11/5/13

FlowthroughPackedBeds
BasavarajM.Gurappa
Departmentofchemicalengineering
IITMadras
basa@iitm.ac.in
Ph:04422574164

Contents
IntroducNonandapplicaNon
ComponentsofPackedbed
PackingMaterials
Typesofpacking
ImportantdeniNons
FricNonallossesthroughpackedbeds

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Whatarepackedbeds?
Apackedbedisahollowpipeorcolumnthat
islledwithpackingmaterial.
Packedbedsareusedtoimprovecontact
between two or more phases in gasliquid,
liquidliquid, or liquidsolid operaNons in a
numberofchemicalprocess
Packedbedsareusedinmanychemicalindustriesin
disNllaNon processes, mass transfer operaNons,
chemical reactors, separaNon processes, etc. In
reactors, packing material used is solid catalyst
par:cles, andthe chemicalreac:ontakesplaceon
thesurfaceofthesecatalyst.

FlowthroughPackedbedsonltraNon
One of the important example where ow through a bed of
solidsisencounteredisinltraNonprocesses.InltraNon,the
bedofsolidsconsistsofsmallparNclesthatareremovedfrom
theliquidbyalterclothornescreen.

hYp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kalolis.jpg

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Packedbedsinternals

LiquiddistributorsprovideuniformliquiddistribuNon.Ifthe
height of the packed bed is very large, there may be
channeling. Channeling occurs when the uid owing
through the packed bed nds a least resistance path. To
avoid channeling and hence to improve eciency, liquid
hYp://en.ciNzendium.org/ redistributorsareused

Scrubbers

Distributors

Packed Bed Scrubbers and Degasers are used to remove

tracesofgas,vapors,chemicalmistetc.

RandomvsStructuredPacking
Thebedofsolidsinthepackedbedorthepackingmaterialin
thecolumncanbelledintwodierentways
Packing material is randomly dumped Random packed
column
Structuredpacking,wherethepackingmaterialisarranged
inaspecicpaYern
The surface area of the par:cles available and void space
betweenthepackingdependsonthetypeofpacking,which
aretheimportantfactorsthataectpackingperformance.

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Randompacking

Structuredpacking

PackingMaterialsCommonlyUsed:
The void fracNons for
spheres,
cylinders,
andgranularpackings
generally range from
0.3 to 0.6 depending
on the raNo of
parNcle size to tube
size and the method
of
packing.Raschig
rings
and
Berl
saddles, which have
porosiNes of 0.60 to
0.75

hYp://www.towerpacking.cn/s02/product/2010/10/23/10091683.html

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Structurespackingcommonlyusedinindustry:

hYp://www.inhersa.co.za/
hYp://www.ceramichoneycombs.com/
9

SomeimportantdeniNons
Supercialvelocity
Sphericity
Porosity
Reynoldsnumber

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SupercialVelocity
Thesupercialuidvelocitythroughthebed,()=
V0
Fluidvolumetricowrate Q
=
CrosssecNonalareaofbed A
Supercial uid velocity is also called the EMPTY TOWER
velocity
Theaveragevelocityofuidinthepores,V =

V0

Where,istheporosityofthebed

Sphericity
SphericityisthepropertyoftheparNclesusedaspackingmaterialinthe
bed.SphericityisdenedasthesurfacetovolumeraNoforasphereof
diameter Dp divided by the surface to volume raNo for the parNcle
whosenominalsizeofDp

s = (6 / D p ) / (s p / v p )

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PorosityorVoidFracNonofthebed
TheporosityorvoidfracNon,
=

volumeofvoidsinthebed
volumeofthepackedbed

volumeofthebedvolumeofsolids
volumeofthePackedBed

= 1

volumeofsolids
volumeofthePackedBed

= 1packingfracNonofsolids

PackingofsphericalparNcles

IfyouputthesphericalparNclesinacolumnverygently,theywillllwithavolumefracNonof
around0.6.Butthen,ifyouverygentlyshakethecolumn,sothattheypackdownasmuch
aspossible,butsNllremaincompletelydisordered,theirvolumefracNonincreasestoabout
0.64.ThisisthehighestvolumefracNonofspherespackedtoretainarandomconguraNon,and
iscalledrandomclosepacking,orRCP.
If you shake the column very hard, allowing the marbles to jump up slightly and completely
rearrangethemselves.Thentheybegintoorder,forminglayersofspherespackedinahexagonal
lamce,witheachlayernestledinthehollowsformedbythelayerbeneathit.Thisstructureis
nearlycrystalline,andformsthehighestvolumefracNonpackingofspheres,with=0.74.
IfyoupacktheparNclesevenmoregentlythanforrandomclosepacking;infact,youmustrst
puttheminauidthatprovidesneutralbuoyancy(forexampleuidizedstate),sothereisno
gravitaNonal force whatsoever. Then, aoer the parNcles seYle, the packing seems even less
dense and the volume fracNon is only 0.56. This is called random loose packing, and
represents the minimum packing of spheres that sNll keeps the parNcles jammed in place.
However,thisformofpackingissomewhatcontroversial
G.Y.Onoda,E.G.Liniger,Phys.Rev.LeY.64,2727(1990).

