SOLUBILITY OF AIR IN WATER

The amount of air that can be dissolved in water increases with pressure and decreases with
temperature.

Deaeration
When fresh water is heated up air bubbles start to form. The water can obviously not hold
the dissolved air with increased temperature. At 100 oC (212 oF) water starts to boil - the
bubbles are formed by evaporated water or steam. If the water is cooled down and then
again reheated, bubbles will not appear until the water starts to boil. The water is deaerated.

Solubility Ratio
Solubility of air in water can be expressed as a solubility ratio:

Sa = ma / mw (1)

where
Sa = solubility ratio
ma = mass of air (lbm, kg)
mw = mass of water (lbm, kg)

Henry's Law
Solubility of air in water follows Henry's Law - "the amount of air dissolved in a fluid is
proportional to the pressure in the system" - and can be expressed as:

c = pg / kH (2)

where
c= solubility of dissolved gas
kH= proportionality constant depending on the nature of the gas and the solvent
pg= partial pressure of gas (Pa, psi)

The solubility of oxygen in water is higher than the solubility of nitrogen. Air dissolved in
water contains approximately 35.6% oxygen compared to 21% in air.

Solubility of Air in Water

Solubility of air in water - expressed as ratio of absorbed air volume to water volume:

Solubility (vair/vwater)

Temperature Gauge Pressure (psig)

(oF)
0 20 40 60 80 100

40
0.0258 0.0613 0.0967 0.1321 0.1676 0.2030
4.44
 Solubility (vair/vwater)

Temperature Gauge Pressure (psig)

(oF)
0 20 40 60 80 100

50
0.0223 0.0529 0.0836 0.1143 0.1449 0.1756
10

60
0.0197 0.0469 0.0742 0.1014 0.1296 0.1559
15.6

70
0.0177 0.0423 0.0669 0.0916 0.1162 0.1408
21.1

80
0.0161 0.0387 0.0614 0.0840 0.1067 0.1293
26.7

90
0.0147 0.0358 0.0569 0.0780 0.0990 0.1201
32.2

100
0.0136 0.0334 0.0532 0.0730 0.0928 0.1126
37.8

110
0.0126 0.0314 0.0501 0.0689 0.0877 0.1065
43.3

120
0.0117 0.0296 0.0475 0.0654 0.0833 0.1012
48.9

130
0.0107 0.0280 0.0452 0.0624 0.0796 0.0968
54.4

140
0.0098 0.0265 0.0432 0.0598 0.0765 0.0931
60

150
0.0089 0.0251 0.0413 0.0574 0.0736 0.0898
65.6

160
0.0079 0.0237 0.0395 0.0553 0.0711 0.0869
71.1

170
0.0068 0.0223 0.0378 0.0534 0.0689 0.0844
76.7
 Solubility (vair/vwater)

Temperature Gauge Pressure (psig)

(oF)
0 20 40 60 80 100

180
0.0055 0.0208 0.0361 0.0514 0.0667 0.0820
82.2

190
0.0041 0.0192 0.0344 0.0496 0.0647 0.0799
87.8

200
0.0024 0.0175 0.0326 0.0477 0.0628 0.0779
93.3

210
0.0004 0.0155 0.0306 0.0457 0.0607 0.0758
98.9
Example - Air Dissolved in Water
The amount of air dissolved in water can be calculated with Henry's law.

Henry Law's Constants at a system temperature of 25oC (77oF)

 Oxygen - O2 : 756.7 atm/(mol/litre)

 Nitrogen - N2 : 1600 atm/(mol/litre)

Molar Weights

 Oxygen - O2 : 31.9988 g/mol

 Nitrogen - N2 : 28.0134 g/mol

Partial fraction in Air

 Oxygen - O2 : ~ 0.21

 Nitrogen - N2 : ~ 0.79
Oxygen dissolved in the Water at atmospheric pressure can be calculated as:

co = (1 atm) 0.21 / (756.7 atm/(mol/litre)) (31.9988 g/mol)

= 0.0089 g/litre

~ 0.0089 g/kg
Nitrogen dissolved in the Water at atmospheric pressure can be calculated as:

cn = (1 atm) 0.79 / (1600 atm/(mol/litre)) (28.0134 g/mol)

= 0.0138 g/litre

~ 0.0138 g/kg

Since air mainly consists of Nitrogen and Oxygen - the air dissolved in the water can be
calculated as:

ca = (0.0089 g/litre) + (0.0138 g/litre)

= 0.0227 g/litre

~ 0.023 g/kg

Calculating the air dissolved in water for some other pressures at temperature 25oC
(77oF) can be summarized to:

Pressure, abs (atm) 1 2 3 4 5 6

Dissolved Air in Water (25oC) (g/kg) 0.023 0.045 0.068 0.091 0.114 0.136

Dissolved Oxygen in Fresh Water

Deaeration
For maximum deaeration the water should be heated up to 212 oF (100 oC) at atmospheric
pressure. This is common in steam systems where fresh water is supplied to the system
through a heated deaeration tower on the top of the condensate receiver tank.

It is also common to install deaeration devices on the hot sides of heat exchangers in
heating distribution systems to force the dissolved air out of the system.

Note! Since the maximum deaeration is limited by the minimum static pressure and
maximum temperature in the system - the best deaeration result is achieved in positions at
the hottest and highest levels of the systems - and/or at the suction side of pumps