Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.33, No.3, 519-525, 1994
Influence of Gas-Density on the Hydrodynamics of Cocurrent Gas-Liquid Upflow Fixed-Bed Reactors
The effect of pressure on the frictional two-phase pressure drop and the gas holdup in a flooded fixed bed reactor with cocurrent upflow of gas and liquid is presented. It has been found that pressure and gas molecular weight influence the pressure drop only via gas density. An increase of gas density results in an increase of two-phase pressure drop and gas holdup at given fluid superficial velocities. Two extrapolation tools for the estimation of pressure drops in pressurized flooded beds exclusively from experiments conducted in nearly atmospheric conditions are proposed. A new two-phase pressure drop correlation based upon more than 1800 measurements (including our data and that from the literature) carried out within broad ranges of gas densities, liquid properties, particle sizes, and column diameters is developed.
Keywords:TRICKLE-BED;BUBBLE-COLUMNS;ELEVATED PRESSURES;INTERFACIAL-AREAS;HOLD-UPS;SATURATION;DOWNFLOW