Removal of Nitrogen Dioxide and Sulfur Dioxide from Air Streams by Absorption in Urea Solution

Mahmood M. Barbooti, Neran K. Ibraheem, Awni H. Ankosh

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DOI: 10.4236/jep.2011.22020                

Abstract

The study focuses on the absorption rates of NO2, SO2 and a mixture of these two acid gases into urea solution in packed bed column. The absorption rate was studied as a function of absorbent temperature, urea concentration and acid gas concentration. The influence of liquid temperature between 10 - 40?C, urea concentration between 0.1 - 0.5 M and acid gas concentration NO2 between 100 - 1000 ppm (191 - 1910 mg/m3), SO2 between 500 - 2500 ppm (1310 - 6530 mg/m3) were investigated. The mass gas flow rate of 20.646 (kg/m2.min) at 25?C and the absorption rate were determined by measuring the NO2 and SO2 concentrations in the inlet and outlet streams of the absorptioncolumn. The absorption rate of SO2 increases with the decrease of temperature of absorbent (urea solution) and with the increase of the urea concentration. The presence of NO2 in the effluent gas stream lowers the absorption rate of SO2 in urea solution due to the fast reaction of NO2 with urea as compared with SO2. The absorption rate of NO2 decreases as the urea concentration exceeds 0.4 mol/l and for NO2 gas concentration of 100 ppm due to the decrease the diffusivity of the gas. The experimental data were analyzed using dimensionless analysis to find the correlation of mass transfer coefficient in the packed column Sh (H / dp)1.2 = 4.19*10–2 *(G' dp / μg)0.87 (μg / ρg DAB)0.60 The results confirmed the hypothesis that the absorption is accompanied with chemical reaction. Also it is found the increasing the temperature of absorbent solution the absorption rate of two gases is decreases. The mass transfer coefficient models are in good agreements with the Kramer’s equation.

Keywords

Sulfur Dioxide Removal, Nitrogen Dioxide Removal, Column Absorption, Removal of Acid Gases, Air Pollution Prevention

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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