suitable solvent;
 Required removal efficiency;
 Pollutant concentration in the inlet vapour;
 Capacity required for handling waste gas; and,
 Recovery value of the pollutant(s) or the disposal cost of the spent solvent.

Physical absorption depends on properties of the gas stream and solvent, such as density and
viscosity, as well as specific characteristics of the pollutant(s) in the gas and the liquid stream
(e.g., diffusivity, equilibrium and solubility). These properties are temperature dependent, and
lower temperatures generally favour absorption of gases by the solvent. Absorption is also
enhanced by greater contacting surface, higher liquid-gas ratios, and higher concentrations in the
gas stream.

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 2. AIM & OBJECTIVE
To design gas absorber and to selectively remove CO2 present as impurities in the biogas feed.
The diameter and the height of the columns were to be determined with effectivetype of packing.

3. LITERATURE
Packed Tower Internals

A basic packed tower unit is comprised of a column shell, mist eliminator, liquid distributors,
packing materials, packing support, and may include a packing restrainer. Corrosion resistant
alloys or plastic materials such as polypropylene are required for column internals when highly
corrosive solvents or gases are used.

Packed Tower Operation

The common packed tower designs are counter-current.
As the waste gas flows up the packed column it will experience a drop in its pressure as it meets
resistance from the packing materials and the solvent flowing down. Pressure drop in a column is
a function of the gas and liquid flow rates and properties of the packing elements, such as surface
area and free volume in the tower. A high pressure drop results in high fan power to drive the gas
through the packed tower and consequently high costs. The pressure drop in a packed tower
generally ranges from 0.5 to 1.0 in. H2O/ft of packing.
For each column, there are upper and lower limits to solvent and vapour flow rates that ensure
satisfactory performance. The gas flow rate may become so high that the drag on the solvent is
sufficient to keep the solvent from flowing freely down the column. Solvent begins to accumulate
and blocks the entire cross section for flow, which increases the pressure drop and presents the
packing from mixing the gas and solvent effectively. When all the free volume in the packing is
filled with liquid and the liquid is carried back up the column, the absorber is considered to be
flooded. Most packed towers operate at 60 to 70 percent of the gas flooding velocity, as it is not
practical to operate a tower in a flooded condition. A minimum liquid flow rate is also required to
wet the packing material sufficiently for effective mass transfer to occur between the gas and liquid.

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Design Procedures
The design of packed tower absorbers for controlling gas streams containing a mixture of pollutants
and air depends on knowledge of the following parameters:

• Waste gas flow rate;

• Waste gas composition and concentration of the pollutants in the gas stream;
• Required removal efficiency;
• Equilibrium relationship between the pollutants and solvent; and
• Properties of the pollutant(s), waste gas, and solvent: diffusivity, viscosity, density, and molecular
weight.

The primary objectives of the design procedures are to determine column surface area and pressure
drop through the column. In order to determine these parameters, the following steps must be
performed:

• Determine the gas and liquid stream conditions entering and exiting the column.
• Determine the absorption factor (AF).
• Determine the diameter of the column (D).
• Determine the tower height (Htower) and surface area (S).
• Determine the packed column pressure drop ( P).

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Determining Gas and Liquid Stream Conditions

Gas absorbers are designed based on the ratio of liquid to gas entering the column (Li/Gi), slope of
the equilibrium curve (m), and the desired removal efficiency (η). These factors are calculated from
the inlet and outlet gas and liquid stream variables:
• Waste gas flow rate, entering and exiting column (Gi and Go, respectively);
• Pollutant concentration (kg-moles pollutant per kg-mole of pollutant free gas) entering and exiting
the column in the waste gas (Yi and Yo, respectively);
• Solvent flow rate, entering and exiting the column (Li and Lo, respectively); and
• Pollutant concentration (lb-moles pollutant per lb-mole of pollutant free solvent) entering and
exiting the column in the solvent (Xi and Xo, respectively).

