Prediction of two‐phase pressure drop and liquid holdup in co‐current gas–liquid downflow of air–Newtonian systems through packed beds

The dependency of pressure drop and liquid holdup on phase velocities, geometry of the column and packing materials as well as on the physical properties have been analyzed. Our experimental data (825 data points obtained using four liquid systems and three different particles) along with those of the available literature (776 data point from five different sources) were used for the analysis. The applicability and the limitations of the literature correlations were evaluated using the available data. Based on the analysis, new correlations for the estimation of pressure drop and liquid holdup, valid for low and high interaction regimes have been developed using the available data, with a wide range of variables. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Slow non-newtonian flow through packed beds: Effect of zero shear viscosity

The slow non-Newtonian (inelastic) flow through packed beds of mono-size spherical particles has been simulated by solving the equations of motion numerically. The inter-particle interactions have been modelled by using a simple cell model. Theoretical estimates of pressure, friction and total drag coefficients as function of the pertinent physical (l≥n≥ 0.2; 0.3 ≤ e ≤ 0.5) and kinematic parameters (0.01 ≤ '≤ 100) for a fixed value of Reynolds number {Re = 0.001) have been obtained. The theoretical predictions reported herein have been validated using the suitable experimental results available in the literature, and the importance of including the zero shear viscosity in analyses for the creeping flow problems is convincingly demonstrated.     

Influence of liquid viscosity and bed porosity on two‐phase pressure drop in concurrent gas‐liquid upflow through packed beds

It was observed in the experimental investigations that the concurrent upflow of air‐Monoethanol amine system through the packed bed gave higher pressure drop in bubble flow regime than the air‐water system. But when the flow regime changed to spray flow, air‐water system showed higher pressure drop than the other. This phenomenon was observed for the two column packing used in this study. An attempt is made to explain this phenomenon.     

Residence time distribution of the liquid in two-phase cocurrent downflow in packed beds: Air/newtonian and non-newtonian liquid systems

New data on the liquid residence time distribution for two-phase downflow of air-Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquids through packed beds of porous and non-porous particles are presented. The piston-dispersion-exchange model is used to describe the liquid flow. With porous particles the dynamic evolution of the tracer concentration in the particles is described in terms of diffusion phenomena. The axial dispersion is very important in the case of two-phase downflow of air-water (trickle flow regime) and air-CMC systems through fixed beds with porous particles, and is negligible in the case of non-porous particles. With the porous particles, a key value is the effective diffusion coefficient of the tracer in the pores of the particles.     

Hydrodynamics of gas–liquid flow in micropacked beds: Pressure drop,liquid holdup,and two‐phase model

Hydrodynamics of gas–liquid two‐phase flow in micropacked beds are studied with a new experimental setup. The pressure drop, residence time distribution, and liquid holdup are measured with gas and liquid flow rates varying from 4 to 14 sccm and 0.1 to 1 mL/min, respectively. Key parameters are identified to control the experimentally observed hydrodynamics, including transient start‐up procedure, gas and liquid superficial velocities, particle and packed bed diameters, and physical properties of the liquids. Contrary to conventional large packed beds, our results demonstrate that in these microsystems, capillary forces have a large effect on pressure drop and liquid holdup, while gravity can be neglected. A mathematical model describes the hydrodynamics in the micropacked beds by considering the contribution of capillary forces, and its predictions are in good agreement with experimental data. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 4694–4704, 2017     

并流旋转床压降与传质特性的研究

利用水-空气系统对并流旋转床的气相压降进行了研究,并与逆流旋转床气相压降进行了对比。研究结果表明：并流较逆流旋转床的气相压降低;并流旋转床的气相压降随气体流量的增大而增大,随液体流量的增大而减小,随转速的增大明显降低;而逆流旋转床的气相压降随转速的增大明显升高。利用水吸收SO2的实验对并流旋转床的传质特性进行了研究。研究结果表明：并流旋转床填料层内各点的体积传质系数随着气体流量、液体流量和转速的增大而增大;填料层半径由70mm增大至90mm时,并流旋转床的体积传质系数迅速增大,而后并流旋转床的体积传质系数随半径的增大而减小。对并流和逆流旋转床填料层内体积传质系数进行了对比。结果表明：填料层半径由70mm增大至130mm时,并流旋转床的体积传质系数较逆流时大;当半径大于130mm后,逆流旋转床的体积传质系数大于并流旋转床的体积传质系数,且随半径增大而增大。根据研究结果,提出了降低系统压降的设想,即并流与逆流旋转床串联操作。     

旋转填料床气液两相流场的仿真分析

通过合理简化旋转填料床(RPB)结构,建立了三维物理模型,利用商用软件Fluent的计算平台,采用欧拉两相流模型和多孔介质模型对旋转填料床内的气液两相流场进行了仿真分析,深入分析了其压力场分布和速度场分布,并在此基础上对比了气相压降随旋转床转速变化的仿真结果与实验结果,两者变化趋势一致,表明所建立模型能近似地模拟旋转填料床的流场分布,并指导理论研究和实验研究进一步深入。     

Pressure drop and liquid holdup for two phase concurrent flow in packed beds

Pressure drop and liquid holdup for two-phase concurrent downward flow in packed beds were correlated for various types of packings by taking into account two hydrodynamic regimes: a poor and a high gas-liquid interaction regime.Foaming and non-foaming systems have been considered.In the poor interaction regime, the pressure drop was calculated as due to the gas flowing in a bed restricted by the presence of the liquid. A correlation valid for a free liquid trickling, modified in order to take into account the effect of the pressure drop, is proposed and used to correlate liquid holdup in the presence of a concurrent gas flow.In the high interaction regime, empirical correlations were proposed for both foaming and non-foaming systems.All the employed correlations fit experimental results from several authors better than those proposed in the literature.     

