Chemical and P ocess Enginee ing: New F on ie s, 2023, 44(3), e28
DOI: 10.24425/cpe.2023.146730 POSTER COMMUNICATION
Imp o emen o ba le ype Ro a ing Packed Bed’s packing
by isual s udy
Dawid Zawadzki1, Małgo za a Majdzik1, Ondřej Hájek2, Milan Malý2, Michał Bla kiewicz1∗
1Lodz Uni e si y o Technology, Facul y o P ocess and En i onmen al Enginee ing, Wolczanska 213, 93-005 Lodz, Poland
2B no Uni e si y o Technology, Facul y o Mechanical Enginee ing, Technicka 2, 616-69 B no, Czech Republic
∗Co esponding au ho :
e-mail:
[email p o ec ed]dz.pl
P esen ed a 8 h Eu opean
P ocess In ensi ica ion Con e ence,
31.05–2.06.2023, Wa saw, Poland.
A icle in o:
Recei ed: 27 July 2023
Re ised: 3 Augus 2023
Accep ed: 5 Sep embe 2023
Abs ac
P ocess in ensi ica ion is one o he key b anches o p ocess enginee ing. High g a i y equipmen achie es
in ensi ica ion by subs i u ing g a i y wi h much highe cen i ugal o ce. Ro a ing Packed Bed is he
leading example o high g a i y solu ions, s ongly acili a ing gas-liquid mass ans e . Howe e , cylind ical
packings come wi h ce ain d awbacks, such as d y spo s, ha can be o e come wi h new solu ions, such
as ba le-based packing geome ies. Howe e , when ba les a e a anged oo close o each o he , liquid
b idges a e o med be ween hem, which may lead o dec ease in mass ans e e iciency. This wo k is
conce ned wi h imp o emen o a Zickzack-like in e nal by he means o isual s udies wi h he use o
high-speed came a. Acco ding o measu ed ligamen b eak-up leng h, wo new packings we e designed
o pa icula o a ional speeds and es ed expe imen ally o e ec i e mass ans e a ea and we p essu e
d op.
Keywo ds
hyd odynamics, isual s udy, Ro a ing Packed Bed, packing, mass ans e a ea
1. INTRODUCTION
Ro a ing Packed Bed (RPB) is a no el appa a us o con ac -
ing wo phases o di e en densi ies, e.g. liquid and gas o
liquid and apo , whe e he g a i a ional o ce is subs i u ed
wi h much highe cen i ugal o ce (Ramshaw and Mallinson,
1981). The main pa o an RPB uni is a o a ing packing,
esponsible o de eloping high mass ans e a ea and p o id-
ing in ense mic o-mixing o he phases. A schema ic ep esen-
a ion o a coun e -cu en RPB uni is shown in Figu e 1.
The mos commonly used packing ypes o RPBs include
wi e mesh (Jassim e al., 2007) o me al oam (Zheng e al.,
2016). Howe e , such po ous packings o en pose d awbacks,
such as high p essu e d op and limi ed ope a ional window,
as well as d y zones due o adial di ec ion o cen i ugal
accele a ion (G oß e al., 2019). These d awbacks can be
o e come wi h he use o s uc u al packings.
The i s example o a s uc u al RPB packing was p esen ed
by Qamma e al. (2019). The Zickzack in e nal, inspi ed
by he o a ing zigzag bed appa a us (Wang e al., 2008)
is made o wo solid pla es wi h al e na ing, concen ically
a anged ba les, each equipped wi h an addi ional wei o
p o ide highe liquid holdup. Recen ly, Zawadzki e al. (2023)
used compu a ional luid dynamics o op imiza ion o he
ba le shape o RPB s uc u al in e nals in o de o minimize
he p essu e d op. The op imiza ion allowed o dec ease he
p essu e d op by 50%, while inc easing he e ec i e mass
ans e a ea by up o 30% in compa ison wi h he o iginal
Zickzack.