This design approach assumes that the inlet gas stream variables are known, and that a specific
pollutant removal efficiency has been chosen as the design basis; i.e., the variables Gi, Yi,
and(η) are known. For dilute concentrations typically encountered in pollution control applications
and negligible changes in moisture content, Gi is assumed equal to Go. Also the value of Xi will
approach zero. The following procedures must be followed to calculate the remaining stream
variables Yo, Li (and Lo), and Xo.

The exit pollution concentration, Yo, may be calculated from using the following equation:
Yo = Yi (1-η/100);

The liquid flow rate entering the absorber, Li , is then calculated using a graphical method. The
equilibrium curve indicates the relationship between the concentration of pollutant in the waste gas
and the concentration of pollutant in the solvent at a specified temperature. The operating line
indicates the relation between the concentration of the pollutant in the gas and solvent at any
location in the gas absorber column. The vertical distance between the operating line and
equilibrium curve indicates the driving force for diffusion of the pollutant between the gas and
liquid phases. The minimum amount of liquid which can be used to absorb the pollutant in the gas
stream corresponds to an operating line drawn from the outlet concentration in the gas stream (Yo)

8
and the inlet concentration in the solvent stream (Xi) to the point on the equilibrium curve
corresponding to the entering pollutant concentration in the gas stream (Yi). At the intersection
point on the equilibrium curve, the diffusion driving forces are zero, the required time of contact
for the concentration change is infinite, and an infinitely tall tower results.
The slope of the operating line intersecting the equilibrium curve is equal to the minimum L/
G ratio on a moles of pollutant-free solvent (Ls) per moles of pollutant-free gas basis Gs. in other
words, the values Ls and Gs do not include the moles of pollutant in the liquid and gas streams.
The values of Ls and Gs are constant through the column if a negligible amount of moisture is
transferred from the liquid to the gas phase. The slope may be calculated from the following
equation:

Where X*o would be the maximum concentration of the pollutant in the liquid phase if it were
allowed to come to equilibrium with the pollutant entering the column in the gas phase, Yi. The
value of X*o is taken from the equilibrium curve. Because the minimum Ls/Gs, ratio is an
unrealistic value, it must be multiplied by an adjustment factor, commonly between 1.2 and 1.5, to
calculate the actual L/G ratio:

The variable Gs may be calculated using the equation:

 G * Gi
Gs 
Mavg(1  Yi)
MWG, is the molecular weight of the gas stream (Kg/Kmole), and ⍴G is the density of the gas
stream (kg/m3). For pollutant concentrations typically encountered, the molecular weight and
density of the waste gas stream are assumed to be equal to that of ambient air.
The variable Ls may then be calculated by:

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The total molar flow rates of the gas and liquid entering the absorber (Gmol,i and Lmol,i) are
calculated using the following equations:
Gmol,i = Gs(1+Yi)
Lmol,i = Ls(1+Xi)
The volume flow rate of the solvent, Li, may then be calculated by using the following
relationship:
Ls =(Lmol,i*MWl)⍴l
Finally, the actual operating line may be represented by a material balance equation over
the gas absorber

XiLs +YiGs = XoLs + YoGs

The absorption factor (AF) value is frequently used to describe the relationship between the
equilibrium line and the liquid-to-gas ratio. For many pollutant-solvent systems, the most
economical value for AF ranges around 1.5 to 2.0.

Where m is the slope of the equilibrium line on a mole fraction basis. The value of m may be
obtained from available literature on vapour/liquid equilibrium data for specific systems. Since
the equilibrium curve is typically linear in the concentration ranges usually encountered in air
pollution control, the slope, m would be constant (or nearly so) for all applicable inlet and outlet
liquid and gas streams.
The slope may be calculated from mole fraction values using the following equation:

10
where yi* and yo * are the mole fractions of the pollutant in the vapour phase in equilibrium with
the mole fractions of the pollutant entering and exiting the absorber in the liquid, xi and xo,
respectively.
The slope of the equilibrium line in Figure 1.4 is expressed in terms of concentration values Xi,
Xo, Yi*, and Yo*. These values may be converted to xi, xo, yi*, and yo* using the equations:

Determining Column Diameter

Once stream conditions have been determined, the diameter of the column may be estimated. The
design presented in this section is based on selecting a fraction of the gas flow rate at flooding
conditions. Alternatively, the column may be designed for a specific pressure drop.Eckert‟s
modification to the generalized correlation for randomly packed towers based on flooding
considerations is used to obtain the superficial gas flow rate entering the absorber, Gsfr,i (lb/sec-
ft2), or the gas flow rate per crossectional area based on the Lmol,i/Gmol,i ratio is calculated. The
cross-sectional area (A) of the column and the column diameter (D) can
then be determined from Gsfr,i.
The Abscissa value (X axis) in the graph is expressed as:

The Ordinate value (Y axis) in the graph is expressed as:

[( 1.6681.085(log absicissa)0.297(log absicissa)2 ]

Ordinate= 10

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where Fp is a packing factor, gc is the gravitational constant, µ L is the viscosity of the solvent
(N/n.s), ψ is the ratio of the density of the scrubbing liquid to water. The value of Fp may be
obtained from literature.

Fig 1

After calculating the Abscissa value, a corresponding Ordinate value may determined from
the flooding curve. The Ordinate may also be calculated using the following equation:

It then be rearranged to solve for Gsfr,i:

Gsfr,i = G  FL gC  ordinate
p L 0.2

The cross-sectional area of the tower (m2) is calculated as

G  Mavg
A= mol ,i
F  Gsfr,i
where f is the flooding factor and 3600 is the conversion factor from hours to seconds. To prevent
flooding, the column is operated at a fraction of Gsfr,i.

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The value of f typically ranges from 0.60 to

The diameter of the column (ft) can be calculated from the cross-sectional area, by:

Determining Tower Height and Surface Area

Tower height is primarily a function of packing depth. The required heights of packing (H)
is determined from the theoretical number of overall transfer units (Ntu) needed to achieve a
specific removal efficiency, and the height of the overall transfer unit (Htu)

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 4 .MATERIALS AND METHODS

4.1 DESIGN CALCULATIONS FOR CO2 SCRUBBER

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15
16
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18
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20
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4.2 Design Modeling on SolidWorks

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4.3 COST ESTIMATION

1. Estimating Annual Cost

The total annual cost (TAC) is the sum of the direct and indirect annual costs.

1.1 Direct Annual Costs

Direct annual costs (DC) are those expenditures related to operating the equipment,
such as labor and materials. The suggested factors for each of these costs are
shown inTable 1.4. The annual cost for each item is calculated by multiplying the
number of unitsused annually (i.e., hours, pounds, gallons, kwh) by the associated
unit cost.
Operating labor is estimated at ½-hour per 8-hour shift. The supervisory labor
costis estimated at 15 percent of the operating labor cost. Maintenance labor is
estimated at1/2-hour per 8-hour shift. Maintenance materials costs are assumed
to equal maintenance labor costs.
Solvent costs are dependent on the total liquid throughput, the type of solvent
required,and the fraction of throughput wasted (often referred to as blow-down).
Typically, thefraction of solvent wasted varies from 0.1 percent to 10 percent of
tire total solventthroughout. For acid gas systems, the amount of solvent wasted is
determined by thesolids content, with bleed off occurring when solids content
reaches 10 to 15 percentto prevent salt carry-over.

The total annual cost of solvent (Cs) is given by

where WF is the waste (make-up) fraction, and the solvent unit cost is expressed in terms of
$/gal.

The cost of chemical replacement (Cc) is based on the annual consumption of the chemical
and can be calculated by:

where the chemical unit cost is in terms of $/lb.

