Flow maldistribution

SheUside flow maldistribution effect is normally iacluded in the, -correction. Tubeside flow maldistribution effect is relatively small in most designs because the principal resistances are tube friction and entrance/exit pressure drop. 

Miscellaneous Effects. Depending on individual design characteristics, there are other miscellaneous effects to consider in the determination of the final sizing of a heat exchanger. These include effects of flow maldistribution of both the sheUside and tubeside fluids, stagnant or inactive regions in the tube bundle, and inactive length of the tube in tubesheets. These effects should be individuaUy assessed and appropriate additional areas should be provided. 

Flow Maldistribution. One of the principal reasons for heat exchangers failing to achieve the expected thermal performance is that the fluid flow does not foUow the idealized anticipated paths from elementary considerations. This is referred as a flow maldistribution problem. As much as 50% of the fluid can behave differently from what is expected based on a simplistic model (18), resulting in a significant reduction in heat-transfer performance, especially at high or a significant increase in pressure drop. Flow maldistribution is the main culprit for reduced performance of many heat exchangers. 

In addition to the reduction in performance, flow maldistribution may result in increased corrosion, erosion, wear, fouling, fatigue, and material failure, particularly for Hquid flows. This problem is even more pronounced for multiphase or phase change flows as compared to single-phase flows. Flow distribution problems exist for almost all types of exchangers and can have a significant impact on energy, environment, material, and cost in most industries. 

Uniformity of air flow should be estabhshed. Air-flow maldistribution can seriously reduce dryer capacity and efficiency. 

Assessing the fluid dynamies of the initial RFR eonfiguration, and identifying tlie seope of eliminating the flow maldistribution, if any. 

The flow pattern of fluids in gas-liquid-solid (catalyst) reactors is often far from ideal. Special care must be taken to avoid by-passing of the catalyst particles near the reactor walls, where the packing density of the catalyst pellets is lower than in the centre of the bed. By-passing becomes negligible if the ratio of reactor to particles diameter is larger than 10 a ratio of 20 is recommended. Flow maldistributions might be serious in the case of shallow beds. Special devices must be used to equalize the velocity over the cross-section of the reactor before reactants are introduced onto the catalyst bed. 

Fixed-bed reactors are used for testing commercial catalysts of larger particle sizes and to collect data for scale-up (validation of mathematical models, studying the influence of transport processes on overall reactor performance, etc.). Catalyst particles with a size ranging from 1 to 10 mm are tested using reactors of 20 to 100 mm ID. The reactor diameter can be decreased if the catalyst is diluted by fine inert particles the ratio of the reactor diameter to the size of catalyst particles then can be decreased to 3 1 (instead of the 10 to 20 recommended for fixed-bed catalytic reactors). This leads to a lower consumption of reactants. Very important for proper operation of fixed-bed reactors, both in cocurrent and countercurrent mode, is a uniform distribution of both phases over the entire cross-section of the reactor. If this is not the case, reactor performance will be significantly falsified by flow maldistribution. 

Basket-type reactor (CSTR) for gas-phase reactions) High temperature, high pressure catalytic processes High transport rates, easy variation of parameters Limited particle size, high equipment cost, difficult to operate under a wide range of conditions without creating flow maldistribution... 

The dispersion and stirred tank models of reactor behavior are in essence single parameter models. The literature contains an abundance of more complex multiparameter models. For an introduction to such models, consult the review article by Levenspiel and Bischoff (3) and the texts by these individuals (2, 4). The texts also contain discussions of the means by which residence time distribution curves may be used to diagnose the presence of flow maldistribution and stagnant region effects in operating equipment. 

Flow injection analysis (FIA), 0 587 Flow-injection immunoanalysis, 6 400 Flow maldistribution effect, 13 258, 270-271... 

Pressure driven membrane process, 78 507 Pressure-driven membranes, in water treatment, 26 111 Pressure drop, 77 804 from area change, 73 261-262 in cake filtration, 77 330-332, 333-335 flow maldistribution and, 73 270 from flow turning, 73 262 frictional, 73 260-261 in gas adsorption, 7 657-658 in hyperbar vacuum filtration, 77 377 shellside tube bundle, 73 262-263 in vacuum filtration, 77 349-350 Pressure drop calculations, in heat exchanger design, 73 259-260 Pressure drop information, for resins, 74 399... 

A brief review of the development history of monolith reactor models for TWC applications can be found in Koltsakis and Stamatelos (1997). Various workers have looked at 1-, 2- and 3-dimensional models considering both the whole monolith and just a single channel. A multidimensional model for the whole monolith is required for investigating the effects of a flow maldistribution across the front face of the monolith, but is probably unnecessary when the flow is uniform. Other workers have studied multidimensional single channel models, where the gas flow within the channel is modelled in detail. In general, for a model to be useful in practice, some compromise has to be made between having a reasonable runtime versus detail/complexity, both in terms of the chemical kinetics and the description of the flow field within the channels of and across the monolith. 

As computers become faster, the complexity of problem that can be usefully simulated increases. Areas of interest include combining computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling with chemical kinetics to investigate (and hence reduce) the effect of flow maldistributions on aftertreatment system efficiency, and simulating catalyst deactivation over the lifetime of the catalyst. 

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