Liquid holdup in gas-liquid cocurrent downflow through packed beds

The average in situ volume fraction of the liquid phase for gas-liquid cocurrent downflow through packed beds is correlated to the input volume fraction of the liquid and the bed geometry. The range of operation is delineated into a high-interaction regime and a low-interaction regime based on the influence of the gas rate on the liquid holdup. Experimental data of the present investigation using air-water and air-CMC solutions, as well as that reported in literature covering a wide range in variables, are considered in the development of correlations for total and dynamic liquid holdup.     

Pressure drop for single and two‐phase flow of non‐newtonian liquids in helical coils

New experimental results on pressure loss for the single and two‐phase gas‐liquid flow with non‐Newtonian liquids in helical coils are reported. For a constant value of the curvature ratio, the value of the helix angle of the coils is varied from 2.56° to 9.37°. For single phase flow, the effect of helix angle on pressure loss is found to be negligible in laminar flow regime but pressure loss increases with the increasing value of helix angle in turbulent flow conditions. On the other hand, for the two‐phase flow, the well‐known Lockhart‐Martinelli method correlates the present results for all values of helix angle (2.56‐9.37°) satisfactorily under turbulent/laminar and turbulent/turbulent conditions over the following ranges of variables as: 0.57 ≤ n′ ≤ 1; Re′ < 4000; Re_l < 4000; Re_g < 8000; 8 ≤ x ≤ 1000 and 0.2 ≤ De′ ≤ 1000.     

A pore network model for calculating pressure drop in packed beds of arbitrary-shaped particles

A pore network model is built to predict pressure drop in packed beds of arbitrary-shaped particles, using a method that consists of particle packing by the rigid body technique, pore network construction by the maximal sphere algorithm, and numerical calculation of fluid flow. The pore network model is firstly validated by comparing with experiments, Ergun-type equations, and particle-resolved computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The pore network model is as accurate as the particle-resolved CFD, and is remarkably two to three orders of magnitude less computationally intensive. Then, the pore network model is used to calculate the pressure drops in the beds packed with particles of different shapes and sizes, as well as using different flow media. These calculation results prove the versatility of the pore network model. This work provides an accurate yet efficient pore network model for predicting pressure drop, which should be a powerful tool for designing packed beds.     

Oil–water two‐phase flow in microchannels: Flow patterns and pressure drop measurements

This paper investigates oil–water two‐phase flows in microchannels of 793 and 667 µm hydraulic diameters made of quartz and glass, respectively. By injecting one fluid at a constant flow rate and the second at variable flow rate, different flow patterns were identified and mapped and the corresponding two‐phase pressure drops were measured. Measurements of the pressure drops were interpreted using the homogeneous and Lockhart–Martinelli models developed for two‐phase flows in pipes. The results show similarity to both liquid–liquid flow in pipes and to gas–liquid flow in microchannels. We find a strong dependence of pressure drop on flow rates, microchannel material, and the first fluid injected into the microchannel.     

Analysis of flow in rotating packed beds via CFD simulations—Dry pressure drop and gas flow maldistribution

Three-dimensional unsteady-state turbulent rotating single-phase flows were simulated in rotating packed beds (RPB) and were validated using overall dry pressure drop measurements for three RPB designs [Liu, H.-S., Lin, C.-C., Wu, S.-C., Hsu, H.-W., 1996. Characteristics of a rotating packed bed. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 35, 3590-3596; Sandilya, P., Rao, D.P., Sharma, A., Biswas, G., 2001b. Gas-phase mass transfer in a centrifugal contactor. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 40, 384-392; Zheng, C., Guo, K., Feng, Y.D., Yung, C., 2000. Pressure drop of centripetal gas flow through rotating bed. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 39, 829-834]. Analysis of the radial and tangential velocities highlighted the impact of gas feed entrance effects on the peripheral gas maldistribution in the rotating packing module. Recommendations were formulated for an optimum design with the aim to reduce gas flow maldistribution in RPBs. Breakdown of the overall pressure drop in its modular components for the housing, the rotating packing module, the free inner rotational zone, and the gas disengagement showed that the dissipation in the rotating packing could be a minor contributor to the overall pressure drop which may be undesirable in terms of RPB mass transfer and reaction efficiencies. Analysis of the simulated pressure drops allowed development of CFD-based Ergun-type semi-empirical relationships in which the gas-slip and radial acceleration effects, the laminar and inertial drag effects, and the centrifugal effect were aggregated additively to recompose the pressure drops in the rotating packing module.     

