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Holdup and Pressure Drop of Packed Beds Containing a Modular Catalytic Structured Packing
Author(s) -
Olujic Ž.,
Behrens M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.200500387
Subject(s) - structured packing , pressure drop , packed bed , catalysis , drop (telecommunication) , modular design , materials science , chromatography , chemical engineering , chemistry , atomic packing factor , mechanics , mass transfer , engineering , mechanical engineering , organic chemistry , physics , crystallography , computer science , operating system
Abstract A comparative experimental study has been carried out to establish the hydraulic behavior of a new modular catalytic packing (Sulzer's Katapak ® ‐SP 12) and the hybrid packed bed consisting of a catalytic packing section placed in between two sections comprising elements of a high capacity structured packing (MellapakPlus 752.Y). Air‐water experiments were carried out at ambient conditions using a Perspex column with an internal diameter of 0.45 m. As expected, the liquid holdup and the pressure drop of the combined bed were between those measured for beds consisting purely of the catalytic and structured packings. However, unlike the two reference beds, the combined bed exhibited a clear upper gas load limit due to a pronounced liquid buildup at the transition from the structured packing to the top element of the catalytic packing section. Also it appeared that the Delft model, with appropriate packing geometry modifications is capable of reliably predicting the preloading region holdup and pressure drop of a hybrid packed bed containing Katapak‐SP.