Correlation between hysteresis of gas-liquid mass transfer and liquid distribution in a trickle bed

The hysteresis of gas-liquid mass transfer rate and the corresponding radial liquiddistribution in a trickle bed reactor are measured to provide evidence for the correlation between thesetwo behaviors.Experimental results indicate that the hysteresis of gas-liquid mass transfer originatesfrom the nonuniformity of the hydrodynamic state of gas-liquid flow and the radial maldistributionof local k_(gia) corresponds very well to the radial maldistribution of liquid flow in the bed.The localliquid flow rate is also found to be nonuniform in the azimuthal direction.In view of maldistributedliquid flow even in the pulsing flow regime,the conventional plug flow model seems oversimplifiedfor describing the behavior of a trickle bed.     

Analysis of fouling characteristic in enhanced tubes using multiple heat and mass transfer analogies☆

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis on cooling tower fouling data taken from seven 15.54 mm I.D. helically ribbed, copper tubes and a plain tube at Re=16000. There are two key processes during fouling formation:fouling deposition and fouling removal, which can be determined by mass transfer and fluid friction respectively. The mass transfer coefficient can be calculated through three analogies:Prandtl analogy, Von–Karman analogy, and Chilton–Colburn analogy. Based on our analyses, Von–Karman analogy is the optimized analogy, which can well predict the formation of cooling tower fouling. Series of semi-theoretical fouling correlations as a function of the product of area indexes and efficiency indexes were developed, which can be applicable to different internally ribbed geometries. The correlations can be directly used to assess the fouling potential of enhanced tubes in actual cooling tower water situations.