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On: 07 August 2015, At: 23:32
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered
office: 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG
To cite this article: AJAY BANSAL , R. K. WANCHOO & S. K. SHARMA (2005) Flow Regime Transition
in a Trickle Bed Reactor, Chemical Engineering Communications, 192:8, 1046-1066, DOI:
10.1080/009864490522597
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/009864490522597
Introduction
Trickle bed reactors (TBR) are the most widely used type of reactors in the process
industry. The gas and liquid concurrently flow downward over a fixed bed of catalyst
Address correspondence to R. K. Wanchoo, Department of Chemical Engineering and
Technology, Punjab University, Chandigarh, India 160014. E-mail: wanchoo@pu.ac.in
1046
1047
particles. Trickle bed reactors are used in the petroleum, petrochemical, and chemical industries, in wastewater treatment, and biochemical and electrochemical processing. With ever-increasing demand for light oil and other products based on TBR
technology, any improvement in the understanding of the complex phenomena taking place inside the TBR can lead to major technical and=or economical breakthrough. The various factors affecting design, operation, and performance of a
TBR include hydrodynamic parameters, transfer coefficients, and reaction kinetics.
But a priori to knowing all these parameters is the flow regime prevailing, corresponding to the operating variables and physical properties of the system of interest.
In addition, the flow regime transition is strongly influenced by the foaming and
non-foaming character of the two fluids involved in a TBR. Knowledge of the flow
regime is prerequisite because other parameters like pressure drop, holdup, transfer
rates, and dispersion coefficient depend on the prevailing regime.
While flowing downward, gas and liquid rush towards the void space. This
results in different flow patterns. Based on the intensity of interaction involved
between the gas and liquid phase, these regimes are categorized as low interaction
or high interaction. Although the high interaction regime is further subclassified
as pulse, spray dispersed bubble, the transition from trickle to pulse (i.e., low to high
interaction) is of much more industrial importance as most of the reactors in industrial applications operate near the trickle to pulse transition (Satterfield, 1975).
Information on regime transition available in the literature is briefly reviewed here.
1048
A. Bansal et al.
do not comment on wall flow. Similarly, the flow map proposed by Gianetto et al.
(1978) also had a family of curves. This indicates that the choice of axes or the
dependence of various parameters on regime transition have not been taken into
account properly. Sicardi and Hofmann (1980) observed the influence of the shape
of packing on pulsing inception, but the maps available in the literature do not
include shape factor as a parameter in the flow regime maps.
It is therefore necessary that the effect of liquid phase properties and bed characteristics on regime transition be taken into account properly and axes of the regime
map be so selected that the data collapse onto a single curve.
On the other hand, in many biochemical processes the broth characteristics are
known to change drastically as the process moves forward. The initial liquid
behaving like a Newtonian fluid and having water-like viscosity after biomass
growth and=or production often turns into a non-Newtonian fluid (Margaritis
et al., 1999). In spite of their importance in biotechnology and wastewater treatment, have received trickle beds involving non-Newtonian fluids little attention.
So far only a limited number of experimental studies on regime transition involving
non-Newtonian liquid systems have been reported (Sai and Varma, 1988; Iliuta
and Thyrion, 1997). Further, non-Newtonian fluids are known to show viscoinelastic (or purely viscous) and viscoelastic behavior. But in the non-Newtonian studies
the non-Newtonian nature of the industrial fluids has been assumed to be represented by different concentrations of carboxymethyl cellulose, CMC, which is
known to exhibit pseudo-plastic behavior and does not show viscoelasticity. It is
therefore interesting to extend the Newtonian correlation for non-Newtonian
systems exhibiting viscoinelastic and viscoelastic character.
Experimental
Experiments were carried out on a 7.4 cm diameter glass column, packed to a height of
4050 cm. A schematic diagram of the setup is shown in Figure 1. Entry for gas and
liquid phases were provided at the top of the column. Air coming from the compressor
via an air surge tank was first saturated with process liquid in a saturator before being
introduced into the packed bed. This would avoid the effect of mass transfer between
gas and liquid phase inside the column. For even distribution of liquid, a distributor
was provided at the top of the packed section. The distributor had 16 holes of
1.5 mm diameter. The schematic of the liquid phase distributor is shown in Figure 1.
