Prediction of effective area and liquid hold-up in structured packings by CFD

Interfacial effective area and liquid hold-up in structured packing geometries are investigated using the volume of fluid method. Three-dimensional numerical simulations of gas–liquid flow on inclined plane plate and in a structured packing are performed. The VOF method is used to capture the gas–liquid interface motion. After a first validation case on the wetting phenomena prediction on an inclined plane plate, the effective interfacial area, the liquid hold-up and the degree of wetting of packing are studied as function of liquid flow rate and wall surface characteristic (adherence contact angle). Results show that the liquid flow-rate and the contact angle play a significant role. It is found that the interfacial effective area and the degree of wetting of packing increase as the liquid flow rate increases and as the contact angle decreases. Moreover, under the influence of the contact angle, different liquid film shapes are observed. The simulations results are compared to experimental data available in literature. This work shows that the CFD is a powerful tool to investigate performance characteristics of structured packings. Moreover, this work shows how CFD can be used as an effective tool to provide information on fluid flow behavior and determination of interfacial area, liquid hold-up and minimum flow-rate to ensure complete wetting. These parameters could be further used in process simulation at larger scale for the development and the design of efficient packings.     

Influence of the viscosity on the liquid hold-up in trickle-bed reactors with structured packings

The influence of liquid viscosity on liquid hold-up in structured packings under co-current gas–liquid downward flow operation has been investigated for liquid viscosity from 1 to 20 cP. The liquid hold-up has been determined on a 400 mm internal diameter column by gamma tomographic cross-sectional measurements. An important influence of the viscosity on the liquid hold-up is observed. It is shown that, the widely used model supported by Bravo et al. [J.L. Bravo, J.A. Rocha, J.R. Fair, Hydrocarbon Process. January (1985) 91] assuming 1D fully established vertical liquid film flow does not agree with the experimental data. From experiments, the different assumptions used in the 1D model are discussed. On the basis of these results, a new correlation is proposed, which enables to calculate the hold-up from the viscosity, the liquid flow rate and the geometry of the packing. A comparison with data of literature is done.     

液相流动方式对波纹规整填料性能的影响

根据液相在波纹规整填料片上呈现渗流、膜状流等不同的流动方式,选择5种不同的波纹规整填料对其流体力学和传质性能进行研究,以探究液相在波纹片上的流动方式对波纹规整填料性能的影响.研究结果表明,液相呈渗流流动的泡沫碳化硅波纹规整填料(SCFP型)有利于液体横向扩散和液膜均匀分布,当液相喷淋密度和气相F因子均较小时,其压降最低,传质效率最高;液相主要呈渗流流动、兼有膜状流动的双层错孔丝网填料(DMⅢ型)有利于波纹片两侧液体交换,强化液体在流动过程中的扰动,其压降及传质性能略逊于SCFP型填料;液相主要呈膜状流动的BX型、DMⅠ型及DMⅡ型填料波纹片表面液膜较厚,横向扩散能力差,其传质效率低于SCFP型和DMⅢ型填料.研究揭示了依靠渗流作用的波纹规整填料具有较好的应用性能,为波纹规整填料的进一步发展开拓了新思路.     

Mass transfer performance of structured packings in a CO2 absorption tower

This paper studies the mass transfer performance of structured packings in the absorption of CO2 from air with aqueous NaOH solution. The Eight structured packings tested are sheet metal ones with corrugations of different geometry parameters. Effective mass transfer area and overall gas phase mass transfer coefficient have been measured in an absorption column of 200 mm diameter under the conditions of gas F-factor in 0.38–1.52 Pa0.5 and aqueous NaOH solution concentration of 0.10–0.15 kmol·m?3. The effects of gas/liquid phase flow rates and packing geometry parameters are also investigated. The results show that the effective mass transfer area changes not only with packing geometry parameters and liquid load, but also with gas F-factor. A new effective mass transfer area correlation on the gas F-factor and the liquid load was proposed, which is found to fit experiment data very well.     

