Desorption with chemical reaction in contacting devices

Chemical processes where a gas is absorbed into a liquid and reacts to give a product that desorbs back into the gas are quite common in the industry. In this study, the reaction between the absorbed gaseous reactant and a nonvolatile reactant is considered to be slow, fast or instantaneous, while the volatile product may react further in a slow reaction. Effects of various operating parameters such as the liquid and gas flow rates, the gas-liquid interfacial area and the coefficients for mass transfer are examined. Situations can arise where the absorbing gas reacts but the product diffuses completely to the bulk of the liquid, and the rate of desorption is null. The expressions presented here define conditions to avoid this situation and allow the calculation of the optimal design and operation of the gas-liquid contacting device.