A MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF A BUBBLE COLUMN REACTOR FOR THE CUMENE OXIDATION

The liquid flow field over a bubble-cap tray or a perforated plate in distillation columns was determined numerically using the upwind difference method. The results of the numerical calculations indicate that with flow over such a plate there exists a stagnant region along the side of the plate, which expands with the increase in the Reynolds number. Furthermore, the size of the stagnant region depends upon the inlet liquid velocity distribution and is at a minimum when the distribution is uniform. It was also found that by installing baffles, the size of the stagnant region may be significantly reduced.