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ReynoldssNumber:
N Re =

D p (V 0 )

D p G0

isthedensityoftheuid,Kg/m3
istheviscosityoftheuid,Pa.s

V 0 isthesupercialvelocity,m/s

G0 = V 0 isthesupercialmassvelocity,Kg/m2s
N Re < 1

LaminarFlow

N Re > 1000

TurbulentFlow
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Flowthroughpackedbeds
Theresistancetotheowofauidthroughthevoidsinabedofsolids
istheresultantofthetotaldragofalltheparNclesinthebed.
DependingontheReynoldsnumberlaminarow,turbulentow,form
drag,separaNon,andwakeformaNonoccur.
Pressuredrop in any ow system occurs due to inerNal and viscous
eects.AthighReynoldsnumber(turbulentcondiNons),inerNaleects
prevail, whereas the viscous eects are important at low Reynolds
number(laminarcondiNons).Ingeneral,

PTotal = PViscous + PInertial

The total pressure drop through a bed of solids can be obtained by
summingdragoftheindividualpar:clesorbasedones:matesofthe
totaldragoftheuidonthesolidboundariesofthechannelsthrough
thebedpar:cles.

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Flowthroughpackedbeds
For the theoreNcal analysis to calculate pressuredrop, actual ow
channels are replaced with parallel cylindrical conduits of constant
crosssecNon. ParNcles are assumed to be of the same size and shape
havingconstantsphericity.

Solids/ParNcles

Channelsforliquidow

Flow through packed beds laminar ow

condiNons
P 150V0 (1 )2
= 2 2
L
s Dp
3

P 32V0
=
L
D2

KozenyCarman for PACKED

BEDS
HagenPoiseuilleforPressure
drivenowthoughpipes

Solids/ParNcles
Channelsforliquidow

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Flow through packed beds laminar ow

condiNons
P 150V0 (1 )2
= 2 2
L
s Dp
3

P 32V0
=
L
D2

KozenyCarman for PACKED

BEDS
HagenPoiseuilleforPressure
drivenowthoughpipes

ReplacebyDeq

To calculate an equivalent
channeldiameter,itisassumed
Solids/ParNcles
that the bed n number of
uniform circular channels
Channelsforliquidow whose total surface area and
void volume match that of the
bed.

Flow through packed beds laminar ow

condiNons
Solids/ParNcles

Channelsforliquidow

Deq

Objec:veistocalculate Deq
Totalsurfaceareaofnparallelchannels

Totalvolumeofsolids(orparNcles)
NumberofparNcles
VolumeofoneparNcle

n Deq L

S0 L(1 )

S0 L(1 )
vp

10

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Flow through packed beds laminar ow

condiNons
Deq
Totalsurfaceareaofnparallelchannels

S0 L(1 )

Totalvolumeofsolids(orparNcles)

S0 L(1 )
vp

NumberofparNcles
VolumeofoneparNcle

Totalsurfaceareaavailablefornchannels

n Deq L

S0 L(1 )

sp
vp

Flow through packed beds laminar ow

condiNons
Deq
Totalsurfaceareaofnparallelchannels

Totalsurfaceareaavailablefor
nchannels

sp
vp

n Deq L

S0 L(1 )

sp
vp

6
s Dp

n Deq L = S0 L(1 )

6
s Dp

11

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Flow through packed beds laminar ow

condiNons
6
Deq
n Deq L = S0 L(1 )
(1)
D
s

VoidVolumeinthebed=Totalvolumeofnchannels

D 2eq
S0 L = n
L
4

(2)

Using(1)and(2)

Deq =

s Dp
3
(1 )

Flow through packed beds laminar ow

condiNons
2

Deq =

s Dp

(1 )

P 32V
=
L
Deq2
HagenPoiseuilleforPressuredrivenow
thoughpipes
Thepressuredropdependsonaveragevelocity

V0

V=

V0

istheemptytowerorsupercialvelocity

12

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Flow through packed beds laminar ow

condiNons
P 32V
L

Deq2

P
32V0 (1 )2
=
4 2 2 3
L
D
9 s p

Theactualchannelsareirregularinshape,haveavariablecrosssecNon
andorientaNon,andarehighlyinterconnected.Thereforeweintroduce
acorrecNon1thattakesintoaccounttortuousnatureofpipes.

2
P 32V0 (1 )
=
1
L 4 2 D 2 3

9 s p

Flow through packed beds laminar ow

condiNons

2
P 32V0 (1 )
=
1
L 4 2 D 2 3

9 s p

P 72 1V0 (1 )2
=
L
2s D p2
3
P 150V0 (1 )2
= 2 2
1 = 2.1
L
s Dp
3

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Flow through packed beds Turbulent ow

condiNons
P 1.75 V02 (1 )
=
L
s Dp
3
P 2 f V 02
=
L
Deq

BurkePlummerforPACKED
BEDS
Pressuredropowthough
pipesturbulentow

TotalpressuredropgivenbyErgunEquaNonis:
P 150V0 (1 )2 1.75 V02 (1 )
= 2 2
+
L
s Dp
3
s Dp
3
KozenyCarman

BurkePlummer

Flowthroughpackedbeds
TotalpressuredropgivenbyErgunEquaNonis:
P 150V0 (1 )2 1.75 V02 (1 )
= 2 2
+
L
s Dp
3
s Dp
3
KozenyCarman

fp =

BurkePlummer

150(1 )
+ 1.75
s N Re, p
3
P s D p
fp =
LV02 (1 )

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