It has been proposed that oxygen be separated from nitrogen by absorbing and desorbing air in water. Pressures from 101.3 to 10,130 kPa and temperatures between 0 and 100°C are to be used.

(a) Devise a workable scheme for doing the separation assuming the air is 79 mol% N2 and 21 mol% O2.

(b) Henry's law constants for O2 and N2 are given in Figure. How many batch absorption steps would be necessary to make 90 mol% pure oxygen? What yield of oxygen (based on total amount of oxygen feed) would beobtained?

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NH3 2 10-1 sO2 Cl2 Br2 H2S Cl2 É 10-3 H2s CO2 104 8. C,H4 6. CH6 CH CO H2 N2 10-5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Temperature, °C 2. 4, 2. 4, 2. Values of , mole fraction per atmosphere