Hydrodynamic properties of a novel ‘open wall’ monolith reactor

The hydrodynamic behavior of high-porosity ceramic acicular mullite (ACM) monoliths operated in gas–liquid Taylor flow was investigated by cold-flow tracer residence time distribution (RTD) experiments and compared with the hydrodynamic behavior of classical cordierite monoliths in terms of static liquid fraction, maldistribution and mass exchange between the dynamic liquid zone and the static liquid zone. The piston-dispersion-exchange (PDE) model was successfully fitted to the experimental data. The multiphase fluid mechanics were indeed different for ACM and cordierite monoliths: in contrast to the classical cordierite system, the mass exchange between static liquid and dynamic liquid was much higher and the liquid phase could access the open volume of the permeable ACM monolith wall. On the other hand, the larger velocity maldistribution, larger static liquid fraction and the liquid interaction between adjacent ACM microchannels resulted in less plug flow behavior.