Surfactants with NH3H2O

To avoid rivulet flow in compact absorbers, which consist of compact heat exchanger plates, the surface tension of the ammonia-water solution has to be reduced by surfactants. The influence of these additives on the absorption of ammonia into water is investigated for two anionic tensides, two non-ionic tensides and the alcohol 1-octanol in a stagnant pool measuring cell. All four tensides had no influence on the absorption in the concentration range investigated (0.25–0.91 wt%), although they were able to reduce the surface tension of water down to 30mN m⁻¹. In order to increase the mass transfer, 1-octanol was used in three concentrations, which probably lead to a convection in the liquid layer, called Marangoni convection. The experiments have shown that the presence of surfactant islands is not necessary to induce Marangoni turbulence. The best result was achieved with 50 ppm 1-octanol dissolved in water.