CHAPTER 1

HUMIDIFICATION OPERATIONS
by: Dr. Nor Shahirah Mohd Nasir (Dr. Sera)
Section of Chemical Engineering Technology (Process)
Email: norshahirah@unikl.edu.my
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:

 Explain the concept of humidification and

dehumidification processes.
 Define important terms in humidification operation.
 Perform calculation in this topic.
What is humidity?

humidity humidification dehumidification

• the amount of water vapor in the air

• the amount of moisture the air can hold before it rains
• The more water in the air, the higher we say that the humidity
has risen

the presence of a liquid,

especially water
 What is humidity?

-humidity levels can be very high.

-Warm air feels even warmer as humidity increases.
-When our bodies heat up, we depend on evaporation of
moisture from the surface of our skin to cool us down, but,
as humidity increases, the speed at which water evaporates
decreases. High humidity slows down our natural cooling
system.
Why is humidity important?
Introduction
 Humidification

 The transfer of water from the liquid phase into a

gaseous mixture of water vapor in air
 To increase the amount of vapor present in a gas
stream.
 The vapor content may be increased by passing the gas
over a liquid which then evaporates into the gas stream.

gas
liquid
mixture
Introduction
 Dehumidification

 Reverse transfer where the water vapor is transferred

from the vapor state to the liquid state.
 To reduce the vapor present in a gas stream.
 Partial condensation must be effected and
the condensed vapor removed.

gas
liquid
mixture
Vapor pressure of water and physical states

 Pure water can exist in 3 physical states:

solid, liquid and vapor.
 The physical state in which it exists depends
on the pressure and temperature.

vapor gas
Introduction
 Vapor – the gaseous form of the component
that also present as liquid
 Gas – the component present only in gaseous
form
 Most widespread application involves air-water
system
Vapor pressure of water and physical
states
Vapor pressure of water and physical
states

 Liquid and vapor coexist in equilibrium

along line OA, which is the vapor pressure
line of water.
 The vapor pressure of water is not
influenced by the presence of an inert gas
such as air.
Basic Terms in Humidification

1) Humidity, H
Mass of vapor carried by a unit mass of vapor-free gas
(dry air)
MA pA

M B (P  pA )

MA = molecular weight of component vapor

MB = molecular weight of component gas
P = total pressure
pA = partial pressure
Basic Terms in Humidification
2) Humidity of saturated air, Hs
- Humidity of the vapor when it is saturated with liquid
at a given pressure and temperature.
- Partial pressure of vapor in saturated gas equals the
vapor pressure of liquid at a given temperature.

MA p AS
s 
M B ( P  p AS )

pAS = vapor pressure of component vapor

Basic Terms in Humidification
“compares how much
3) Percentage relative humidity, HR water is in the air with
how much could be in
the air”

Ratio of the partial pressure of vapor to the saturation

vapor partial pressure at the gas temperature.

pA
R   100
p AS
Basic Terms in Humidification
4) Percentage humidity, HP
Ratio of the actual humidity of air to the saturation
humidity at the same pressure and temperature

 p /( P  p A ) P  p AS
P  100  A 100   R
s p AS /( P  p AS ) P  pA
Basic Terms in Humidification
5) Humid heat, cs
The heat energy necessary to increase the temperature
of 1 kg or 1 lb of gas plus whatever vapor it may contain
by 1oC or 1 K

cs  c pA  c pB 
cpA – specific heats of gas
cpB – specific heats of vapor

“there is more moisture into

the air which will cause to
sweat more”
“just the temperature
outside and nothing makes
it hotter that is in the air
humid heat”
Basic Terms in Humidification
Humid heat, cs
For air – water system;
In SI unit (kJ/kg.K):

cs  1.005  1.88
In English unit (btu/lbm.oF):

cs  0.24  0.45
Basic Terms in Humidification
6) Humid volume, H
The total volume of a unit of gas plus whatever vapor it
may contain at 1 atm and the gas temperature.
In SI unit (m3/kg):

22.4T  1  
H    
273  M B M A 

 H  (2.83 103  4.56 103 )T

T = temperature (K)
Basic Terms in Humidification
Humid volume
In English unit (ft3/lbm):

359T  1  
H    
492  M B M A 

H  (0.0252  0.0405)T

T = temperature (ºR)
For vapor-free gas: H = 0
For saturated gas: H = Hs
Basic Terms in Humidification
“Total energy of thermodynamic
7) Total enthalpy, Hy system: internal, thermodynamic
potential, volume, pressure”

The enthalpy of a unit mass of gas plus whatever vapor

it may contain.
Total enthalpy = sensible heat of vapor + latent heat of
the liquid + sensible heat of vapor-free gas

H y  C pA (T  T0 )  0  C pB(T  T0 )
H y  Cs (T  T0 )  0
Basic Terms in Humidification
Total enthalpy, Hy
For air – water system, if the total enthalpy is referred
to liquid water;
In SI unit (kJ/kg):

H y  (1.005  1.88)(T  To C )  o

o

In English unit (btu/lbm):

