(600bm) Hydrodynamics of Trickle-Bed Reactors with Particle Size Distributions

Trickle-bed reactors are typified by cocurrent downflow of gaseous and liquid reactants over a packed bed of catalyst.  While the investigation of the complex hydrodynamics in trickle-bed reactors has been well reported in literature, studies and development of correlations for hydrodynamic parameters have been limited to systems of uniform particle size.  Although prevalent in practice, packed beds with activated carbon or other systems with particle size distributions have not been thoroughly investigated.  Towards this end, correlations for pressure drop, liquid holdup, and wetting efficiency have been developed by utilizing a trickle-bed reactor with a number of particle sizes and size distributions.  The effect of particle size and size distributions, in addition to other reactor variables (gas and liquid mass flux, viscosity, etc), on each hydrodynamic parameter will be presented.  The establishment of correlations for pressure drop, liquid holdup, and wetting efficiency, with respect to packed beds having particle size distributions, provides fundamental understanding as well as practical insight into the behavior of trickle-bed reactors.