Droplet Retention Time and Pressure Drop in SiSiC Open-Cell Foams Used as Droplet Separation Devices: A Numerical Approach

• Published in: Industrial & engineering chemistry research Vol. 59; no. 9; pp. 4093 - 4107
• Main Authors: Hernandez, Jesus Nain Camacho, Lecrivain, Gregory, Schubert, Markus, Hampel, Uwe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 04.03.2020
• ISSN: 0888-5885; 1520-5045
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.9b04247

Open-cell foams are a promising alternative for the separation of liquid droplets suspended in gas flows at comparably low pressure drops. Separation in such ceramic foams is investigated using the residence time distribution of droplets derived from pore-scale CFD simulations. Silicon-infiltrated silicon carbide (SiSiC) open-cell foam samples (20 and 45 pores per inch, ppi) are considered. The foam structure was reconstructed from microcomputed tomography (μCT) images. To track the droplets, a Lagrangian discrete-phase model was used. The effects of pore size and pore density on the droplet retention time were studied. The flow pressure drop showed remarkable agreement with the in-house experimental measurements. The droplet separation efficiency within the foam structure was found to generally increase with the inlet gas velocity and the droplet inertia.