Additive manufacturing is increasingly being used to develop innovative packings for absorption and desorption columns. Since distillation has not been in focus so far, this article aims to fill this gap. The objective is to obtain a miniaturized three dimensional (3D) printed packed column with optimized properties in terms of scalability and reproducibility, which increases process development efficiency. For this purpose, a flexible laboratory scale test rig is presented combining standard laboratory equipment with 3D printed components such as innovative multifunctional trays or the column wall with packing. The test rig offers a particularly wide operating range F ¼ 0:15Pa 0:5 …1:0Pa 0:5 for column diameters between 2 and 50mm. First results regarding the time to reach steady-state, operational stability, and separation efficiency measurements are presented using a 3D printable version of the Rombopak 9M. Currently, further developed and newly designed packing structures are being characterized, which should exhibit optimized properties especially with respect to scalability and separation efficiency.
This paper demonstrates that a newly designed packing structure can be
additively manufactured, and that a more uniform liquid distribution is
achieved with it. Preliminary computational fluid dynamics simulations
eliminate the necessity to manufacture every developed geometry when
optimizing packing structures. This work simulates the liquid flow
inside two packing structures with an enclosing wall at laboratory
scale. The periodic setup permits simulations of the liquid distribution
in a large part of the column even for complex packing structures. A
novel method for the systematic evaluation of the liquid distribution is
applied to the simulation results and subsequently validated with
experimental data. The results are used to improve the liquid
distribution inside laboratory-scale packing structures.
Zur Untersuchung der Flüssigkeitsverteilung über den Querschnitt an diskreten Stellen entlang einer strukturierten Packung im Labormaßstab wird ein modularer Teststand genutzt. Additiv gefertigte Packungsmodule werden mit Klickverbindungen gestapelt und mit einem gefärbten Lösungsmittel berieselt, wobei die Fließpfade gefärbt zurückbleiben. Der benetzte Querschnitt wird automatisiert optisch ausgewertet. Die reversible Verbindung der Module ermöglicht die wiederholte Durchführung des Versuchs mit identischen Versuchsbedingungen. Der einfache, kostengünstige Aufbau verschafft einen Einblick in die Packungen und generiert schnell Ergebnisse, die zur gezielten Verbesserung von Packungsstrukturen bezüglich ihrer Flüssigkeitsverteilung genutzt werden können.
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