KIL3007 Separation Processes II

Humidification – Part 1
Dr. Hanee Farzana Hizaddin

www.um.edu.my
Learning Outcomes
 To give an overview of role of humidification in
chemical industries.
 To give an overview of terminologies of humidification.
 To be able to do basic calculations related to
humidification.
 To be able to extract information and do calculations
using the humidity chart / psychrometric chart.

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Humidity & Saturation
• Humidification operations involve simultaneous transfer of heat and mass between a gas and a liquid when
the gas is brought into contact with the liquid in which it is insoluble.

• When a gas is in contact with a liquid, the gas receives vapor from the liquid until the partial pressure of the
vapor in the gas mixture equals the vapor pressure of the liquid at the existing temperature.

• When the concentration of the vapor in the gas mixture reaches this equilibrium value, the gas is said to be
saturated with the vapor.

• When the partial pressure of the vapor in the vapor-gas mixture is less than the equilibrium vapor pressure of
the liquid at that temperature, the mixture is said to be unsaturated and there is scope for further
vaporisation.

• If the partial pressure of the vapor in the gas mixture exceeds the vapor pressure of the liquid, condensation
of the vapor takes place.

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Formation of Rain

Vaporization of water from the surface of water-bodies is to saturate the

surrounding air with water.

As and when the surrounding air is saturated with water vapor, the water will
condense in the form of rain.
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Relative Saturation (Relative Humidity)
• If the partial pressure of a vapor in the gas mixture is less than the vapor
pressure of the liquid at the existing pressure, the gas mixture is partially
saturated.
• The ratio of the partial pressure of the vapor to the vapor pressure of the liquid
at the existing temperature, expressed in percentage, is termed relative
saturation.
• The term ‘humidity’ is used if the vapor is water and the gas is air.

𝑃𝑃𝐴𝐴
Relative Saturation = 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 × 100
𝑃𝑃𝐴𝐴
Where 𝑃𝑃𝐴𝐴 = partial pressure of the vapor (A) in the gas mixture
𝑃𝑃𝐴𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 = vapor pressure of component A
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Humidity and Temperature
• The capacity of a gas to hold water depends on its temperature.
• The higher the temperature, the more water vapor it can contain.
» At normal room temperature - air typically holds about 1% of water vapor
» A hot-atmosphere has greater capacity to hold water vapor
• When the air holds the maximum amount of water vapor at a particular
temperature it is said to be saturated.
• Relative humidity is strongly governed by temperature.
• Interaction of water-vapor with materials is often in proportion to relative humidity.
• Lowering the relative humidity of surrounding air increases evaporation and drying
of materials.

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Temperature effect on humidity
• For the same amount of air and water-vapor (closed system), relative
humidity decreases with increase in temperature of the gas mixture.

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Humidification Terms
Term Definition
Involves the transfer of material between a pure liquid phase and a fixed gas
Humidification
that is nearly insoluble in the liquid
The mass of vapor per unit mass of vapor free gas

Absolute Humidity / Humidity, ℋ mass of vapor (𝑒𝑒. 𝑔𝑔. 𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤) 𝑛𝑛𝑊𝑊 𝑀𝑀𝑊𝑊 𝑃𝑃𝑊𝑊 𝑀𝑀𝑊𝑊 kg vapor
ℋ= = =
mass of dry air (vapor−free gas) 𝑛𝑛𝐴𝐴 𝑀𝑀𝐴𝐴 𝑃𝑃 − 𝑃𝑃𝑊𝑊 𝑀𝑀𝐴𝐴 kg dry air

Moles of vapor per mole of vapor-free gas

Molal absolute humidity, ℋ𝑚𝑚 moles of vapor(𝑒𝑒. 𝑔𝑔. 𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤) 𝑛𝑛𝑊𝑊 𝑃𝑃𝑊𝑊 𝑃𝑃𝑊𝑊 mole vapor
ℋ𝑚𝑚 = = = =
moles of dry air (𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣 − 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔) 𝑛𝑛𝐴𝐴 𝑃𝑃𝐴𝐴 𝑃𝑃 − 𝑃𝑃𝑊𝑊 mole dry air

