Wet air containing 4.0 mole% water vapor is passed through a columnof calcium chloride pellets. The pellets adsorb 97.0% of the waterand none of the other constituents of the air. The column packingwas initially dry and had a mass of 3.40kg. Following 5.0 hours ofoperation, the pellets are reweighed and found to have a mass of3.54kg.
(a) Calculate the molar flow rate (mol/h) of the feed gas and themole fraction of water vapor in the product gas.
(b) The mole fraction of water in the product gas is monitored andfound to have the value calculated in part (a) for the first 10hours of operation, but then it begins to increase. What is themost likely cause of the increase? If the process continues to run,what will the mole fraction of water in the product gas eventuallybe?