Van Holt F., Brinkmann J., Grunewald M., 2018, Experimental and Theoretical Studies on Local Liquid Phase Distribution in Packed Columns, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 69, 391-396.
Knowledge about liquid maldistributions in packed beds can be used to improve the scale-up and design of packed columns. The cell model presented in this work is especially designed to account for large scale maldistribution, in particular wall flow. The underlying idea is a representative cell volume, in which variables such as concentration and hold-up are calculated based on an ideally mixed cell. To describe wall flow, the behavior of wall cells differs from the bulk cells by means of two different liquid distribution parameters. An investigation of the model parameters demonstrates that wall flow quantity and development are described as suggested by literature and experiments. Moreover, the influence of the column diameter on wall flow is qualitatively correct. Model validation is performed by residence time distribution experiments across the cross section of the column using a wire-mesh sensor for different packed heights. In advance, the sensor is satisfactorily validated for the tracer experiments with reference to literature. Based on this, the distribution parameters of the model are fitted to experimental data.