规整丝网填料旋转填充床的气相压降特性及脱硫性能

采用空气-水体系,对装有4种不同规格规整丝网填料的旋转填充床的压降特性进行了实验研究,考察了转速、气体流量、液体流量等操作参数及填料特性对气相压降的影响规律,并与传统不锈钢波纹丝网填料旋转填充床压降进行了比较. 结果表明,装有规整丝网填料的旋转填充床压降可降低35%~70%. 进一步采用压降较低的规整丝网填料以(NH4)2SO3为吸收剂进行氨法脱硫性能研究,结果表明,随转子转速和(NH4)2SO3浓度增大,SO2脱除率升高;随进气口SO2浓度升高及气液比增大,SO2脱除率降低;SO2脱除率最高可达97%,可满足国家排放标准.     

气-液-液萃取的流体力学研究

在液-液萃取过程中,提高分散相的表面更新速率可有效提高萃取的传质效率。研究发现,在萃取过程中使用气体搅拌可以增加液液之间的接触面积,促进液相内的湍动和循环。本文研究了气-液-液三相下油滴的流动形态,并对不同填料的流体力学性能进行了测定。实验结果表明,气相速度的增加可导致气含率、液含率的增加,从而提高分散相在填料萃取塔中的停留时间,在一定的速度范围内明显降低萃取的表观传质单元高度,极大地强化传质效果。通过与散装填料对比,发现规整填料更利于强化萃取效果,其液泛速度平均增加25%。     

Reactive distillation with KATAPAK

KATAPAK-SP and -S are structured catalytic packings for reactive distillation or gas–liquid reactors available from laboratory to industrial scale. Applying the KATAPAK-SP concept, the ratio of catalyst volume fraction to separation efficiency can be varied over a wide range, therefore the design of a reactive distillation column can be further optimized to fit each reaction system best.

Pressure drop, separation efficiency, dynamic liquid hold-up and residence time distribution have been investigated for KATAPAK-SP in a diameter of 250 mm. Results for different gas and liquid loads are presented. The findings are compared with results for the structured laboratory scale packing KATAPAK-S and the industrial scale packing KATAPAK-S 170.Y.

The dehydration of tert-butyl alcohol was selected as a sample reaction to illustrate the influence of different catalytic structures on the performance of the reactive distillation column. The setups are compared with respect to dimensions and economics.     

Experimental investigation of liquid holdup in structured packings

Liquid holdup is an important hydrodynamic parameter for characterizing the gas/liquid flow pattern in packed beds. In this paper, a study of liquid holdup in 3 different structured packings: Mellapak 2X from Sulzer, Koch-Glitsch Flexipac 2Y HC, and Montz-Pak B1-250M is presented, using air/water, air/water/sugar solutions with liquid viscosity up to 12 cP and air/30 wt% MEA in a 0.5 m ID absorption column with a packing height of 5 m. As expected, at a given liquid load, the liquid holdup was close to constant as a function of gas flow, with an increase at high gas velocities. In general, the Sulzer packing had a higher liquid holdup than observed in the two other packings. A possible explanation for this could be the lack of enhanced draining of liquid as seen with the modifications of the end-section of the Koch-Glitsch and Montz packings. Liquid holdup was found to increase with increasing liquid viscosity. The influence was higher at high liquid load than at low liquid load. Our results indicate a higher dependency at high liquid load and a lower at low liquid load. There was a reasonable agreement between our results and the data found in the literature.     

A physical model for the prediction of liquid hold-up in two-phase countercurrent columns

This contribution presents the determination of liquid hold-up in gas/liquid two-phase countercurrent columns filled with random or structured packings. The equations resulting from the established physical relationships are varified against the values for liquid hold-up determined experimentally on 56 different column packings and 16 gas/liquid systems. The experimental and calculated results agree well, with only slight deviations. This also applies to the range between the loading and flooding points for two-phase countercurrent flow.     

