Significantly enhanced vapor-liquid mass transfer in distillation process based on carbon foam ring random packing

Abstract

Applications using foam material as distillation column internals have been demonstrated higher performance than classical mass transfer units, except for the operation range. In this paper, the novel Foam Ring Random Packing (FRRP) made of Carbon foam material has been developed to overcome this disadvantage. The hydraulic performance and the mass transfer efficiency of FRRP are measured as 300 mm i.d. diameter column. The experimental values of FRRP are compared with the values of traditional ring random packing. In general, the comparison results indicate that the hydrodynamics and mass transfer performances of FRRP has been intensified by the foam materials (best HETP 0.24 m and additional 20% operation range). In order to explain the cause of intensification, flow behavior experiments were also carried out on both FRRP and Raschig ring packing. Special emphases on the effects of orientations, liquid flow rate and feed point on wetting area were investigated. Compared with other traditional random packing, the results show that the FRRP has some advantages, such as better extensive wetting area (maintain no less than 80%) and more uniform wetting distribution (fluctuate within 20%). Finally, an analysis of wetting process on single FRRP was presented to help understand the flow pattern on the packing. All results indicate that FRRP has outstanding performance, which will be a potential candidate used in distillation process.