Eulerian simulations of local liquid distribution in a Trickle Bed: Effects of flow rates and liquid properties

Abstract

We performed Eulerian simulations of gas–liquid flow in a Trickle Bed Reactor (TBR) to understand contributions of gas–liquid, gas–solid and liquid–solid interaction forces (F→GL,F→GS,F→LS), capillary-pressure (F→C) and mechanical-dispersion (F→D) forces to local liquid spreading and how their contributions change with changes in flow rates and physical properties. Further, we simulated effects of these parameters on pressure drop (ΔP), overall liquid hold-up (〈εL〉) and importantly on local liquid spreading and validated the predictions using measurements. We have shown that F→LS significantly contributes to local liquid spreading, ΔP and 〈εL〉, whereas F→D contributes marginally. The modified F→LS model led to satisfactory predictions of local liquid spreading, ΔP and 〈εL〉 for a wide range of fluid flow rates and physical properties and predictions are in a satisfactory agreement with the measurements. The present work is an important step in extending the CFD model for simulating reactions and heat effects in TBRs.