H y  (0.24  0.45)(T  To F )  o

o
Basic Terms in Humidification
Total enthalpy, Hy
For air – water system, if the total enthalpy is referred to a
base temperature To of 0oC (32oF);
In SI unit (kJ/kg):
H y  (1.005  1.88 )(T  0)  2501.4
In English unit (btu/lbm):

H y  (0.24  0.45 )(T  32)  1075.4

Example 1.1

In a vessel at 101.3 kN/m2 and 300 K, the percentage

relative humidity of the water vapor in the air is 25. If the
partial pressure of water vapor when air is saturated with
vapor at 300 K is 3.6 kN/m2, calculate:
a) The partial pressure of the water vapor in the vessel
b) The humidity of the air
c) The percentage humidity
Solution:
a) The partial pressure of the water vapor in the vessel.
From the definition of percentage relative humidity, HR

pA
R   100
p AS

p AS  H R
pA 
100
2
(3.6kN / m )( 25)
pA   0.9kN / m 2

100
b) The humidity of the air

 M A  pA
H   
 M B  P  pA
 18.02  0 .9
 
 28.97  101.3  0.9
 0.0055kg / kg
c) The percentage humidity

 p A /( P  p A ) P  p AS
P  100  100   R
s p AS /( P  p AS ) P  pA
101.3  3.6
 A  25  24.33 o o
101.3  0.9
Example 1.2: Check your understanding!

The air in a room is at 26.7oC (80oF) and a pressure of

101.325 kPa and contains water vapor with a partial
pressure of 2.76 kPa. The vapor pressure of water is 3.50
kPa. Calculate the following.

a) Humidity
b) Saturation humidity
c) Percentage humidity
d) Percentage relative humidity
Dry Bulb, Wet Bulb and Dew Point
Temperature
Psychrometric Chart

cold measurement
Dry Bulb Temperature, Tdb

 is the most common measure of temperature

measured by a thermometer with a dry bulb.
 Referred to ambient air temperature
 Called ‘dry bulb’ because the air temperature is
indicated by a thermometer not affected by
moisture of air.
 Shown along the bottom axis of psychrometric
chart
Dry Bulb Temperature, Tdb

 the vertical lines represent dry bulb temperature.

 the highlighted vertical lines illustrates the
increase and decrease in temperature
 as you go towards the right side, it means that
there is more sensible heat
 as you go towards the left side, it means that
there is less sensible heat
 Sensible heating and cooling
 A psychrometric process that involves the increase or
decrease in the temperature of air without changing
its humidity ratio.

Represent
moisture
The heat in the condensed water
content
is normally very small relative to
the total cooling load

Process where Process where

the Tdb is the Tdb is
reduced increased

The air passes over a hot and dry

surface using steam or hot water
Wet Bulb Temperature, Twb

 the temperature as measured by a thermometer

whose bulb is surrounded by a damp wick.
 used to show adiabatic changes on the
Psychrometric Chart
 a change that does not result in a change of total-
heat content of the air
 Shown identical with 100% relative humidity in
psychrometric chart
process is one in which no heat
is gained or lost by the system
**all the changes in the energy
only in the form of work**
Wet Bulb Temperature, Twb

 Lines of wet bulb temperatures run diagonally

from the upper left to the lower right on the
chart (yellow)
 wet bulb temperature is always lower than the
corresponding dry bulb temperature (orange)
 because evaporation makes it cooler
 Shown identical with 100% relative humidity in
psychrometric chart
Relative humidity

 the percentage of humidity in the air relative to

the saturation line, which is the maximum that it
can hold
 the amount of water vapor in the air at any given
time is usually less than that required to saturate
the air

the amount of moisture in the air

compared to what the air can
"hold" at that temperature. When
the air can't "hold" all the moisture,
then it condenses as dew water in the form of
droplets that appears
on thin, exposed
objects in the morning T low, it form
ice
Relative humidity
Dew point temperature

 the temperature at which the air becomes

completely saturated and the water starts to
precipitate out of the air
 the temperature at which the air can no longer
hold all of its water vapor, and some of the water
vapor must condense into liquid water
 highlights the horizontal lines
Dew point temperature
Dew point temperature

 If the air temperature cools to the dew point, or if the

dew point rises to equal the air temperature, then dew,
fog or clouds begin to form. At this point where the dew
point temperature equals the air temperature, the
relative humidity is 100%.

 A reading of 100 percent relative humidity means sweat

will not evaporate into the air or the air is totally
saturated with water vapor and cannot hold any more
and forming the cloud
Enthalphy-humidity chart
Humid volume

Humid Volume = volume of humid air / mass of dry air

Try your understanding!

 Given dry bulb temperature: 29oC

Relative humidity: 40%
What is the humidity ratio?
Try your understanding!

 Given dry bulb temperature: 29oC

Humidity ratio: 0.02 kg H2O/kg dry air
What is the relative humidity?
Try your understanding!

Air entering a dryer has a temperature (dry bulb

temperature) of 60oC (140oF) and a dew point of
26.7oC (80oF). Using the humidity chart, determine
the following in SI unit.
a) Humidity
b) Percentage humidity
c) Humid heat
d) Humid volume