The packing in the column was supported on a stainless steel mesh.
To study the effect of liquid viscosity and liquid surface tension on the regime
transition of the trickle bed reactor, different liquids were used along with air as
the gas phase. Packings of different shape and size were used to study the effect of
sphericity and void fraction on flow regime transition. Characteristics of packing
material and physical properties of liquid used in this study are listed in Tables I
and II respectively. In the case of packings with an aspect ratio (Dc=dp) less than
12, probable presence of wall effect cannot be ruled out. However, previous investigators such as Sai and Varma (1988) and Goto and Smith (1975), while working on
TBRs with aspect ratios in the range of 4.7415.7 and 6.2447.68 respectively, did
not report any wall effect. In the present study, the data recorded on packings like
glass beads II and solid cylinders with aspect ratios (Dc=dp) less than 12 may be
under the influence of wall flow. However, in our analysis, we have not taken wall
effect into consideration and the data on such packings may be used with care.
1049
The column was initially flooded with liquid alone so as to completely wet
the packing, and it was drained before the liquid was introduced into the column
at the desired rate. Air from the surge tank, through the saturator, was introduced
into the column at the desired rate. The column was allowed to attain the steady state.
The flow pattern across the glass column was visually observed. For each run the gas
flow was kept constant and the liquid flow rate was gradually increased in steps.
1050
A. Bansal et al.
Packing size,
mm
Dp, mm
Porosity, e
Sphericity ,
U
Glass beads I
Glass solid
cylinders, d h
Glass Raschig rings
id=od h
Glass beads II
ZnO catalyst
pellets, d h
3.337
6.083 27.047
3.337
11.450
0.376
0.479
1.0000
0.7163
6.336=9.130
10.274
14.840
4.522 7.677
3.690
0.686
0.4225
14.840
5.302
0.441
0.406
1.0000
0.8500
The liquid flow rate at which transition was observed was noted. Corresponding to
the visual observation of the onset of pulsing the manometer fluid was found to indicate the fluctuations. In all systems, the onset of pulsing started at the bottom of the
column and with increased gas flow rates of liquid at a constant gas rate, the point of
pulse inception moved towards the column top. To observe the fluctuations corresponding to transition precisely, manometers with different manometer fluids like
water, CCl4, and mercury were used. For systems resulting in small fluctuations at
the onset of transition, water was used as manometer fluid. The transition was also
confirmed from the ~P=Z versus. L plots. It is reported in the literature that a sharp
rise in pressure drop is observed when the regime changes from low interaction to
high interaction (Chou et al., 1977). A log-log plot was plotted in each case and the
best fit curve, for low and high interaction regimes were drawn separately to intersect
at a point; the point of intersection was found to match fairly well with the visual
observations of the onset of pulsing. Sicardi et al. (2003) have recently confirmed
the reliability of non visual techniques for the detection of flow regime.
