Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.48, No.23, 10643-10649, 2009
Studies on Performance of Crossflow Concentric-Ring Rotating Bed
A new kind of high-gravity device-crossflow concentric-ring rotating bed was developed, of which the rotor contains a series of perforated concentric rings. In operation, the gas could repeatedly crosscurrently make contact with the dispersed liquid flow between the concentric rings. The rotor structures and flow arrangements determine the device's potential features, such as lower pressure drop and power consumption, which, together with the multiple-contact mechanism, are favorable to gas-liquid stripping processes. In a pilot crossflow concentric-ring rotating bed, the performance of the rotor was investigated under different operation conditions. The experimental results show that the pressure drop Delta p, the power consumption P, and the mass transfer coefficient k(L)a fall within the range of 0.03-1.02 kPa, 0.65-1.08 kW, and 0.027-0.071 s(-1), respectively. Empirical correlations based upon the experimental data were proposed to describe the dependence of pressure drop and power consumption on operation parameters. Compared with packed columns and spray contactor, the crossflow concentric-ring rotating bed has great advantages in mass transfer, equipment size, and gas/liquid loading despite the additional energy consumption. Moreover, the crossflow concentric-ring rotating bed shows lower pressure drop, power consumption, and mass transfer coefficient than that of counterflow or crossflow rotating packed beds. However, considering that stripping makes no high demand on mass transfer, crossflow concentric-ring rotating bed can be a promising option in performing stripping processes.