A gas in which the vapor is in equilibrium with the liquid at the gas temperature;
the partial pressure of vapor in saturated gas equals the vapor pressure of the
Saturation humidity / Humidity of liquid at the gas temperature
saturated gas, ℋ𝑆𝑆 P𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤 M𝑤𝑤
ℋ𝑆𝑆 =
P − P𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤 M𝐴𝐴 8
Humidification Terms (cont’d)
Term Definition
the ratio of the partial pressure of the vapor to the vapor pressure of the liquid at
the gas temperature; it is usually expressed on a percentage basis; 100% relative humidity
means saturated gas and 0% relative humidity means vapor-free gas
Relative humidity, RH
Partial pressure of vapour in gas 𝑃𝑃
𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 = × 100 or 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 = 𝑊𝑊 × 100
Partial pressure of vapour in saturated gas 𝑃𝑃𝑊𝑊𝑊

Ratio of the actual humidity, ℋ, to the saturation humidity, ℋ𝑆𝑆 , at the gas temperature,
also on a percentage basis; percent humidity is less than the relative humidity
Percentage humidity ℋ 𝑃𝑃 − 𝑃𝑃𝑤𝑤𝑤
Percentage humidity= × 100 = × 100
ℋ𝑆𝑆 𝑃𝑃 − 𝑃𝑃𝑤𝑤

Heat required to raise unit mass of dry gas and its associated vapour through unit
temperature difference at constant pressure.
Humid heat, s or cs 𝑠𝑠 = 𝑐𝑐𝐴𝐴 + ℋ𝑐𝑐𝑊𝑊

where 𝑐𝑐𝐴𝐴 and 𝑐𝑐𝑊𝑊 are the specific heat capacities of the gas and the vapour, respectively
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Humidification Terms (cont’d)
Term Definition
Volume occupied by unit mass of dry gas and its associated vapour (a function of
temperature)
Humid volume, 𝜐𝜐𝐻𝐻
𝜐𝜐𝐻𝐻 (𝑚𝑚3 ⁄𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎) = 2.83 × 10−3 + 4.56 × 10−3 ℋ × 𝑇𝑇 𝐾𝐾
Saturated volume Humid volume of saturated gas
Temperature at which the gas is saturated with vapour. As a gas is cooled, the dew point is
Dew point the temperature at which condensation will first occur.

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Derivation of humidity formula
 The relationship between the partial pressure of the vapour and the humidity of a gas may be derived
as follows. In unit volume of gas:
P𝑤𝑤 M𝑤𝑤 P − P𝑤𝑤 M𝐴𝐴
mass of vapour = and mass of non-condensable gas =
RT RT

 The humidity is therefore is given by:

P𝑤𝑤 M𝑤𝑤
𝓗𝓗 =
P − P𝑤𝑤 M𝐴𝐴

 and the humidity of the saturated gas is:

P𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤 M𝑤𝑤
𝓗𝓗𝑆𝑆 =
P − P𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤 M𝐴𝐴

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Example 1
In a process in which it is used as a solvent, benzene evaporated into dry
nitrogen. At 297 K and 101.3 kN/m2, the resulting mixture has a percentage
relative humidity of 60. It is required to recover 80% of the benzene present
by cooling to 283 K and compressing to a suitable pressure. What should
this pressure be? The vapor pressure of benzene is 12.2 kN/m2 at 297 K
and 6.0 kN/m2 at 283 K.

