Innovative chemical reactors
In cooperation with TU Eindhoven two-phase flow in novel reactor designs with rotating parts (solid foam and discs) have been analysed for different operating stages and installation positions. In such rotating reactors high centrifugal forces intensify the contact of liquid and gas and this way mass transfer and the space-time-yield, but also create complex two-phase distributions. Gas-liquid flow structures have been visualised and corresponding flow maps were derived. Additionally, local volumetric phase fractions have been quantified in different reactor parts.
Packed bed and trickle bed reactors are widely used in the chemical industry for heterogeneous catalysed reactions. Important for an efficient usage of catalyst is a homogeneous phase distribution in the entire reactor. Gamma-ray CT is perfectly suited for such phase fraction distribution studies within fixed beds. The result shows a representative study in a static catalytic bed. Furthermore, our gamma-ray CT was used to evaluate new process intensification concepts in such reactors, like periodic reactor operation and an inclined rotating fixed bed reactor.
References
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Measurement of Liquid Distributions in Particle Packings Using Wire-Mesh Sensor versus Transmission Tomographic Imaging
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research Vol. 49 (19), pp. 9445-9453, 2010. [doi:10.1021/ie100900g] - H.-U. Haerting et al.
Hydrodynamics of co-current two-phase flow in an inclined rotating tubular fixed bed reactor – Wetting intermittency via periodic catalyst immersion
Chemical Engineering Science 128, pp. 147-158, 2015. [doi: 10.1016/j.ces.2015.02.008] - M. A. Leon et al.
Hydrodynamics and Gas-Liquid Mass Transfer in a Horizontal Rotating Foam Stirrer Reactor
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Gas holdup of rotating foam reactors measured by γ-tomography - effect of solid foam pore size and liquid viscosity
AIChE Journal 59(1), pp. 146-154, 2013. [doi:10.1002/aic.13787] - R. Tschentscher et al.
Tomography measurements of gas-holdup in rotating foam reactors with Newtonian, non-Newtonian and foaming liquids
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Water and n-heptane volume fractions in a rotor-stator spinning disc reactor
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