Development of a hybrid pressure drop and liquid holdup phenomenological model for trickle bed reactors based on two‐phase volume averaged equations

Abstract

A model with a high predictive quality to estimate pressure drops and liquid holdups in trickle bed reactors (TBR) is yet necessary to assist in design, up scaling, and the implementation of new processes tasks. The currently available models to estimate pressure drops and liquid holdups on TBRs exhibit important deviations, which lead to uncertainties in their applicability. To overcome the limitations in prediction deviations in the currently available models, a new model is developed based on the volume averaged two‐phase transport equations in a porous media, as developed by Whitaker. In order to develop a model that could simultaneously predict pressure drops and liquid holdup with a high accuracy, the developed model was coupled with a modification of the extended slit model reported in the literature, leading to a new hybrid model with enhanced predictability. Experimentally determined pressure drops and liquid holdup in a column with a 0.14 m internal diameter and a height of 2 m, packed with different extrudate geometries, cylinders, trilobes, and quadlobes, were used to determine the model parameters and to verify the quality of the proposed hybrid model predictions. The developed model, when compared with the experimentally determined data of pressure drops showed mean squared errors (MSE) of 0.89%, 2.31%, and 1.22% for the cylinders, trilobes, and quadlobes particles, respectively, while the liquid holdups were predicted with MSEs of 0.03%, 0.16%, and 0.01% for the cylinders, trilobes, and quadlobes particles, respectively.

Special issue in honour of Professor Jamal Chaouki

“…99, issue 12) with 12 papers as Part II. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] The special issue and special section cover experiments, modelling and simulation of multiphase reactors, pyrolysis and gasification, mineral processing, and applied catalysis.We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the contributors, reviewers, Dr. João B. P. Soares, and Kyra Van Den Bos, who, as the Managing Editor for this special issue, led the support team, which includes Tiffany Noel, Production Editor, and Lisa Olsen, Editorial Coordinator, in the publishing process. Above all, on behalf of all the contributors, we would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Dr. Chaouki for his decades of dedication to teaching, mentoring, research, and community services in Canada, Morocco, and worldwide, and wish him and his well-respected family all the best in the future.…”

“…99, issue 12) with 12 papers as Part II. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] The special issue and special section cover experiments, modelling and simulation of multiphase reactors, pyrolysis and gasification, mineral processing, and applied catalysis.…”

Issue Highlights

“…The developed model predicts experimental pressure drops and liquid holdups with deviations of up to 1.2% and 0.16%, respectively, for cylinder, trilobe, and quadlobe particles. [ 4 ]…”