The 18-inch coke-packed absorption tower used in this investigation was located in the Unit Operations Laboratory of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia. During the course of this work a number of changes and additions to existing equipment were made in an effort to improve the operation of the tower. Nineteen experiments, using carbon dioxide, in a flue gas mixture, as the solute and water as the solvent were made to determine some of the operating characteristics of the tower. A new gas sealer was designed and constructed using a spiral cooling unit made from 5-inch stove pipe elbows. The elbows were coated with silicone resin in an effort to reduce corrosion. The capacity of this unit was approximately 50% greater than the open-spray type sealer used previously. The examinator used heretofore to measure gas velocities through the tower was replaced by a pitot tube and draft gage in an effort to facilitate this determination. A Precision Mine-Air model Great apparatus was installed to replace the Technical flue-gas model used in previous experimental work. Gas samples were taken for analysis by means of gas sampling bottles which permitted the use of short sampling tubes. These two changes in equipment and procedure greatly simplified the accurate determination of CO₂ in the gas stream. Orifices, metering central valves, and manometers were installed in all pipe lines conveying materials to the tower in order to increase the ease and accuracy of controlling the flow of these various materials. After the above changes had been completed, a series of nineteen test runs was made. As a result of the data collected the following conclusions were drawn: 1. The relation between the overall liquid film coefficient (K_LA); the solvent rate (L¹), and the partial pressure (P) of the CO₂ in the gas stream may be expressed by the equation Log K_LA= L¹/7.966-0.544L¹ + 0.000242 P within the limits as listed below: a. Gas velocity…..12.7 lb. mols air/hr./sq.ft. b. Solvent rate…..65 to 115 lb. mols water/hr./sq.ft. c. Partial pres. of CO₂…..37 to 90 mm. Hg. d. Temperature of water…..53.5 to 65.7°F. e. Temperature of gas…..56 to 85°F. 2. No correlation could be made between the overall liquid film coefficient (K_LA) and the pressure drop (ΔP) through the packed section of the tower. 3. The flue gas cooler which was designed and built during the course of this investigation (See Figure 3, page 38) is capable of cooling 650 lb./hr. of dry air from approximately 700°F to 70°F using 15,000 lb./hr. of cooling water at an inlet temperature of 58°F. / Master of Science