Abstract

Because pulsed bed adsorbers are preferred when the high fluid flow rate is expected, pulsed bed adsorbers are used in many industries; for example, waste water treatment and food industries. However, few attempts have been focused on modeling of pulsed bed adsorbers. In this paper, the mathematical model of an industrial-scale pulsed bed adsorber has been developed. By using the data on adsorption equilibrium constant, mass transfer and axial dispersion in a lab-scaled fixed-bed adsorber, the numerical analysis of an industrial-scale pulsed bed adsorber for colorant removal in sugar refining process is performed and the numerical results are analyzed to gain the better understanding of this unit operation. The optimum cycle time depended on the fraction of adsorbent being removed and replaced in each pulse; the optimum cycle time increases from 4 hours at 5 % pulse to 12 hours at 14% pulse. In addition, the fluctuation of feed flow rate would affect the performance of pulsed bed adsorbers; for example, the 10% increase of flow rate would make the colorant in the syrup at the outlet higher than its specification. The finding of this paper would allow engineers to optimize an industrial-scale pulsed bed adsorber more efficiently.

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