Investigation of dynamic liquid distribution and hold-up in structured packings using ultrafast electron beam X-ray tomography

Dynamic cross-sectional liquid distribution and hold-up in a DN80 separation column filled with structured packings was studied using an ultrafast electron-beam X-ray tomograph with high temporal resolution of 2000 images per second. The modality allows visualisation and characterisation of the counter-current flow before and at the flooding point representing the upper operation limit. Two packings of the same type (Montz B1-MN) with different specific surface area were used to investigate the influence of the packing geometry on the spatial liquid distribution. The system studied was water/air at different gas and liquid loads. The results of the tomographic imaging and corresponding post-processing routines were validated by comparison with conventional draining measurements.     

Comparative study of dry pressure drop and flow behaviour of gas flow through sieve plate packing

Sieve plate packing is a newly developed packing that has been used in several industries due to its simple structure and operating flexibility, and no liquid flooding. In this work, first, systematic experiments were conducted to measure the pressure drop of gas flow through six sieve plate packings. The results indicated that the geometric characteristics of the packing have complicated effects on the pressure drops. Based on this, CFD simulations on the gas flow field were conducted using the realizable k-ε model, and flow behaviours such as the pressure drop, pressure nephogram, and velocity distributions within different packings were obtained. The simulation results clearly showed interesting flow patterns, including the contraction and expansion of the gas stream through the sieve hole, the flow separation on the sharp edge of the hole, and the vortexes formed when gas impacts the downstream plate. By comparing the flow patterns and the pressure drop under different packings operating at different conditions, the effects of the geometric characteristics of the packing on the pressure drop could be clearly distinguished from the flow behaviours, so that the variations in pressure drop with various packing structures were clearly indicated. Finally, based on the experimental data and the simulated results, correlations for the prediction of the pressure drops were proposed. This work will provide a useful basis for understanding the flow behaviour of gas and liquid two-phase flow in sieve plate packing.     

复合板网填料性能研究

对一种新型的金属复合板网填料进行了研究,它是由三层板网贴合为复合基材后加工成波纹填料。在500冷模实验塔内对250Y型填料的测试结果表明复合板网填料具有显著的性能优势。三层复合板网填料的压降比常用的金属板波纹填料低60%以上,通量大20%～40%。氧解吸实验结果表明三层复合板网填料的分离效率明显高于单层板网填料,尤其在液气比低的工况下,效率可以倍增,和广泛应用的金属Mellapac填料相比,复合板网填料的分离效率能高30%左右。     

A multi-scale approach for CFD calculations of gas-liquid flow within large size column equipped with structured packing

This work has been carried out in the framework of post-combustion CO₂ capture process development. Considering the huge amount of gases to be treated and the constraints in terms of pressure drop, it appears that the absorption column will be equipped with high efficiency high capacity packings such as structured packings. The present paper focuses on the CFD modellisation of the two-phase flow within this complex geometry. For limited computational resources reasons, it is presently impossible to run computations at large scales taking into account the gas-liquid interaction and the real geometry of the packing and original approaches must be developed. In the present work, a multi-scale approach is proposed. It first considers liquid-wall and liquid-gas interaction at small scale via two-phase flow calculations using the VOF method. Second, the latter results are used in three-dimensional calculations run at a meso-scale corresponding to a periodic element representative of the real packing geometry. Last, those results are further used at large scale in three-dimensional calculations with a geometry corresponding to a complete column. Results are compared with experimental data and with other CFD simulations in terms of liquid hold-up, pressure drop and unit operation. Some suggestions are made for further development.     

