Premium
Double‐slit model for partially wetted trickle flow hydrodynamics
Author(s) -
Iliuta I.,
Larachi F.,
AlDahhan M. H.
Publication year - 2000
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.690460318
Subject(s) - wetting , pressure drop , trickle bed reactor , trickle , mechanics , drop (telecommunication) , contact angle , two phase flow , flow (mathematics) , materials science , slip (aerodynamics) , chemistry , thermodynamics , composite material , catalysis , engineering , mechanical engineering , biochemistry , physics , political science , law
Abstract A double‐slit model developed can predict the frictional two‐phase pressure drop, external liquid holdup, pellet‐scale external wetting efficiency, and gas–liquid interfacial area in cocurrent downflow trickle‐bed reactors operated under partially wetted conditions in the trickle flow regime. The model, an extension of the Holub et al. (1992, 1993) mechanistic pore‐scale phenomenological approach, was designed to mimic the actual bed void by two inclined and interconnected slits: wet and dry slit. The external wetting efficiency is linked to both the pressure drop and external liquid holdup. The model also predicts gas–liquid interfacial areas in partially wetted conditions. An extensive trickle‐flow regime database including over 1,200 measurements of two‐phase pressure drop, liquid holdup, gas–liquid interfacial area and wetting efficiency, published in 1974–1998 on the partial‐wetted conditions, was used to validate the modeling approach. Two new improved slip‐factor functions were also developed using dimensional analysis and artificial neural networks. High‐pressure and ‐temperature wetting efficiency, liquid holdup, pressure drop, and gas–liquid interfacial area data from the literature on the trickle‐flow regime using conventional monosized beds and catalyst bed‐dilution conditions were successfully forecasted by the model.