Density,
kg m 3
Viscosity,
Pa s
Temperature,
C
997.6
999.5
9.60 10 4
11.13 10 4
70
59
22.0
16.0
999.5
11.13 10 4
55
16.0
1148.0
5.93 10 3
64
32.0
1192.7
27.04 10 3
63
32.0
1051
qL, kg m 3
K, Pasn
rL, mNm 1
T, C
CMC 0.15%
CMC 0.30%
CMC 0.40%
PEO 0.8%
PEO 1.6%
997.6
997.8
998.5
998.1
1000.5
0.00252
0.01633
0.34145
0.00230
0.01360
1.0000
0.9157
0.8909
1.0000
1.0000
63
59
57
57
55
30.0
30.0
30.0
29.0
30.5
1000.7
1000.6
0.0340
0.0640
K1, Pa sm
0.673
0.644
0.0319
0.0699
0.8265
0.8131
rL, N.m1 T, C
68
67
18.0
17.0
1052
A. Bansal et al.
the results with MRQE equal to 0.7614. The data corresponding to solid cylinders
(dp 11.450 mm, e 0:479), Raschig rings (dp 3.690 mm, e 0:686), and large
glass spheres (dp 14.840 mm, e 0:441) were fairly well predicted by the correlation of Wang et al. (1994) and Larachi et al. (1993) with MRQE between 0.1390
1053
Figure 4. Effect of liquid-phase properties on regime transition (low to high interaction): (a) effect
of surface tension; (b) effect of viscosity; (c) effect of rheological parameters K and n (nonNewtonian viscoinelastic fluids); (d) effect of viscoelasticity (non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluids).
and 0.3261. However, these correlations failed to account for the decrease in surface
tension or increase in viscosity. With decrease in surface tension or increase in
viscosity the correlation predictions were much higher, with MRQE greater than 1
in most of the cases. Except for the air-water system on 3.337 mm spheres, the
predictions of Blok et al. (1983) were also high (MRQE>1). The predictions by
Dudukovic and Mills (1986) were low and MRQE was between 0.3476 and
0.7614. From the above observations it is clear that various empirical correlations
are valid for specific conditions, and the variations in fluid properties and bed characteristics lead to large errors in correlation predictions.
1054
A. Bansal et al.
Correlation(s)
V0;t
VG
p 0:045
as
e dp
0:337
G
Lt kw 4:864
k
G=ke 1
"
#
103 G
e ke 0:22
; 5:43
Lt min
kw
w G
1:25
Lt kwu
G
G
k
Present study
Different kinds of flow maps are also available to predict the transition. As discussed earlier, different investigators chose different coordinates to plot the flow
maps. The most reliable of these maps is the one proposed by Gianetto et al.
(1978), the coordinates for this map being (L=G)kw versus G=ke. The data available
in the literature and the present data, corresponding to different bed geometries and
liquid phase properties, are plotted using the axes proposed by Gianetto et al.
(Figure 5). It is observed that the data do not collapse to a single line and lie within
150% and 50%. The large scatter or inability to predict the transition by the flow
maps may be explained by the following observations:
. Sicardi and Hoffmann (1980) observed the influence of the shape of packing on
pulsing inception, but the maps available in the literature do not include shape factor as a parameter.
. As pointed out by Chou et al. (1977), there is not a theoretical basis to apply the
choice of k and w in trickle bed transitions as originally it was proposed for empty
horizontal pipes by Baker (1954) and therefore may not properly take into account
the properties of the liquid and gas phase.
. A flow map of gas velocity versus liquid superficial velocity for the air-water system does not provide an accurate prediction for other fluids or for beds with different porosity or wetting characteristics (Chou et al., 1977).
1055
It is always desirable to club the different parameters so as to yield the dimensionless groups. The dependence of gas and liquid phase properties is considered
to be represented by k and n respectively. The definition of k is taken from the literature (Baker, 1954) as:
1=2
qG
qL
k
2
qair
qW
1056
A. Bansal et al.
and the present data when subjected to multivariable regression yielded the form of n
as:
3:5 0:5 1=3
rW
lL
qW
n
3
rL
lW
qL
The exponent of rw =rL seems to be rather high, which may be due to the small
range of rL over which the present data has been generated. The 6 and 12 ppm surfactant solutions in water showed little or no foaming in the low-interaction regime
but severe foaming was observed in the high-interaction regime. Data observed
under non-foaming conditions have been used to develop Equation (3). However,
Equation (3) may not extend to foaming systems and should be used with caution
for rLvalues beyond the range of data upon which this correlation is based.
Wanchoo et al. (in press), based on their studies on particles of different shape
and size, observed that the effect of bed configuration on hydrodynamics of a trickle
bed reactor can satisfactorily be represented in terms of two parameters, S1 and S2.