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13
Example 2
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 water vapor in the vessel
b) The specific volumes of the air and the water vapor
c) The humidity of the air and humid volume; and
d) The percentage humidity

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Example 3
Example:
The air in the room is at 26.7°C and a pressure
of 101.325 kPa and contains water vapor with a
partial pressure Pw= 2.76 kPa. Calculate the
following:
a) Humidity
b) Saturation humidity and percentage
humidity
c) Percentage relative humidity

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17
Wet bulb, Dry bulb, Dew point temperature
 Dry bulb temperature: Actual gas temperature
 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 temperature: It is a temperature at which a vapor-gas mixture
must be cooled (at constant humidity) to become saturated

At dew point, DBT = WBT

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Wet-bulb temperature
 The wet-bulb temperature is the lowest temperature that
air can reach by evaporating water into it. It’s like how you
feel cooler when sweat evaporates from your skin.
 Here’s a simple explanation:
• Imagine you have a thermometer with a wet cloth wrapped
around the bulb (the bottom part that measures temperature).
• As air blows over the wet cloth, water from the cloth
evaporates into the air. Evaporation takes heat away, so the
thermometer cools down.
• The temperature shown by the thermometer after the
evaporation is the wet-bulb temperature.
 It tells us how much cooling can happen naturally due to
evaporation. For example, on a dry day, water evaporates
quickly, and the wet-bulb temperature will be much lower WBT < DBT (except at 100% saturation)
than the actual air temperature. But on a humid day, when
there’s already a lot of moisture in the air, the wet-bulb
temperature will be close to the actual temperature The difference between DBT and WBT is
because not much evaporation can happen.
called wet bulb depression.
 In short, the wet-bulb temperature helps us understand
how cooling happens through evaporation and gives an idea
of how much moisture is in the air.

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Adiabatic Saturation Temperature
 The adiabatic saturation temperature is the temperature
that air would reach if you added enough water vapor to it,
without losing or gaining any heat from the surroundings.
 Here’s a simple breakdown:
• Adiabatic means that no heat is added or lost from the air to the
surroundings – everything happens within the air itself.
• Saturation means the air is holding as much moisture (water vapor)
as it possibly can at that temperature.
 Imagine you have dry air and you're adding water to it. The
water starts evaporating into the air, and this evaporation
cools the air down. If you keep adding water vapor until the
air can't hold any more (it’s fully saturated), the temperature
the air cools down to is the adiabatic saturation
temperature.
 It’s similar to the wet-bulb temperature, but in this case,
we’re thinking of a situation where the air gets saturated
without exchanging heat with anything else. This concept is
often used to analyze air-conditioning and cooling
processes.

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Heat balance and mass balance for WBT
 Mass transfer (water vapor transferring into the air) Q: heat flow
h: heat transfer coefficient
A: area
𝑀𝑀𝑤𝑤 �𝓗𝓗𝑤𝑤 − 𝓗𝓗) M𝑤𝑤 M𝐴𝐴 hD: mass transfer coefficient
𝑊𝑊 = ℎ𝐷𝐷 𝐴𝐴 𝐶𝐶𝑜𝑜 − 𝐶𝐶 = ℎ𝐷𝐷 𝐴𝐴 𝑃𝑃𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤 − 𝑃𝑃𝑤𝑤 = ℎ𝐷𝐷 𝐴𝐴 . 𝑃𝑃𝐴𝐴 θ: T of gas
𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 RT M𝑤𝑤 θw: T of liquid
= ℎ𝐷𝐷 𝐴𝐴𝜌𝜌𝐴𝐴 ( 𝓗𝓗𝑤𝑤 − 𝓗𝓗) 𝐶𝐶𝑜𝑜 : concentration of the vapour at
the surface (mass per unit volume)
𝐶𝐶: concentration in the gas
 Heat transfer rate from the gas to the liquid stream

