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Mass Transfer I
Dr. Ujwal Shreenag Meda
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemcial Engineering
RV College of Engineering

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Humidification & Dehumidification

Humidification and dehumidification

• A pure liquid is in contact with an inert gas insoluble in liquid

• Liquid and gas are mostly water and air respectively

• Liquid vaporizes and the vapors are transferred to gas phase in humidification

• The vapors are condense and transferred to liquid phase in dehumidification

• The liquid phase is pure

• no concentration gradient

• No resistance to mass transfer in liquid phase

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Humidification & Dehumidification

• Mass transfer in these operations is confined to gas phase

• Simultaneous transfer of mass and heat governs the operations

• Heat transfer significantly influences the rate of mass transfer

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Applications
• Liquid cooling
• Hot liquid is brought in direct contact with cold gas

• Cooling takes place by the transfer of sensible heat and by vaporization

• Use of cooling towers to cool process water

• Gas cooling
• Gases are cooled by direct contact with liquid

• Works in the case where the presence of vapors in gas is not objectionable

• The process is free from fouling and economical

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Applications
• Adiabatic humidification
• Certain processes require gas of controlled humidity and temperature

• Gas humidity can be controlled by adiabatic humidification

• Dehumidification
• Adiabatic dehumidification is achieved by direct contact of the gas with cold liquid

• Can also be achieved under non-adiabatic conditions

• Solvent recovery, gas drying, air conditioning are some of the examples

• Evaporative cooling and water desalination

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VLE for pure substances

• A pure liquid will be in contact with a gas phase

• Vaporization or condensation takes place until equilibrium between the phase is attained

• When dry air comes in contact with water, vaporization occurs, air picks up moisture

• An equilibrium is established, partial pressure of water vapor in air remains constant until
the equilibrium is disturbed

• The air is said to be saturated with water vapor

• Partial pressure at saturation = vapor pressure of the liquid

• Equilibrium partial pressure is a function of temp and independent of pressure at moderate

pressures

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VLE for pure substances

• Vapor pressure vs temperature

• At a given temperature, water exerts a

definite vapor pressure

• Vapor pressure increases with temperature

• At equilibrium, partial pressure = vapor

pressure

• At 340 K, vapor pressure = 27.34 kPa

• At equilibrium, partial pressure = 27.34 kPa

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Terminology
Humidity

• used to indicate the concentration of vapor in the gas-vapor mixture

• Amount of vapor present per unit quantity of vapor-free gas

• Can be expressed on mole basis or on mass basis

Molal Humidity, 𝒀

• Moles of vapor present per mole of vapor-free gas

𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝐴
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑙 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦 = =
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝐵
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Terminology
Molal Humidity, 𝒀

• Moles of vapor present per mole of vapor-free gas

𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝐴
𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑙 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑌 = =
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝐵

𝑝𝐴 𝑉 𝑝𝐵 𝑉
𝑛𝐴 = ; 𝑛𝐵 =
𝑅𝑇 𝑅𝑇

𝑛𝐴 𝑝𝐴 𝑝𝐴 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟

𝑌= = = =
𝑛𝐵 𝑝𝐵 𝑃 − 𝑝𝐴 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑔𝑎𝑠

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Terminology
Saturated Molal Humidity or Molal Humidity at Saturation or Molal Saturation
Humidity, 𝒀𝑺

• Gas saturated with vapors

𝑝𝐴𝑣
𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑙 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑌𝑆 =
𝑃 − 𝑝𝐴𝑣

• 𝑝𝐴𝑣 is vapor pressure of the liquid A

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Terminology
Absolute Humidity or Humidity, 𝒀′

• The mass of vapor present per unit mass of vapor-free gas

𝑚𝐴
𝐴𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑌′ =
𝑚𝐵

𝑚𝐴 𝑛𝐴 ∙ 𝑀𝐴 𝑀𝐴 𝑝𝐴 𝑀𝐴
𝑌′ = = =𝑌× = ×
𝑚𝐵 𝑛𝐵 ∙ 𝑀𝐵 𝑀𝐵 𝑃 − 𝑝𝐴 𝑀𝐵

• Relation between absolute humidity and molal humidity

• 𝑀𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝐵 are the molecular weights of A and B respectively

