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HUMIDIFICATION
DR. AZAM T MOHD DIN
SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA
Semester II, 2014/2015
TEXT BOOKS
OUTLINES
Principles and theory of humidification process
Introduction to industrial
dehumidification equipment
Design of cooling tower
humidification
&
www.spxcooling.com/
HUMIDITY
Psychrometry
Moist air
100% humidity
London, 2006-2012
Penang, 2006-2012
Enthalpy
Dry-bulb Temperature
It is true temperature of air measured (or, any
non-condensable and condensable mixture) by a
thermometer whose bulb is dry.
Wet-bulb Temperature
It is the steady-state temperature attained by a
small amount of evaporating water in a manner
such that the sensible heat transferred from the
air to the liquid is equal to the latent heat
required for evaporation.
Dew point
A temperature at which a vapor-gas mixture must be cooled (at
constant humidity) to become saturated.
The dew point of a saturated gas equals the gas temperature.
Relative humidity
It is the ratio of partial pressure of water vapor
(pA) in air at a given temperature to the vapor
pressure of water (pvA) at the same temperature.
Re lative humidity
pA
v
pA
x100%
Eq. 2
where, Y is absolute humidity of sample of air and Ys is humidity at same temperature and pressure
if saturated with water vapor.
Eq. 3
Humid volume
The humid volume, vH, is defined as the volume of
unit mass of dry air with accompanying water
vapor at a given temperature and pressure.
Eq. 5
Humid Heat
The humid heat, cH, is the heat energy required to raise the
temperature of unit mass of dry air with the accompanying
water vapor by one (1) degree.
Enthalpy
The enthalpy of a vapor-gas mixture, H is the sum of
the relative enthalpies of gas and vapor content.
Eq. 7
At 0 C, 0 = 2500 kj/kg
Sensible heat
When an object is heated, its temperature rises as heat is added. The increase in heat is called sensible heat. Similarly,
when heat is removed from an object and its temperature falls, the heat removed is also called sensible heat. Heat that
causes a change in temperature in an object is called sensible heat.
Latent heat
All pure substances in nature are able to change their state. Solids can become liquids (ice to water) and liquids can
become gases (water to vapor) but changes such as these require the addition or removal of heat. The heat that causes
these changes is called latent heat.
Latent heat however, does not affect the temperature of a substance - for example, water remains at 100C while boiling.
The heat added to keep the water boiling is latent heat. Heat that causes a change of state with no change in temperature
is called latent heat.
Appreciating this difference is fundamental to understanding why refrigerant is used in cooling systems. It also explains
why the terms 'total capacity' (sensible & latent heat) and 'sensible capacity' are used to define a unit's cooling capacity.
During the cooling cycling, condensation forms within the unit due to the removal of latent heat from the air. Sensible
capacity is the capacity required to lower the temperature and latent capacity is the capacity to remove the moisture from
the air.
Ref: https://www.spaceair.co.uk/faqs/what-is-the-difference-between-sensible-and-latent-heat
an adiabatic saturator is a device in which air flows through an infinitely long duct
containing water.
As the air comes in contact with water in the duct, there will be heat and mass transfer
between water and air.
If the duct is infinitely long, then at the exit, there would exist perfect equilibrium
between air and water at steady state. Air at the exit would be fully saturated and its
temperature is equal to that of water temperature.
The device is adiabatic as the walls of the chamber are thermally insulated. In order to
continue the process, makeup water has to be provided to compensate for the amount of
water evaporated into the air. The temperature of the make-up water is controlled so
that it is the same as that in the duct.
Psychrometric Charts
The psychrometric chart characterizes the interdependences of seven properties of water-vapour
mixture:
dry-bulb temperature
wet-bulb temperature,
relative humidity,
absolute humidity,
dew point,
enthalpy and
specific volume
The point m gives the humid volume if the humidity is Y and it is reached by
interpolation between g and f.
Enthalpy of a sample of air can also be obtained from humidity chart.
IN-CLASS EXERCISE 1
Determine the following psychrometric properties of a moist air sample having a dry bulb
temperature 27C and a humidity of 0.015 kg/kg dry air using the pyschrometric chart and/or
the vapour pressure equation for water:
a) Relative humidity
b) Dew point
e) Enthalpy
f) Humid volume
g) Humid heat
DEFINITIONS
Humidification involves the transfer of water from the
liquid phase into a gaseous mixture of air and water
vapor (Geankoplis, 2003).
The process of increasing the moisture content of air
is called humidification (Dutta, 2007)
What is dehumidification?
The hot water which is coming from heat exchanger is sprayed at the top of the cooling
tower.
Air enters through the louvers at the two opposite walls of the cooling tower.
During cooling process of water, around 2% water is evaporated. Make water is used to
compensate the water loss due to evaporation.
Blowdown is there to drain a part of water containing solid deposit.
The exit cold water from the cooling tower is used in the heat exchanger or other unit
operation.
Fan is used to enhance the air flow rate in fan assisted natural draft tower.
The typical diameter of tower is 100 m, heigh of 150 m and capacity is
5,00,000 gallon/minute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggg3C87UVCY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKzenFW0ZIg
Induced draft
Fans are used to move air through the tower in mechanical draft
cooling towers.
FORDED DRAFT: It has one or more fans located at the tower bottom to push air into tower.
Advantages:
(a) A part of the velocity head of air thrown by the blower is converted to pressure head on entering
into the tower. It makes energy efficient than induced draft.
(b) Less susceptible to vibrations as fans are installed near the ground.