𝑄𝑄 = ℎ𝐴𝐴 (𝜃𝜃 − 𝜃𝜃𝜃𝜃) λ :latent heat of vaporization

𝜌𝜌𝐴𝐴 : density of the gas at PA

 The heat transfer required to maintain this rate of evaporation is: For the air-water system, the ratio ℎ
ℎ
is
𝐷𝐷 𝜌𝜌𝐴𝐴
about 1.0 kJ/kg K and varies from 1.5 to
𝑄𝑄 = 𝑊𝑊𝜆𝜆 = ℎ𝐷𝐷 𝐴𝐴𝜌𝜌𝐴𝐴 ( 𝓗𝓗𝑤𝑤 − 𝓗𝓗)𝜆𝜆 2.0 kJ/kg K for organic liquids

 Equating the Q terms

ℎ𝐷𝐷 𝐴𝐴𝜌𝜌𝐴𝐴 ( 𝓗𝓗𝑤𝑤 − 𝓗𝓗)𝜆𝜆 = ℎ𝐴𝐴 (𝜃𝜃 − 𝜃𝜃𝜃𝜃) • This shows that the heat transferred from the air is directly related to the
mass of water evaporated (latent heat) during the wet-bulb process, with the
driving forces being the temperature difference and the humidity ratio
Thus difference.
ℎ • This equation helps describe the evaporation cooling process that occurs
( 𝓗𝓗 − 𝓗𝓗𝑤𝑤 )= − (𝜃𝜃 − 𝜃𝜃𝜃𝜃) when measuring the wet-bulb temperature, where both heat and mass
ℎ𝐷𝐷 𝜌𝜌𝐴𝐴 𝜆𝜆
transfer work together to cool the air and increase its moisture content.
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Heat balance and mass balance for AST
 In an adiabatic saturation process, there is no heat exchange with the surroundings (since it's
adiabatic), and the heat balance is based on the energy transferred within the system itself –
between the dry air and the water vapor as it evaporates.
 The heat balance involves two key energy components:
» Sensible heat: This is the heat related to the temperature change of the air.
» Latent heat: This is the heat required for the evaporation of water into the air.

 Basis : unit mass of dry gas

𝜃𝜃 − 𝜃𝜃𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑠 = (𝓗𝓗𝑠𝑠 − 𝓗𝓗) λ 𝜃𝜃𝑠𝑠 : adiabatic saturation temperature
s: humid heat of the gas
𝑠𝑠
𝓗𝓗− 𝓗𝓗𝑠𝑠 = − 𝜆𝜆 𝜃𝜃 − 𝜃𝜃𝑠𝑠 λ :latent heat of vaporization

 A curve of 𝓗𝓗 vs temperature for gases with θS is known as an adiabatic cooling line.

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WBT vs AST
 Adiabatic saturation temperature = wet bulb temperature when s =
h/hDPA
• The ratio h/hDPAs = b is the psychrometric ratio.
• b≃1 for air-water system
ℎ 𝑠𝑠
𝓗𝓗 − 𝓗𝓗𝑤𝑤 =− 𝜃𝜃 − 𝜃𝜃𝑤𝑤 𝓗𝓗 − 𝓗𝓗𝑠𝑠 = − 𝜃𝜃 − 𝜃𝜃𝑠𝑠
ℎ𝐷𝐷 𝑃𝑃𝐴𝐴 𝜆𝜆 𝜆𝜆

WBT AST

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 Adiabatic saturation
The Experiment: Scientists studied how different liquids (like water, alcohol, and
temperature

