Problem 1 The waste gas from an alcohol fermenter consists of an air-CO2 mixture containing 10 mol% CO2 that is to be absorbed in a solution of triethanolamine, containing 0.04 mole of carbon dioxide per mole of amine solution (mole ratio given, NOT mole fraction). If the column operates isothermally at 25C, if the exit liquid contains 78.4% of the CO2 in the feed gas to the absorber, and if absorption is carried out in a plate column, calculate: (a) exit gas composition, (b) moles of amine solution used per mole of feed gas if the liquid rate is 40% more than the minimum liquid rate, and (c) number of theoretical plates. The equilibrium data is given in the following table: Y 0.003 0.008 0.015 0.023 0.032 0.043 0.055 0.068 0.083 0.099 0.120 X 0.010 0.020 0.030 0.040 0.050 0.060 0.070 0.080 0.090 0.100 0.110 where X is mol CO2/mol amine solution: Y is mol CO2/mol air. Note that these are mole ratios, not mole fractions