Al hough he shape and inclina ion angle o he ba les ha e
been success ully op imized, he packing s ill lea es oom o
op imiza ion. In pa icula , ba le spacing inside he pack-
ing is also key o i s pe o mance, as oo dense a angemen
may c ea e e y high low esis ance, while oo spaced ba -
les may dec ease he mass ans e e iciency due o limi ed
mic o-mixing. In his wo k, isual s udies ha e been used o
op imize ba le spacing, based on ligamen b eakup dis ance
a a ying liquid low a es, ba le adii and o a ional speeds.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1. Visual s udy o hyd odynamics
The measu emen o ligamen b eak-up was isualised using
high-speed came a in a anspa en RPB a B no Uni e si y
o Technology. Despi e he ac ha he o iginal packing (see
Figu e 5a) was manu ac u ed wi h he use o a anspa en
esin, he une enness o he p in ed su aces did no allow o
make quan i a i e measu emen s o he liquid ligamen s. I
was he e o e necessa y o simpli y he packing. Hence, ou
o o s o a ious diame e s we e manu ac u ed wi h only one
ba le placed on he ou e diame e . A p essu e swi l a omize
discha ged a con inuous liquid shee o ensu e uni o m liquid
dis ibu ion on he packing’s in e nal pa .
A high-speed came a FASTCAM SA-Z (Pho on, Japan),
equipped wi h a long-dis ance mic oscope 12X Zoom lens
(NAVITAR, New Yo k, USA), was used o backligh eco d-
ings. The lens was composed o a 2X F-moun adap e ( ype
1-62922), a 12 mm F.F zoom lens ( ype 1-50486) oge he
©2023. The Au ho (s). This is an open-access a icle dis ibu ed unde he e ms o he C ea i e Commons
A ibu ion (CC-BY 4.0, h ps://c ea i ecommons.o g/licenses/by/4.0/), which pe mi s un es ic ed use,
dis ibu ion, and ep oduc ion in any medium, p o ided he o iginal au ho and sou ce a e c edi ed.
1o 4
D. Zawadzki, M. Majdzik, O. Hájek, M. Malý, M. Bla kiewicz Chem. P ocess Eng., 2023, 44(3), e28
wi h 0.25X lens ( ype 1-50011). A con inuous LED ligh
model HPL3-36DD18B (Ligh speed Technologies, USA) il-
lumina ed he eco ded a ea o 1024 ×1024 px wi h a spa ial
esolu ion o 18 µm/px. A shu e speed o all eco dings
was equal o 3.75 µs.
The ob ained eco dings showed o ma ion o ligamen s on
he ba les, as well as hei b eakup in o d ople s, as shown
in Figu e 3. This igu e also p esen s he me hodology o lig-
amen leng h analysis. Ligamen leng h was de ined as he
maximum leng h he ligamen can sp ead be o e i b eaks
up in o d ople s. The magni ude o ligamen leng h was de-
e mined using dimensions in he xand ydi ec ions. Ap-
p oxima ely, 20–30 ligamen s we e measu ed o each expe -
imen al poin o de e mine he a e age alue and s anda d
de ia ion.
2.2. Measu emen o e ec i e mass ans e a ea
and we p essu e d op
The measu emen s o we p essu e d op and e ec i e mass
ans e a ea we e pe o med on he RPB de ice owned by
Lodz Uni e si y o Technology. The expe imen al ig was
equipped wi h a liquid pump, an ai blowe , ai humidi ie ,
a ba e y o comp essed CO2bo les, h ee CO2in a ed mea-
su emen de ices (sampling om inle , ou le , and inside he
RPB casing), a hyd aulic lock, and a di e en ial p essu e
gauge o measu ing p essu e d op be ween he inle and he
ou le o he RPB.
The eac ion sys em consis ed o 0.2 mol.% CO2in ai , and
1M NaOH solu ion. This sys em was chosen because i ul ils
he equi emen s o he me hodology o di ec mass ans-
e a ea calcula ion posed by Cha pen ie (1981). Wi h his
me hod, he ae can be de e mined wi h Equa ion (1).
ae =Φ
“k ·DCO2·C∗
CO2|a g
2·CNaOH”0:5(1)
The expe imen al de e mina ion o he e ec i e mass ans e
a ea and we p essu e d op was conduc ed unde he gas low
o 20 m3/h, wi h h ee liquid low a es o 45, 90, 180 L/h,
and a ou di e en o a ional speeds o 300, 600, 900 and
1200 pm.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Visual s udy
The pu pose o he isual s udy was o de e mine liquid liga-
men b eakup leng h a a ying liquid low a es, ba le adii,
and o a ional speeds. A p e iously p epa ed anspa en ba -
le packing (Figu e 5a) was i s in es iga ed wi h he as
came a, and liquid b idges could be obse ed be ween he
ba les (see Figu e 2). Howe e , he assembled packing was
oo opaque o make quan i a i e measu emen s. Thus, single
ba le packings we e ins alled in he RPB and he liquid s uc-
u es we e obse ed a hei ou e im. An exempla y pho o
o ligamen s o ming a he ba le is p esen ed in Figu e 3.