other chemicals) affected the temperature of a gas when they were mixed.
 Key Concepts:
• Wet-bulb temperature: The temperature of a thermometer covered in a wet
cloth, which cools down due to evaporation.
• Adiabatic saturation temperature: The temperature a gas would reach if it
were cooled by evaporating water into it until it became saturated.
• Unsaturated gas: A gas that can hold more water vapor.
• Saturated gas: A gas that cannot hold any more water vapor.
 The Main Idea: When an unsaturated gas (like air) comes into contact with a liquid
(like water), two things happen:
Saturation of gas with liquid other than water at adiabatic 1. Heat transfer: The gas cools down.
saturation temperature
2. Mass transfer: Water evaporates into the gas, making it more humid.
 The Exceptions:
• With water: The wet-bulb temperature and adiabatic saturation temperature
are the same. This means the water's temperature doesn't change as it
evaporates into the gas.
• With other liquids: The adiabatic saturation temperature is lower than the
wet-bulb temperature. So, initially, the liquid's temperature goes up as it
evaporates. But as the gas gets more humid, the liquid's temperature starts
to go down again.
 In Summary: When a gas is humidified, its temperature changes. The exact
change depends on whether the liquid it's evaporating into is water or something
else.
Saturation of air with water at adiabatic saturation temperature 24
Humidity data for air-water system
• Properties of air-water system are plotted on a psychrometric or humidity chart.
• Based on either temperature or enthalpy of the gas
• More commonly used is temperature-humidity chart
• Enthalpy-humidity chart is particularly useful for determining the effect of mixing two gases or of
mixing a gas and a liquid

For saturated air, the dry-bulb, wet-bulb, and

Schematic for a psychrometric chart dew-point temperatures are identical. 25
Temperature-humidity chart

26
27
Temperature-humidity chart
Seven important quantities:

1. Dry-bulb temperature
2. Wet-bulb temperature
3. Relative humidity
4. Absolute humidity
5. Dew point
6. Enthalpy
7. Specific volume

All are inter-related.

Understanding the Chart:

• Point a: Represents the current state of the air: a certain

temperature (TG) and humidity (Y').
• Line ab: Shows how the air's temperature and humidity
would change if you cooled it down until water vapor started
to condense (adiabatic saturation).
• Point b: Represents the state of the air after it has been
cooled to its adiabatic saturation temperature (Tas).
• Point c: Represents the humidity of the air at the adiabatic
saturation temperature.
• Point d: Represents the dew point of the air.
• Point e: Represents the humidity of the air if it were cooled
down to its adiabatic saturation temperature and then
saturated with water vapor.
• Line fg: Represents the change in humid volume (the
volume of the air including the water vapor) as the
temperature changes, assuming the air stays at 100%
humidity.
• Point m: Represents the humid volume of the air at its
current temperature (TG) and humidity (Y').
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A simple example on using the humidity chart
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REA7qsMktoI

For air at 40℃ and 30% relative humidity, use humidity charts to find the
following:
a) Its dew point
b) Wet bulb temperature

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A simple example for adiabatic humidification
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oMwioiEl-Q&t=1s

Humid air at 40°C and 20% relative humidity enters an adiabatic

spray chamber at a rate of 100 m/hr. The air is adiabatically
humidified to 50% relative humidity. Use humidity charts to find
the following:

a) Outlet temperature of the humidified air

b) Rate of water evaporation in the spray chamber

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Example 4
Air containing 0.005 kg water vapor per kg of dry air is heated to 325 K in a dryer and
passed to the lower shelves. It leaves these shelves at 60% humidity and reheated
to 325 K and passed over another set of shelves, again leaving at 60% humidity.

This is again repeated for the third and fourth sets of shelves, after which the air
leaves the dryer. On assumption that the material on each shelf has reached the
wet-bulb temperature and that heat losses from the dryer may be neglected,
determine:

(a) The temperature of the material on each tray

(b) The amount of water removed in kg/s, if 5 m3/s moist air leaves the dryer
(c) The temperature to which the inlet air would have to be raised to carry out the
drying in a single stage

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Solution Example 4
Initial condition: θ= 325 K, 𝓗𝓗 = 0.005 kg/kg

The air leaving the system is at 315 K and 60 per cent humidity.
Solution Example 4
Solution Example 4
The air leaving the system is at 315 K and 60 per cent humidity.
Summary / Reflection
 Humidification terms
 WBT vs AST? Same or different? When?
 Psychrometric / humidity chart

36
 Thank you

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