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Terminology
Saturated Absolute Humidity or Absolute Humidity at Saturation or Absolute
Saturation Humidity, 𝒀′𝑺
𝑣
′
𝑝𝐴 𝑀𝐴
𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝐴𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑌𝑆 = 𝑣×
𝑃 − 𝑝𝐴 𝑀𝐵

• Relation between absolute humidity and molal humidity

• 𝑀𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝐵 are the molecular weights of A and B respectively

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Problem 1
A mixture of acetone vapor and nitrogen gas at 101.3 kPa and 300 K contains
acetone vapor to the extent that it exerts a partial pressure of 20kPa. The vapor
pressure of acetone is given by Antoine equation

2795.817
ln 𝑝𝑣 = 14.39155 −
𝑇 − 43.198

Where the pressure is in kPa and the temperature in K. Determine the molal
humidity, absolute humidity, molal saturation humidity, and absolute saturation
humidity

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Terminology
Relative Humidity or Relative Saturation

Ratio of the actual pressure exerted by the vapor to its vapor pressure at the same temperature, expressed as percentage

𝑝𝐴
𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦 = × 100
𝑝𝐴𝑣

Percent Humidity (Percent Saturation)

Ratio of the moles of vapor present per mole of dry gas under the existing condition to the moles of vapor present per
mole of dry gas under the saturated condition, expressed as percentage

(𝑛𝐴 /𝑛𝐵 )
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦 = × 100
𝑛𝐴 /𝑛𝐵 𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑌 𝑌′
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦 = × 100 = × 100
𝑌𝑆 𝑌′𝑆

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Problem 2
A mixture of acetone vapor and nitrogen gas at 101.3 kPa and 300 K contains
acetone vapor to the extent that it exerts a partial pressure of 20 kPa. The vapor
pressure of acetone at 300 K is 33.26 kPa. Determine the relative saturation and
the percent saturation of the mixture.

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Problem 3
Air contains 0.015 kg water vapor per cubic meter of the mixture at 300 K and 101.3 kPa.
Determine:

1. The partial pressure of water vapor

2. The relative saturation

3. The absolute humidity of the air

4. The percent saturation

5. The temperature to which the mixture be heated so that its percent saturation becomes
10%. The vapor pressure of water (in kPa) is approximated by the Antoine equation as

3799.887
ln 𝑃𝑣 = 16.26205 −
𝑇 − 46.854
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Dew Point
Dew point is the lowest temperature to which a vapor-gas mixture can be cooled
at constant pressure without condensation

• The gas gets saturated with vapor

• The vapor pressure of liquid and the partial pressure of the vapor in the vapor-
gas mixture are same
T, K 283 288 293 298 303 308 313
Pv, kPa 1.23 1.7 2.34 3.17 4.24 5.62 7.36
pp, kPa 1.23 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7
Humidity, kg water per kg dry air 0.0076 0.0106 0.0106 0.0106 0.0106 0.0106 0.0106
Relative Humidity 100.00 100.00 72.65 53.63 40.09 30.25 23.10

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Problem 4
Air-water vapor mixture at 325 K and 120 kPa has a dew point 0f 293 K. The vapor pressure
of water is given by the Antoine equation (P in kPa, T in K),

3799.887
ln 𝑃𝑣 = 16.26205 −
𝑇 − 46.854

Determine:

1. The absolute humidity of the air

2. The saturation humidity

3. The relative saturation and percent saturation

4. The dew point if the total pressure is reduced to 100 kPa

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Dry-bulb Temperature
The temperature of the gas vapor mixture that is measured by an ordinary
thermometer