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 Table: 1.1 Capital Cost Factors for Gas Absorbers

COST ITEM FACTOR

1. Direct costs
Purchased equipment costs

Absorber + packing + auxiliary equipment As estimated, A = 2,20,00,000

, EC
Instrumentation 0.10A=220,000

Sales taxes 0.03A=660,000

Freight 0.05A=1100000

Purchased equipment cost(PEC) B=1.18A

=2,59,60,000

2. Direct installation costs

Foundations & supports 0.12B =31,15,200

Handling and erection 0.40B =1,03,84,000

Electrical 0.01B =259600

Piping 0.30B = 7,78,800

insulation 0.01B = 259600

Painting 0.01B = 259600

=0.85B =2,20,66,000

Site preparation As required, SP

Building As required, Bldg.

Total Direct Costs, (DC) =1.85 B + SP + Bldg= 48026000 + SP + Bldg

TABLE 1.2
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 3.Indirect costs (Installation)

Engineering 0.10B = 25,96,000

Construction and field expenses 0.10B =25,96,000

Contractor fees 0.10B =25,96,000

Start-up 0.01B =2,59,600

Performance test 0.01B =2,59,600

Contingencies 0.03B =7,78,800

Total Indirect costs(IC) =0.35B = 90,86,000

Total Capital Investment = DC+ IC =2.20 B + SP + Bldg= 5,71,12,000

TABLE 1.3

25
 TAC = 5,71,12,000

Source: https://www.academia.edu/6911502/Section_5_SO_2_and_Acid_Gas_Controls

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 5. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

Results:
DESIGN CALCULATIONS FOR CO2 SCRUBBER:

Di = 0.077 m
Do = 0.088 m
Di,gas = 0.1407 m
∆𝑃 1000
( ) = 0.115 ∗ 180.7 = 0.6539 inch.
𝐿 1040

Tower height for CO2 scrubber is found to be 21.77 m

Conclusion:
 Effective packing type is Random with PAL rings, which will selectively remove CO2 from
biogas feed

 While estimating the annual cost, the total annual cost (TAC) is the sum of thedirect and
indirect annual costs.

 The total annual cost estimated here is 5,71,12,000

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 REFRENCES
[1] Control Technologies for Hazardous Air Pollutants, Office of Research and Development, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Par,, North Carolina, Publication No. EPA
625/6-91-014.
[2] McInnes, R., K. Jameson, and D. Austin, “Scrubbing Toxic Inorganics”, Chemical Engineering,
September 1990, pp. 116-121.
[3] Treybal, Robert E., Mass Transfer Operations (Third edition), McGraw-Hill Book Company,
New York, 1980.
[4] Perry, R.H. and C.H. Chilton, Eds., Chemical Engineers’ Handbook (Sixth edition), McGraw-
Hill Book Company, New York, 1984.
[5] Crowe, Charles R., and D. Cooper, “Brick/Membrane Linings Pass the Acid Test”, Chemical
Engineering, July 1988, pp. 83-86.
[6] Harrison, Mark E., and John J. France, “Distillation Column Troubleshooting, Part 2: Packed
Columns”, Chemical Engineering, April 1989, pp. 121-128.
[7] Coker, A.K., “Understanding the Basics of Packed-Column Design”, Chemical Engineering
Progress, November 1991, pp. 93-99.
[8] Design and scale-up of an oxidative scrubbing process for the selective removal of hydrogen
sulfide from biogas J Krischan 1, A Makaruk, M Harasek
[9] Buonicore, A.J., and L. Theodore, Industrial Control Equipment for Gaseous Pollutants,
Volume I, CRC Press, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, 1975.1-45
[10] Strigle, Ralph F., Random Packings and Packed Towers, Design Applications, Gulf Publishing
Company, Houston, Texas, 1987.
[11] Memorandum from Vatavuk, W.M. of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to Martha
Smith, U.S. EPA, March 27, 1992..
[12] Vatavuk, W.M., “Pricing Equipment for Air-Pollution Control”, Chemical Engineering, May
1990, pp. 126-130.
[13] Vatavuk, W.M., and R.B. Neveril, “Estimating Costs of Pollution Control Systems, Part II:
Factors for Estimating Capital and Operating Costs”, Chemical Engineering, November 3, 1980,
pp. 157-162.

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