TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL FOR LIQUID FLOW MODULATION IN TRICKLE BED REACTORS.

M. ALEJANDRA AYUDE; PATRICIA M. HAURE; OSVALDO M. MARTINEZ; MIRYAN C. CASSANELLO

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL

Elsevier

Año: 2009 vol. 154 p. 162 - 167

1385-8947

The response of an isothermal TBR to a liquid flow modulation ON-OFF strategyexamined through a model aimed at the reactor scale. The reaction is gas limited andfirst order with respect to both reactants. Liquid hydrodynamic behavior is consideredby means of two different approaches: the Liquid Draining Approach, based onexperimental results and the ideal, Square Wave Approach. Model allows the evaluationof, among other variables, the liquid holdup, the liquid velocity and the liquid reactantconversion time variations at different axial positions within the reactor. Anenhancement factor due to periodic operation is defined by computing a temporalaverage of the liquid reactant conversion during an invariant cycling state, referred to itscorresponding steady state conversion. For all the conditions investigated, attainableenhancements are lower when the actual draining model is assumed.