Pressure drop model for rotating packed bed structural internals

Abstract

Chemical industry remains in a constant need for new technologies providing increased production which is clean and energy-efficient. Rotating packed bed is a novel technology, which intensifies interfacial mass transfer with the use of centrifugal force. Similarly to column processes, pressure drop is one of the major bottlenecks in rotating packed bed processes. In this work, a universal dry pressure drop model for rotating packed bed baffle-based structured internals was developed and validated using experimental data. The model is based on Darcy-Weisbach equations, and takes into account linear pressure drop due to friction, local drops due to changes in gas flow direction, and pressure drop due to rotation. Nine packings of varying diameters, as well as baffle shapes and sizes, were tested experimentally at varying rotational speeds and gas flow rates. To include differences in baffle geometries, the unifying shape factor was implemented, taking into account the volume of solid material and the cross-sectional area of the packing. The stationary pressure drop model predictions fit with maximum relative error below 15%, while the relative errors of the overall pressure drop predictions were below 18%.