These parameters, which have been so defined that they include particle effective
diameter, specific surface area, porosity of the bed, characteristic length of nonspherical particles and sphericity, are:
S1
as dp
e
and
S2
l
dps
/1
5
Lt, which depends on the gas and liquid phase property groups k and n and bed
configuration parameters S1 and S2, may be expressed as:
Lt f G; S1 ; S2 ; e; n and k
Rearranging Equation (6):
b
Lt
G c
S1 S2 d
kn a
ke
G
Using non linear regression technique (the Nelder and Mead method) the observed
data on transition were fitted to the above equation. The constants of the equation
thus obtained are:
a 5:73 0:13
4
b 0:05
3
1
c 0:06
2
1
d 0:08
4
1057
1058
A. Bansal et al.
Figure 7. Parity between present model Equation (8) and literature data.
n1
Non-newtonian Systems
Viscoinelastic Systems
Different concentrations of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and polyethylene oxide
(PEO) have been considered to assess the effect of fluid rheology. Different concentrations of CMC exhibited pseudo-plastic behavior, however, for the different
concentrations of low molecular weight PEO used in the present study, the flow
behavior index, n, remained as unity, and the solutions are expected to show a purely
1059
Figure 8. Parity between Lt,exp and Lt,pred, present data (for key refer to Figure 2).
viscous character. The flow behavior of the viscoinelastic fluids involved in the
present study was described by the Ostwald-deWaele power law model:
s K c_ n
10
la K c_ n1
11
where K and n are the rheological parameters, flow consistency index and flow behavior index, respectively, and la represents the apparent viscosity of the fluid. The
combined effect of rheological parameters K and n on regime transition from low
to high interaction is shown in Figure 4(c).
Correlation for Viscoinelastic Systems
To extend the transition correlation developed for Newtonian liquids represented by
Equation (8), fluid viscosity may be replaced by the apparent viscosity. Sai and
Varma (1988) observed that the transition from trickle to pulse flow for nonNewtonian liquids is satisfactorily represented, as with Newtonian liquids, on substitution of the flow behavior index, K, for viscosity. But flow behavior index and
viscosity are dimensionally two different quantities and should not be replaced one
for the other, whereas viscosity and apparent viscosity are dimensionally consistent.
1060
A. Bansal et al.
System
Dudukovic
and Mills
(1986)
Wang
et al.
(1994)
Blok
et al.
(1983)
Larachi Larachi
et al.
et al.
Present
(1993)
(1999) correlation
0.7614
0.1135
0.3746
0.0722
0.0469
0.0428
0.4976
1.1308
1.7975
1.9261
0.1008
0.1939
0.4971
1.1156
2.3521
0.8913
0.0590
0.0589
0.6419
0.2736
1.8316
0.1451
1.2431
0.2378
0.5821
0.32611
1.5470
0.1978
0.6111
0.0706
0.4740
0.1390
1.1026
0.1791
1.1662
0.1479
0.5813
0.7130
3.6835
0.6629
1.0120
0.1155
0.3476
1.5075
11.3020
1.4539
4.2357
0.0942
Air-water, glass
beads I
Air-6 ppm
surfactant, glass
beads I
Air-12 ppm
surfactant, glass
beads I
Air-water, glass
beads II
Air-water, solid
cylinders
Air-water, Raschig
rings
Air-60% glycerol,
glass beads I
Air-77% glycerol,
glass beads I
Therefore, in Equations (3) and (8) the liquid viscosity lL is replaced by la to give
3:5 0:5 1=3
rW
la
qW
n
rL
lW
qL
12
4=3
1=4
Lt;vi
G
0 S2
5:73
kn
ke
G
S1 2
13
and
Viscoelastic Systems
The typical regime transition in viscoinelastic fluids is shown in Figure 4(d). The
power law model represents the shear rate and shear stress data for viscoelastic fluids
adequately. Likewise, the first normal stress N1 can also be described by a two-parameter model as:
N1 K1 c_ m
14
1061
MRQE
Equation (9)
System
MRQE
Equation (9)
System
0.0926
0.2465
Air-water,
cylinders,
5.27 mm
Sai and
Varma
(1988)
Tosun
(1984)
Air-28%
glycerin,
spheres,
1.9 mm
0.2487
Air-2.5 ppm
Tergitol NPX,
spheres, 2.9 mm
Chou et al.
