Partial Wetting in Trickle Bed Reactors: Measurements Techniques and Global Wetting Efficiency

Three very different techniques for measuring the catalyst wetted fraction -or wetting efficiency- in trickle bed reactors have been carried out and compared. The first one based on pressure drop data performed successively in single gas then liquid phase, then in gas-liquid phase is experimentally...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIndustrial & engineering chemistry research Vol. 46; no. 25; pp. 8397 - 8405
Main Authors Baussaron, Loïc, Julcour-Lebigue, Carine, Wilhelm, Anne-Marie, Boyer, Christophe, Delmas, Henri
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published American Chemical Society 01.06.2007
Subjects
Chemical engineering
Chemical Sciences
Wetting
Pressure drop
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Trickle bed
Contact angle
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Summary:Three very different techniques for measuring the catalyst wetted fraction -or wetting efficiency- in trickle bed reactors have been carried out and compared. The first one based on pressure drop data performed successively in single gas then liquid phase, then in gas-liquid phase is experimentally very simple but did not result in meaningful wetting efficiency estimation. The other ones, based on RTD analysis and on dye adsorption on wetted surfaces, gave similar results, and were used to investigate different parameters: liquid velocity and gas molecular weight and pressure by RTD, liquid-solid interaction or affinity (contact angle) and particle shape and diameter by dye fixation. The main operating parameter is the liquid velocity while the effect of gas flow is very weak. Higher solid-liquid affinity (heptane versus water) improves wetting efficiency only at very low liquid velocity (<2·10-3 m/s).
ISSN:0888-5885
1520-5045
DOI:10.1021/ie070030b