GRANGE Manon - JOHNSON Siya - JYOTI Suman - NANDIGAM Komali
13/11/25
Discus column
Objectives
Materials, Methods and Techniques
Results
Commentaries / Conclusion
Objectives
We are working on a column with wet disks inside (discus column), one of the mass transfer
lab works. We need to experimentally determine and study the global gas-side transfer
coefficient, kG, of water in the air. This coefficient is going to be evaluated as an operating
condition of the air flow rate. We also need to evaluate the influence of the gas flow on some
parameters related to mass transfer (number of transfer units NTU, exchange efficiency…).
To do that, we are going to fill a column with water to wet the disks inside. We impose the
flow rate of the water and the gas, and the pressure. Every five minutes, we collect the
temperature data written on the digital screen. We can then determine the transfer
coefficient with a psychrometric chart and deduct the other parameters.
Materials, Methods and Techniques
We are working with a column containing wet disks. The water flows in the column to wet the
disks, while air circulates against the current (counter-current). To determine the global gas-
side transfer coefficient, we need several values, such as air humidity and its flow. The air
humidity is determined by the dry and humid temperatures that we can read on the digital
screen. We are working at a steady state with continuous air and water flow.
We took the six values of temperature every five minutes for the outlet humidity, and after
five minutes only for the inlet humidity. We also changed the water flow, respectively to 6
L/h, 8 L/h, and 10 L/h. The air flow also changed, from 500 L/h, then 600 L/h, and 700 L/h.
With our values of temperature, we can use a psychometric chart to determine the different
values of humidity (saturation, inlet, outlet). We can then have the average exchange
potential ΔWml. To obtain the mass of water transferred, we use the density of water and the
flow of water. All of these results lead us to the value of the mass transfer coefficient kG,
thanks to the equation :
M '=k G AΔ W ML
Results
To determine M’, we use ρwater and Qwater.
1000∗500
When Qwater = 500 L/h M ' 500 = =138.9 kg /s
3600
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GRANGE Manon - JOHNSON Siya - JYOTI Suman - NANDIGAM Komali
13/11/25
1000∗600
When Qwater = 600 L/h M ' 600 = =166.7 kg/ s
3600
1000∗700
When Qwater = 700 L/h M ' 500 = =194.4 kg/ s
3600
So the massic flow increases when the volumetric flow increases, which is pretty logical.
To determine Ws, We, and Wsat, we use T5 (dry temperature) and T6 (humid temperature),
which we measured for every flow every five minutes.
T5 is likely the same at every flow (between 19.6°C and 19.7°C).
T6 changes more (from 13.1°C to 14,5 °C).
T5 helps us with the determination of We, while we need T6 for Ws. T5 and T6 are crossing
on the chart to find the different values. We can also find Wsat with the blue curves.
Q (L/h) Ws (kg/kg) Wsat (%) We (kg/kg)
500 0.0081 0.57 0.0089
600 0.007 0.46 0.0087
700 0.0067 0.43 0.0088
Table 1 : Examples of values found with the psychometric chart
We can notice that when the flow increases, Ws and Wsat decrease. That can be explained
because, since the flow is more important, the disks are wet, but less longer, and with more
air, so less humidity at the outlet of the column.
With all those values, we can obtain ΔWml and ,therefore, the gas side mass transfer kG.
For example, at 20 min, with Qwater = 500 L/h :
(W sat −W s)−(W sat −W e ) (0.51−0.0079)−(0.51−0.0089)
Δ W ML = =0.5016
W sat −W s = 0.51−0.0079
ln ( ) ln( )
W sat −W e 0.51−0.0089
M'
We can obtain kG, with the following equation K G = , knowing that A = 0.005 m 2.
A Δ W ML
In the previous example, with ΔWml, kG is then kG = 55378.4 kg/s.m 2.
W sat −W s
We can say that NTU =ln . This number refers to a dimensionless measure of
W sat −¿ W ¿
e
how much mass transfer occurs in a gas–liquid contactor (so here, the discus column).
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GRANGE Manon - JOHNSON Siya - JYOTI Suman - NANDIGAM Komali
13/11/25
We can notice that kG and NTU increase with the flow and time. Indeed, higher gas velocity
reduces the thickness of the gas boundary layer. The mass transfer is evolving and
improves.
W s−W e
Efficiency can be defined like this : ε =
W sat −W e
The efficiency is, overall, extremely high (around 99%). That’s almost too good. We may be
wrong on the calculation. Only an ideal column could have results like this. On the other
hand, we can notice that efficiency is decreasing when the flow is increasing, and the more
the time passes. It’s quite logical, because the more flow is going into the installation, the
less we can act on the other parameters of the column. Since the flow is stronger, and the
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GRANGE Manon - JOHNSON Siya - JYOTI Suman - NANDIGAM Komali
13/11/25
time is longer, it can impact the values of humidity, resistance, and isolation of the column.
Commentaries / Conclusion
Many observations have been made during this experience about the mass transfer
coefficient, the influence of the gas flow on different parameters, and even the height of the
column to obtain a specific value of humidity.
Increasing the gas velocity generally increases turbulence, so does increases the mass
transfer coefficient kG. The interfacial area A may also change.
For a fixed column, increasing the gas flow reduces the exchange efficiency and the number
of transfer units NTU. But not in this case, because the flowrate are not that high. The outlet
humidity moves farther from saturation, and there is way less contact inside the column.
kG
When the gas velocity increases, so does G and kG, and so on. But decreases when the
G
gas flow increases, and so does NTU when the flowrate is too important.
It’s complicated to find a relative humidity > 80% regardless of the operating conditions,
because it depends of the gas nature, the liquid nature (variations of the saturation humidity,
inlet and outlet…). The height can become very high, and then impractical for lab work.
With G being the mass velocity, we can determine H with the NTU.
kG G
NTU = ∗H ⇔ H= NTU
G k G
H increases roughly proportional to G except for the smaller compensation of increase of kG
with velocity. The final height for this column should be around 2 meters, which is not
adapted for the work we did. The scaling and sizing should be adjusted in a room with
enough space.