(1977)
0.1178
Air-water,
spheres,
2.9 mm
Chou
et al. (1977)
0.2510
Air-water,
spheres,
4.32 mm
Sai and
Varma
(1988)
0.1735
Air-water,
spheres,
2.39 mm
Sai and
Varma
(1988)
0.1188
Air-water,
spheres,
3.33 mm
Reference
0.0632
Air-water,
spheres,
3.0 mm
Christensen
et al.
(1986)
Reference
Table IVb. Statistical comparison of present correlation Equation (8) with literature data
0.8694
Air-water,
Raschig rings,
1.59 mm
Sai and
Varma
(1988)
0.2625
Air-water,
spheres,
3.0 mm
Iliuta et al.
(1996)
0.3732
Air-20%
glycerin,
cylinders,
5.27 mm
Sai and
Varma
(1988)
0.1596
Air-water,
spheres,
1.9 mm
Tosun
(1984)
1062
A. Bansal et al.
Figure 9. Parity plot for viscoinelastic liquid phase using Equation (13).
3n 1 8V0 ki
4n eDe 2
16
17
1063
Figure10. Parity plot for viscoelastic liquid phase using Equation (19).
18
A similar dependence has been previously used by Carlos et al. (1997) for flow of
viscoelastic fluid through a packed bed.
Using a nonlinear regression technique (the Nelder and Mead method), the
observed flow transition data on viscoelastic fluids were fitted to Equation (18),
yielding the following correlation constants:
p
A 2 0:123
B 2
R2 0.94, variance 0.0979, rmsd 0.0757.
1064
A. Bansal et al.
Thus the flow transition correlation for viscoelastic fluids assumes the form:
p
Lt;ve Lt;vi 1 2We2
19
where Lt,ve is the liquid phase transition velocity for viscoelastic fluids and Lt,vi is the
liquid phase transition velocity for viscoinelastic fluids predicted by Equation (13).
The parity plot between the experimental and predicted values for Lt,ve shows a good
agreement, and the data are found to remain within 10% (Figure 10).
Conclusion
Different flow maps and empirical correlations are available in the literature but none
of them seems to be applicable to the systems having different bed configurations and
different liquid phase properties. Based on the experimental observations the effect of
particle shape and bed configuration has been taken into consideration, and the
dependence of the physical properties of the liquid phase are reconsidered. While
developing the correlation equation the effect of bed configuration has been found
to be well represented by parameters S1 and S2. The correlation developed could
predict the data of different investigators with reasonable accuracy of 20%
(Figure 6) on the flow map as against the coordinates of Gianetto et al., where it
was within 150% and 50%. Further, the present correlation predicts the data
very well for viscoinelastic systems when liquid phase viscosity is replaced by
apparent viscosity. The present correlation has been extended for viscoelastic liquids
by introducing the Weissenberg number and predicts the flow transition up to 10%.
Experimental results obtained on large-sized packing materials with aspect
ratios less than 12 could be under influence of wall flow, and care must be taken
to use this data to predict the flow transition for such systems.
Acknowledgment
Financial support from All India Council for Technical Education, Government of
India, New Delhi under grant number F.NO. 8017=RDII=R&D - 617=19992000 is
gratefully acknowledged.
Nomenclature
A, B
a, b, c, d
as
CMC
dp
dps
De
Dc
e
column diameter, m
experimental value , Equation (9)
l
MRQE
m
n
N1
PAA
PEO
p
S1
S2
V0
VG
We
Greek Letters
c_
c_ w
e
k
keff
la
la
n, n0
qa
ra
s
/
w
u
lL
lW
qW
qL
Subscripts
exp
G
L
pred
t
ve
vi
w
experimental value
gas phase
liquid phase
predicted value
at transition
viscoelastic liquid phase
viscoinelastic liquid phase
water
1065
1066
A. Bansal et al.
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