Humid Volume
The volume of one kg dry gas and the accompanying vapor

1 𝑌′ 101.325 𝑇
𝑉𝐻 = + × 22.414 × ×
𝑀𝐵 𝑀𝐴 𝑃 273.15

For the air-water vapor system, 𝑉𝐻 𝑖𝑛 𝑚3 /𝑘𝑔, 𝑀𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝐵 are molecular weights, 𝑃 𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝑃𝑎

1 𝑌′ 𝑇
𝑉𝐻 = 8.314 × +
29 18 𝑃
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Humid Heat (𝐶𝑆 )

The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kg of dry gas and the
accompanying vapor by one degree

• Represents the heat capacity of the gas-vapor system at constant pressure

𝐶𝑆 = 𝐶𝐵 + 𝑌 ′ 𝐶𝐴

• 𝐶𝐴 (kJ/kgK) and 𝐶𝐵 (kJ/kgK) are the specific heats of vapor and dry gas

• 𝐶𝐴 = 1.884 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔𝐾 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝐵 = 1.005 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔𝐾 for air water vapor system

• Heat requirement can be calculated using (Q is sensible heat and Gs is kg dry air)
𝑄 = 𝐺𝑆 𝐶𝑆 Δ𝑇

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Problem 5
Air at 101.3 kPa and 328 K has a volume of 100 m3 and is 10% saturated with water
vapor. The vapor pressure of water at 328 K is 15.7 kPa

Determine:

1. The humid volume of the sample

2. The humid heat

3. The amount of heat to be supplied to heat the given quantity of air to 370 K

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Specific Enthalpy
Heat required for bringing one kg of dry air and 𝑌′ kg of the liquid water from
initial temperature to final temperature at constant pressure

• Enthalpy of the gas-vapor system is calculated relative to a reference state

• For air-water vapor system, the reference temperature is 273 K

𝐻′ = 𝐶𝐵 𝑇 − 𝑇0 + 𝑌 ′ 𝜆0 + 𝐶𝐴 𝑇 − 𝑇0

• 𝜆0 is the latent heat of vaporization of the water at reference temperature 𝑇0 ,

2502.3 kJ/kg
𝐻′ = 𝐶𝑆 𝑇 − 𝑇0 + 𝑌 ′ 𝜆0

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Problem 6

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𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦

𝐻′, 𝐸𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑝𝑦, 𝑘𝐽 / 𝑘𝑔 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑟

𝑉𝐻 , 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒, 𝑚3 /𝑘𝑔 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑟

𝐻′, 𝐸𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑝𝑦, 𝑘𝐽 / 𝑘𝑔 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑟

𝑌′, 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑘𝑔 𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑘𝑔 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑟

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Humidity Chart
Usually refers to the air-water vapor systems (charts for any vapor-gas system can be
constructed).
• Y axis – absolute humidity, 𝑌′ (kg water vapor per kg dry air)

• X axis – dry bulb temperature

• Curves – relative saturation curves or percent saturation curves

• Diagonal lines – Adiabatic Saturation curves or lines of constant enthalpy

• Applicable only for the pressure for which the chart is constructed

1 𝑌′ 𝑇
• Volume of dry air and humid volume of saturated air are also plotted, 𝑉𝐻 = 8.314 × 29
+ 18 𝑃

𝑃.𝑆.
• Humid volume of the air of known % humidity using linear interpolation 𝑉𝐻 = 𝑉𝐷 + 100 (𝑉𝑆 − 𝑉𝐷 )

𝑃.𝑆.
• Enthalpy of dry air and saturated air are also plotted, 𝐻′ = 𝐶𝑆 𝑇 − 𝑇0 + 𝑌 ′ 𝜆0 , 𝐻′ = 𝐻′𝐷 + (𝐻′𝑆 − 𝐻′𝐷 )
100
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Problem 7

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Adiabatic Saturation Temperature

The temperature that the air stream would attain if it were allowed to become saturated
adiabatically

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Adiabatic Saturation Temperature

