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Mathematical modeling of heat and mass transfer in packed‐bed adsorbers/regenerators
Author(s) -
Gouvalias G. S.,
Markatos N. C.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690391108
Subject(s) - mass transfer , adsorption , thermodynamics , heat transfer , regenerative heat exchanger , nonlinear system , partial differential equation , chemistry , turbulence , particle (ecology) , packed bed , porous medium , mechanics , freundlich equation , diffusion , flow (mathematics) , porosity , heat exchanger , chromatography , mathematics , physics , mathematical analysis , oceanography , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , geology
Nonisothermal adsorption is studied by incorporating its mathematical description into a model consisting of the full two‐dimensional Navier‐Stokes equations and energy and species concentration equations to simulate the processes in fixed‐bed industrial adsorbers/regenerators. The model partial‐differential equations are solved numerically by using well‐established computational fluid dynamics techniques. The equilibrium between gas and solid is considered nonlinear, which is described by Freundlich‐type equations. The transport and adsorption of a compound from a solvent to and into an adsorbent are described by a two‐step process: transport through the “film” to the outer surface of the particle and diffusion into the porous particle. The effect of fill resistance is discussed, as well as a two‐equation turbulence model. Solutions obtained for a typical industrial adsorber/regenerator demonstrate the potential of this method. The computed results for various flow ratios and parameters in the Freundlich equations are shown to be physically plausible.