화학공학소재연구정보센터
Chemical Engineering and Processing, Vol.115, 1-10, 2017
A hydrodynamic study of cylindrical metal foam packings: Residence time distribution and two phase pressure drop
The present study deals with hydrodynamic characterization of a cylindrical metal foam packings in terms of wetting efficiency, residence time distribution and pressure drop. It was shown that the operation of foam packings in liquid downward flow does not lead to an optimal wetting efficiency according to very high void volume and is very sensitive to the wall issues i.e. fabrication tolerances in the range of 100 mu m, Therefore, the study was performed for an upward flow operation mode. The RTD measurements in liquid upward flow and gas/liquid co-current upward flow revealed that the axial backmixing in the foam packing was less than in a vertical pipe with the same diameter. Furthermore, it was shown that the two phase pressure drop for 30 PPI and 45 PPI pore densities were below 250 Pa m(-1) and 350 Pa m(-1) respectively. The energy dissipation of 30 and 45 PPI foam packings were below 1 W m(-3) indicating a very energy efficient type of packing. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.