• Thermodynamic property of the moist air

• Adiabatic humidification – an unsaturated air – waver vapor mixture is passed through a

thermally insulated and sufficiently large chamber

• Adiabatic operation – no addition or removal of heat

• Quantity of unsaturated mixture is small

• Temperature and humidity of air changes during the process

• Water temperature falls due to evaporative cooling

• Water attains equilibrium temperature

• Eq. temperature is maintained constant through recirculation

• Loss of water due to evaporation is compensated

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Adiabatic Saturation Temperature

• Humidification is achieved by the evaporation of water

• Latent heat of vaporization of water is to be met by the sensible heat removed from the air

• Adiabatic Saturation Temperature, 𝑇𝑎𝑠 - equilibrium temperature attained by the gas vapor
mixture when adiabatically humidified in contact with the liquid

• Saturation Humidity (at 𝑇𝑎𝑠 ), 𝑌𝑎𝑠

′
- humidity attained by the gas under equilibrium

• 𝐺𝑆′ - quantity of dry air circulated, kg/h

• Initial temperature - 𝑇, final temperature - 𝑇𝑎𝑠

• Initial humidity - 𝑌′, final humidity - 𝑌𝑎𝑠

′

• Sensible heat removed from gas - 𝐺𝑆′ 𝐶𝑆 𝑇 − 𝑇𝑎𝑠

• Quantity of water vaporized - 𝐺 ′𝑆 𝑌𝑎𝑠

′ − 𝑌′
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Adiabatic Saturation Temperature

• Heat required for vaporization is 𝐺𝑆′ 𝑌𝑎𝑠
′ − 𝑌′ 𝜆
𝑎𝑠

• 𝜆𝑎𝑠 - latent heat of vaporization of water (kJ/kg) at the adiabatic saturation temperature

The heat balance at the equilibrium condition,

Sensible heat lost by the gas = heat of vaporization of water

𝐺𝑆′ 𝐶𝑆 𝑇 − 𝑇𝑎𝑠 = 𝐺𝑆′ 𝑌𝑎𝑠
′
− 𝑌 ′ 𝜆𝑎𝑠

𝜆𝑎𝑠 ′
𝑇𝑎𝑠 = 𝑇 − 𝑌𝑎𝑠 − 𝑌 ′
𝐶𝑆

𝜆𝑎𝑠 𝐶
𝑇 − 𝑇𝑎𝑠 = ′ − 𝑌′
𝑌𝑎𝑠 or ′ − 𝑌′ = 𝑆 𝑇 − 𝑇
𝑌𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑠
𝐶𝑆 𝜆 𝑎𝑠

• Can be plotted on humidity chart as a curve passing through the points 𝑇, 𝑌 ′ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 (𝑇𝑎𝑠 , 𝑌𝑎𝑠
′ )

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Adiabatic Saturation Temperature

• Point S represents the state of the saturate air
subjected to adiabatic humidification

• Temperature – humidity history of the gas

undergoing adiabatic saturation is represented by
any point on the line PS

𝐶
• Slope of PS = − 𝜆 𝑆
𝑎𝑠

• 𝐶𝑆 depends on humidity and hence the slope is not

constant (not a straight line)

• PS – adiabatic saturation curve or adiabatic

cooling line

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Adiabatic Saturation Temperature

• Interpolation – the coordinates of the humidity charts are manipulated and the adiabatic cooling
lines are made straight and parallel

• 𝐻′ = 𝐶𝑆 𝑇 − 𝑇0 + 𝑌′𝜆0
• Enthalpy increase with humidity

• Decreases with temperature

• In adiabatic saturation, the humidity of the air increases and the temperature of the air
decreases – so the enthalpy would remain constant

• Hence, the adiabatic saturation process is a constant enthalpy process

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Problem 7

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Problem 8

1/27/2024 Department of Chemical Engineering | RV College of Engineering | ujwalshreenagm@[Link] 52

 Go, change the world
RV College of
Engineering

1/27/2024 Department of Chemical Engineering | RV College of Engineering | ujwalshreenagm@[Link] 53