Prediction of flow distributions and pressure changes in multi-layered annular packed beds

Abstract

Annular packed bed configurations are used in many different systems and the radial packing region is not always composed of a single layer of material. This work is based on a commercial air filter which was found to have several different layers within the radially packed region, comprising a particulate filter and an activated carbon layer as the main flow resistances. To enable modelling of such a filter, an existing model has been extended to predict flow distributions and pressure profiles for annular packed bed systems. The enhanced model predicts the trends and orders of magnitude of experimentally obtained pressure profiles and overall pressure drops for three air flow rates through a commercial air filter.