Development of counter-current gas-liquid packed tower absorption apparatus: a pilot-plant-scale-project innovation

Abstract

Various engineering equipment makers/developers developed the packed absorption column at the pilot-plant scale, by approaching it from engineering-design drawings. This report described the development of a pilot-plant-scale-packed-absorption tower, by innovative-copy approach which entailed gas-absorber development, from the images recorded by digital camera and processed/enlarged by computer. Spurred by the massive-Naira devaluation (96% from 1985 to 2008), which made the cost of importing equivalent equipment very prohibitive for the education budget, this innovative-copy approach, exploited the existence of the pilot-plant-scale absorber in developing a modified and retrofitted version for the purpose of providing Nigerian-made teaching equipment for engineering students. This paper reported the various stages of gas-absorber development, entailing the production of working sketches from the images recorded by digital camera, components’ fabrication, equipment assembly, fitting of auxiliaries and piping, and, wiring and leak-testing of the apparatus after completion. Of course, this innovative-copy approach, ensured rapid prototyping of the gas absorber, because it short cut the engineering efforts, and time consumption required, for undertaking engineering design. It is hoped that the innovative-copy approach will redefine the way Nigerian tertiary institutions of learning acquire teaching apparatus.