Absorption is the process of when a substance is transferred into another substance.
Usually, this refers to a gas absorbed into a liquid or a liquid absorbed into a solid.
Absorption plays a role in creating all of these products:
Dry shampoo
Dry shampoos contain a combination of alcohol and starches to absorb oil from your scalp.
Carbon capture
Carbon dioxide can be absorbed from flue gas using solvents (amines, Rectisol, Selexol, etc.)
Natural gas
Amines are used to absorb sulphuric acid and carbon dioxide from natural gas that gets delivered to our homes
Bleach
Chlorine is a popular bleaching agent which is produced using the chlor-Alkali process. The chlorine generated in this process is saturated with moisture. Concentrated sulphuric acid is used to absorb this water.
Bad smells
Food processing and waste treatment plants can develop a strong ammonia smell. Ammonia scrubbers usually employ aqueous solutions of phosphoric acid or sulfuric acid for reactive absorption, converting ammonia to ammonium salts.
Ship emissions
Ships now increasingly use alkaline solutions or pure seawater as adsorbents to remove sulfur dioxide from the exhaust gas.