Disadvantages:
(a) Air flow through the packing may not be uniform
(b) Some of the warm and humid air may be recirculated back. Recirculation rate becomes low if the
wind velocity is high. It is not popular except for small capacities.
Induced draft towers: One or more fans are installed at the top of the tower. Depending on the air inlet
and flow pattern, induced draft towers are of two types, cross-flow and counter flow towers.
Major advantages of countercurrent induced draft cooling tower
(a) Relatively dry air contacts the coldest water at the bottom of the cooling tower
(b) Humid air is in contact with the warm water and hence maximum average driving force prevails for
both heat and mass transfer.
Disadvantage of induced draft towers compared to forced draft towers
Counterflow
Cross flow
Drift Eliminator
In every cooling tower there is a loss of water to the environment due to the evaporative cooling
process.
This evaporation is usually in the form of pure water vapor and presents no harm to the
environment.
Drift, however, is the undesirable loss of liquid water to the environment via small droplets that
become entrained in the leaving air stream.
There, water droplets carry with them chemicals and minerals, thus impacting the surrounding
environment.
http://www.towercomponentsinc.com/operation-drift-eliminator.php
Tower Problems
Scale inorganic minerals CA2CO3 etc.
Fouling waterborne contaminants
Microbial growth bacteria, algae, fungi, legiollosis
Corrosion
Consequences
Energy losses
What happened if the designed wet bulb temperature is higher than the actual wet bulb
temperature?
Let, L is the constant water flow rate (kg/m2s) and Gs is the air
rate (kg dry air/m2s). Across a differential thickness dz of the
bed, temperature of water is decreased by dTL and the
enthalpy of air is increased by dH.
Hence, change in enthalpy of water = L.cWL.dTL and,
Eq. 8
Eq. 9
Eq. 12
Eq. 14
Eq. 15
In Class Example
A cooling tower is to be designed to cool water from 45C to 30C by
countercurrent contact with air of dry bulb temperature 30C and wet bulb
temperature of 25C. The water rate is 5500 kg/m2.h and the air rate is 1.25
times the minimum. Determine the tower height if the individual gas-phase
mass transfer coefficient (kY/) is 5743.5 kg/m3h. The volumetric water side heat
transfer coefficient is given by hL=0.059L0.51Gs, in Kcal/m3hK, where L and Gs are
mass flow rates of water and air (dry basis).
Antoine Equation: ln PVA(bar)=11.96481-3984.923/(T-39.724)
Solutions
TG1 = 30, TW = TS = 25, used a psychrometric chart to read Y.
From chart, Y1 = 0.019
Now, used equation 6 & 7 to calculate H1
TL1 = 30, TL2 = 45
Locate point Q(TL1,H1 ) (Lower terminal of operating line) at Q(30, 78.7) on TL-H plane.
Draw a tangent to the equilibrium line through Q. Slope of the tangent is 8.44.
H2 = 180 kJ/kg
locate point P (TL2, H2) (Upper terminal of the operating line) at P (45, 180) on TL-H2 plane.
Solved for x1 and draw the 1st tie line. Subsequently, replicate the line by maintaining the same
slope to get a set of tie lines.
250
Equilibrium Line
230
Q point
210
Tangent
P Point
190
170
Operating Line
150
130
110
90
Tie line
70
50
22
27
32
37
Temperature (Celcius)
42
47
A set of tie lines of this slope is drawn from several points on the operating line. These tie lines
meet the equilibrium line at (TLi,Hi ). Hence, the points (H, Hi ) are obtained.
TL
30
32.5
35
37.5
40
42.5
45
H'
78.7
96.4
112.8
130.3
148.8
165.3
184
TLi
28.7
31.4
33.9
36.6
39
41.4
43.7
H'i
93.0
107.5
123.2
139.9
158.4
177
198.8
1/(H'-H'i)
0.070
0.090
0.096
0.104
0.104
0.085
0.068
0.120
0.100
1(H'-H'i)
0.080
0.060
0.040
0.020
0.000
78.0
98.0
118.0
138.0
H'
158.0
178.0
Blowdown
During the cooling process of hot water in cooling tower, around 2% water
evaporates.
In the long run, it increases the solid content in the circulating water. Some dust
particles also come from the environment and mix with circulating water.
The solid content of the cooled water must be kept under a certain limit to avoid
scaling or fouling on the heat exchange equipment.
A part of the circulating water is drained from the bottom of the cooling tower to
discard the deposited solids from the cooling tower blowdown.
The losses due to blowdown, evaporation, drift and leakage are compensated by
adding make-up water.
The water vaporized (E) does not have any solids in it, and the TDS in the
blowdown and in the drift is the same as that in the circulating water.
(B + D + E)C1 = (B + D) C2
Where r = C2/C1
M Makeup rate
B Blowdown rate
D Rate of looses due to drift
and leakages
C1 = dissolved content in the
makeup water
C2 = dissolved content in the
circulating water
IN CLASS EXAMPLE
An induced draft crossflow tower is rated to cool 15000 gpm of
water from 40C to 29C. The total solid concentration must not
exceed 900 ppm. The TDS of the makeup water is 300 ppm. About
0.1% of the water is lost by drift from the tower and leakages in the
circulation system. Calculate the blowdown and makeup rate.
Solutions
The range = 40 29 = 11C = 19.8 F
E = (15000)(19.8)(0.0008) = 237.6 gpm
D = 0.1% x 15000 = 15 gpm
r = C2/C1 = 900/300 = 3
B = [(237.6 15(3-1)]/(3-1) = 104 gpm
M = B + D + E = 104 + 15 + 237.6 = 356.6 gpm