Absorber Sizing and Costing Required to Control SO2 Emission from A Combustion System

Abstract

This work was predicated on the design and costing of a packed column absorber required to remove SO2 from an air/SO2 mixture. The absorber is intended to be developed into an already existing combustion system as a retrofit. The gas flow rate basis of the computation was 40,000Kg/h. The Onda Method was used to estimate the column height as 9m and the column diameter as 2.5m while the column wall thickness as well as the domed head thickness was found to be 9mm using the BS 5500 Standard Method. In order to limit expenses, H2O was utilized as the absorber solvent and a flow rate of 29.5Kg/s to limit solvent usage. A pressure drop of 20mmH2O/m was assumed in the design with metal pall rings of diameter 51mm and surface area of 102m2/m3 chosen as the packing material. The study estimated a profound $306,559.87 as the cost of the absorber required to remove 95% SO2 content from the combustion waste stream.