I was obse ed ha liquid low a e did no in luence liga-
men geome y, as i s inc ease only led o inc eased amoun
o o med ligamen s. Howe e , he o a ional speed and ba -
le adius had a signi ican e ec on ligamen leng h, as i
u ned ou o be a unc ion o he angula eloci y o he liq-
uid a he ba le. The i ing o he unc ion and i s equa ion
a e p esen ed in Figu e 4.
3.2. In es iga ion o ailo ed packings
Wi h he knowledge om he esul s desc ibed in Sec ion 3.1,
wo packings we e made speci ically o he desi ed o a ional
speeds: 600 pm (“600”, Figu e 5b) and 1200 pm (“1200”,
Figu e 5c). The dis ances be ween he ba les we e dic a ed
by he ligamen b eakup leng h modeled by he unc ion
shown in Figu e 4, hus p e en ing o ma ion o liquid b idges
be ween subsequen ba les a he desi ed o a ional speeds.
As lowe o a ional speeds co espond o longe ligamen s,
he ailo ed packing o 600 pm is cha ac e ized by la ge
dis ances be ween ba les. In all cases, he dis ances dec ease
quad a ically wi h he adius. Thus, he packings ailo ed o
600 pm and 1200 pm ha e di e en numbe s o ba les.
The esul s o he mass ans e measu emen s a e p esen ed
in Figu e 6a. I can be seen ha he ailo ed packings do no
show s ong inc eases in e iciency a hei desi ed o a ional
speeds. In all cases, including he ini ial packing, he mass
ans e a ea inc eases s eadily wi h he o a ional speed, ex-
cep o he cases a 300 pm, whe e he Ini ial and 1200
packings ope a e unde condi ions close o looding, which
causes sudden spikes in e ec i e mass ans e a ea. I can
be also seen ha wi hin he 600–1200 pm ange, he Ini ial
packing and he 1200 packing beha e e y simila ly, while
he e ec i e mass ans e a eas gene a ed by packing 600
a e signi ican ly lowe .
The inc easing numbe o ba les o ces he phases o low
h ough na owe channels, hus inc easing he low esis-
ances. In Figu e 6b we p essu e d ops o he h ee packings
a e shown as unc ions o o a ional speed. Wi h he excep-
ion o 1200 packing ope a ing a 300 pm ( looding), e y
s eady ends can be seen o all h ee packings. Bo h o a-
ional speed and numbe o ba les ha e posi i e e ec on
he we p essu e d op.
4. CONCLUSIONS
Wi h he assump ion ha he design o he packings p e-
en s liquid b idge o ma ion a pa icula o a ional speeds,
and gi en he da a shown in Figu e 6, i can be concluded
ha liquid b idges a e no he limi ing ac o o he mass
ans e a ea in he ba le- ype s uc u al packing. I is he e-
o e possible ha liquid ilms o ming a he solid elemen s o
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Chem. P ocess Eng., 2023, 44(3), e28 Imp o emen o ba le ype Ro a ing Packed Bed’s packing by isual s udy
he packing con ibu e o he mass ans e e iciency mo e
signi ican ly han he ee liquid s uc u es be ween he ba -
les. F om he expe imen al da a i can be seen ha inc ease
in he numbe o ba les leads o inc ease in mass ans e
a ea as well as p essu e d op, and igh ly a anged ba les in-
c ease he isk o looding a low o a ional speeds. In u u e
wo k, gas low may also be aken in o accoun o isual s ud-
ies, as i may also in luence he o ma ion o liquid s uc u es
wi hin he packing.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This wo k was suppo ed by he join Polish-Czech p ojec :
no. UMO-2020/39/I/ST8/01381 inanced by he Na ional
Science Cen e, Poland, and no. GA 21-45227L inanced by
he Czech Science Founda ion.
SYMBOLS
ae e ec i e mass ans e a ea, m2/m3
Ddi usi i y, m2/s
Cmola concen a ion, kmol/m3
k eac ion a e cons an , 1/s
G eek le e s
Φabso p ion a e, kmol/s
Supe sc ip s
∗gas-liquid equilib ium
Subsc ip s
a g a e age be ween casing and ou le
CO2ca bon dioxide
NaOH sodium hyd oxide
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Chem. P ocess Eng., 2023, 44(3), e28
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