上升管内环状流含液体积分数与压降预测模型

对垂直上升管中气液二相环状流的含液体积分数及压降预测进行了研究,在充分考虑了环状流的流型特征以及合理假设的前提下,以二相流动力学理论和Wallis有关经验式为基础,推导出了环状流的数学模型。通过求解力学方程,获得了含液体积分数及压降预测的新模型,将新模型及已有模型与实验数据进行对比,结果表明,新模型不仅与实验结果符合良好,还具有计算速度快的特点,从而为垂直上升管内气液二相环状流含液体积分数与压降的预测提供了一种新的有效方法。     

Co‐current descending two‐phase flows in inclined packed beds: Experiments versus simulations

The effect of inclination angle of a packed bed on its corresponding gas–liquid flow segregation and liquid saturation spatial distribution was measured in co‐current descending gas–liquid flows for varying inclinations and fluid velocities, and simulated using a two‐phase Eulerian computational fluid dynamics framework (CFD) adapted from trickle‐bed vertical configuration and based on the porous media concept. The model predictions were validated with our own experimental data obtained using electrical capacitance tomography. This preliminary attempt to forecast the hydrodynamics in inclined packed bed geometries recommends for the formulation of appropriate drag force closures which should be integrated in the CFD model for improved quantitative estimation.     

Improving the prediction of irrigated pressure drop in packed absorption towers

Various tools estimating irrigated pressure drop in gas–liquid counter‐current randomly dumped packed beds are carefully examined through the perception of a comprehensive database. The reported measurements consisting of Cs. 5000 experiments represent an important portion of the non‐proprietary information released in the literature. Artificial neural network (ANN) modeling is proposed to refine the accuracy and broadness in predicting the irrigated pressure drop across the bed. The ANN correlation [f_LCC = f(Re_G, Ga_G, Re_L, Ga_L, St_L, S_B, χ)] yields an average absolute relative error (AARE) of 20.0% and a standard deviation on the AARE of 19.8% for the whole database and remains in accordance with the physical evidence reported in the literature.     

Steady‐state behavior of liquid fuel hydrazine decomposition in packed bed

A general theoretical model is presented to analyze the steady‐state decomposition process of liquid monopropellants in packed beds for thruster systems. Additionally, an experiment studying the decomposition of liquid hydrazine in a packed bed is used to validate this model. The liquid droplet evaporation rate is determined through calculating the gas‐liquid mass transfer for the mixture temperatures lower than the liquid propellant boiling point and solving the gas‐liquid or liquid‐solid heat transfer equations at the temperature exceeding the boiling point. The process of liquid propellant decomposition in packed beds are simulated based on the Naive–Stokes equation for the mixture model integrated with the developed liquid evaporation rate, in which both the heterogeneous catalytic reaction coupled with the diffusion of reactants in the pore of catalyst, and the homogenous decomposition reactions are considered. The calculated results for the axial distribution of the temperature are in good agreement with the experimental data. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 1064–1080, 2015     

Particle‐resolved simulations of methane steam reforming in multilayered packed beds

Particle‐resolved CFD simulations of multilayered packed beds containing 30 particles of different particle shapes (trilobe, daisy, hollow cylinder, cylcut, and 7‐hole cylinder) with a tube to particle diameter ratio of 5, were performed to understand the effect of particle shape on pressure drop (ΔP), dispersion, CH₄ conversion and effectiveness factors for methane steam reforming reactions. The effect of different boundary conditions and particle modeling approaches were analyzed in detail. The empirical correlations (Ergun and Zhavoronkov et al.) over‐predicted the ΔP and a modified correlation was developed to predict ΔP for the particles with different shapes. Overall, the externally shaped particles (trilobe and daisy) offered lower ΔP and higher dispersion because of the lower surface area and higher back flow regions, whereas the internally shaped particles (cylcut, hollow, and 7‐hole cylinder) offered higher CH₄ conversion and effectiveness factors because of the better access for the reactants. The cylcut‐shape offered the highest CH₄ conversion/ΔP. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 4162–4176, 2018     

Three‐dimensional simulations of gas‐liquid cocurrent downflow in vertical,inclined, and oscillating packed beds

The hydrodynamic behavior of gas‐liquid downflow in vertical, inclined, and oscillating packed beds related to offshore floating applications was analyzed by means of three‐dimensional unsteady‐state two‐fluid simulations. Angular oscillations of the column between two angled symmetrical positions and between vertical and inclined position were considered while bed non‐uniformity was described using radial porosity distributions. For vertical and slightly inclined columns, two‐phase flow was concentrated in the core area of the bed. However, the two‐phase flow was predicted to deviate significantly from axial symmetry at higher inclinations with prominent liquid accumulation in the bottommost reactor cross‐sectional area. Oscillating packed beds unveiled complex reverse secondary flows radially and circumferentially resulting in oscillatory patterns of liquid holdup and pressure drop whose amplitude and propagation frequency were affected by column inclination angle and travel time between vertical and angled positions. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 916–927, 2016