Enzyme mass transfer coefficient in aqueous two phase system using a packed extraction column

Fractional dispersed phase hold-up and dispersed side mass transfer coefficients for amyloglucosidase were measured in a 56 mm i.d. packed extraction column using a sodium sulphate-polyethylene glycol 4000 system. Raschig rings (3 to 13.3 mm), Berl saddles (12 mm), Pall rings (12.6 mm), glass spheres (5.2 mm) and structured wire gauze were used as packings. The effect of packing size was investigated in the case of ceramic Raschig rings. The effect of phase composition of the aqueous phase system also was studied. Correlations have been developed for fractional dispersed phase hold-up and volumetric mass transfer coefficient with packing voidage, dry surface area of packings, superficial dispersed phase velocity and the liquid phase physical properties.     

Liquid film flow on structured wires: Fluid dynamics and gas‐side mass transfer

The liquid film flow on different structured wires and chains is observed experimentally to assess the suitability of a structured packing consisting of vertical wires. The results show that liquid beads as they appear on cylindrical wires are inhibited by certain chain geometries. This increases the flooding gas load up to F = 12 Pa^0.5. As the stabilized film shows no liquid bead motion, the liquid velocity at the interface is less which results in lower gas‐side mass‐transfer coefficients. An estimation of the packing characteristics for different chain geometries with an assumed wire packing density of 40,000 wires/m² is made. The interfacial area, mass‐transfer coefficients, and consequently the separation efficiency strongly depend on the liquid load. However, the proposed gas‐side separation efficiencies are slightly lower compared to common structured packings but the advantages are higher load limits, a better liquid distribution, and lower pressure drop. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 295–302, 2013     

Mass transfer characteristics of liquid films flowing down a vertical wire in a counter current gas flow

The wetted-wire packing, mainly consisting of a bundle of vertical parallel wires, is a promising concept for the use in separation columns. To investigate the multiphase flow inside the packing in detail and to estimate the performance of the packing, experiments on liquid films on a single vertical wire in a counter current gas flow were carried out. To get information about the interfacial area, an optical measurement of the film thickness was carried out with a digital high speed camera and image recognition tools. By measuring the evaporation of water and aqueous polyvinylpyrrolidone solutions into air, the gas-side mass transfer was determined. The liquid-side mass transfer was examined by measuring the desorption of CO₂ from water into air. The results show that the mass transfer coefficients are comparable to those appearing in common structured packings. When assuming a sufficiently high wire packing density, a specific interfacial area similar to corrugated sheet structured packings can be reached. Previous studies predicted a low pressure drop per packing height and extended capacity limits compared to common packings. In consideration of these results, the wetted wire packing therefore is shown to be suitable especially for absorption processes where a low pressure drop is favourable.     

新型垂直板规整填料流体力学及传质性能

采用氧解吸实验,在直径190 mm的有机玻璃塔内,液相喷淋密度10～38 m³·m^-2·h^-1,F因子0.2～3.2 m·s^-1·（kg·m^-3）^0.5的实验条件下测定了一种新型垂直板规整填料的流体力学及传质性能。实验结果表明：垂直板填料的操作压降及传质性能均显著优于商业波纹填料。通过与几种经改进的250型波纹填料相比发现,两者泛点F因子整体上相当;在较高液体喷淋密度下,垂直板填料传质性能及压降均高于改进250型波纹填料;在低喷淋密度下,垂直板填料可实现压降低于改进250型波纹填料,而两者传质性能相当。此外,对填料结构改进对其性能的影响进行了单因素考察。     

Liquid Holdup and Pressure Drop Determination in Structured Packing with CFD Simulations

It is discussed how Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can be used for hydrodynamics calculations within structured packings. Three dimensional (3D) simulations, in which the influence of mesh size and turbulence models were tested, have been carried out for dry pressure drop determination. Two dimensional (2D) Volume of Fluid gas‐liquid flow simulations have been used for liquid holdup determination. Numerical results are compared to tomographic liquid holdup measurements. Then, a comparison with data from a gas treatment pilot plant shows that wet pressure drop can be predicted by combining these two types of information (dry pressure drop and liquid holdup).