Mass transfer packing

In the fixed-film reactor, the organisms grow on an inert surface that is maintained in the reactor. The inert surface can be gramJar material, proprietary plastic packing, rotating discs, wood slats, mass-transfer packing, or even a sponge-type material. The reacior can be flooded or have a mixed gas-hquid space (Fig. 25-52). The biomass level on the... 

How to Design Compact Mass Transfer Packing for Maximum Efficiency... 

This paper points out important criteria for an efficient mass transfer packing. Also described is a new PVC packing for use in water/air or water/gas applications such as cooling towers. 4 refs, cited. 

To minimize the multiple path and mass transfer contributions to plate height (equations 12.23 and 12.26), the packing material should be of as small a diameter as is practical and loaded with a thin film of stationary phase (equation 12.25). Compared with capillary columns, which are discussed in the next section, packed columns can handle larger amounts of sample. Samples of 0.1-10 )J,L are routinely analyzed with a packed column. Column efficiencies are typically several hundred to 2000 plates/m, providing columns with 3000-10,000 theoretical plates. Assuming Wiax/Wiin is approximately 50, a packed column with 10,000 theoretical plates has a peak capacity (equation 12.18) of... 

Kovat s retention index (p. 575) liquid-solid adsorption chromatography (p. 590) longitudinal diffusion (p. 560) loop injector (p. 584) mass spectrum (p. 571) mass transfer (p. 561) micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (p. 606) micelle (p. 606) mobile phase (p. 546) normal-phase chromatography (p. 580) on-column injection (p. 568) open tubular column (p. 564) packed column (p. 564) peak capacity (p. 554)... 

Discussion of the concepts and procedures involved in designing packed gas absorption systems shall first be confined to simple gas absorption processes without compHcations isothermal absorption of a solute from a mixture containing an inert gas into a nonvolatile solvent without chemical reaction. Gas and Hquid are assumed to move through the packing in a plug-flow fashion. Deviations such as nonisotherma1 operation, multicomponent mass transfer effects, and departure from plug flow are treated in later sections. 

Design Procedure. The packed height of the tower required to reduce the concentration of the solute in the gas stream from to acceptable residual level ofjy 2 may be calculated by combining point values of the mass transfer rate and a differential material balance for the absorbed component. Referring to a sHce dh of the absorber (Fig. 5),... 

To use all of these equations, the heights of the transfer units or the mass transfer coefficients and must be known. Transfer data for packed columns are often measured and reported direcdy in terms of and and correlated in this form against and... 

Experimental Mass Transfer Coefficients. Hundreds of papers have been pubHshed reporting mass transfer coefficients in packed columns. For some simple systems which have been studied quite extensively, mass transfer data may be obtained directiy from the Hterature (6). The situation with respect to the prediction of mass transfer coefficients for new systems is stiU poor. Despite the wealth of experimental and theoretical studies, no comprehensive theory has been developed, and most generalizations are based on empirical or semiempitical equations. 

Fig. 20. Improved packing parameters ( ) for liquid mass transfer (a) ceramic Raschig rings (b) metal Raschig rings (c) ceramic Bed saddles (d) metal PaH...

Other correlations based partially on theoretical considerations but made to fit existing data also exist (71—75). A number of researchers have also attempted to separate from a by measuring the latter, sometimes in terms of the wetted area (76—78). Finally, a number of correlations for the mass transfer coefficient itself exist. These ate based on a mote fundamental theory of mass transfer in packed columns (79—82). Although certain predictions were verified by experimental evidence, these models often cannot serve as design basis because the equations contain the interfacial area as an independent variable. 

The situation is very much poorer for stmctured rather than random packings, in that hardly any data on Hq and have been pubHshed. Based on a mechanistic model for mass transfer, a way to estimate HETP values for stmctured packings in distillation columns has been proposed (91), yet there is a clear need for more experimental data in this area. 

Rate of Mass Transfer in Bubble Plates. The Murphree vapor efficiency, much like the height of a transfer unit in packed absorbers, characterizes the rate of mass transfer in the equipment. The value of the efficiency depends on a large number of parameters not normally known, and its prediction is therefore difficult and involved. Correlations have led to widely used empirical relationships, which can be used for rough estimates (109,110). The most fundamental approach for tray efficiency estimation, however, summarizing intensive research on this topic, may be found in reference 111. 

External Fluid Film Resistance. A particle immersed ia a fluid is always surrounded by a laminar fluid film or boundary layer through which an adsorbiag or desorbiag molecule must diffuse. The thickness of this layer, and therefore the mass transfer resistance, depends on the hydrodynamic conditions. Mass transfer ia packed beds and other common contacting devices has been widely studied. The rate data are normally expressed ia terms of a simple linear rate expression of the form... 

N. Wakao, Heat and Mass Transfer in Packed Beds, Gordon Breach, New York, 1982. 

Pulsed Columns. The efficiency of sieve-plate or packed columns is increased by the appHcation of sinusoidal pulsation to the contents of the column. The weU-distributed turbulence promotes dispersion and mass transfer while tending to reduce axial dispersion in comparison with the unpulsed column. This leads to a substantial reduction in HETS or HTU values. 

Gas Handling. The reactants are often gaseous under ambient conditions. To maximize the rate of the catalytic reaction, it is often necessary to minimize the resistance to gas—Uquid mass transfer, and the gases are therefore introduced as swarms of bubbles into a weU-stirred Hquid or into devices such as packed columns that faciHtate gas—Hquid mixing and gas absorption. 

Mass Transfer and Useful Capacity. The term useful capacity, also referred to earlier as breakthrough capacity, differs from the equihbrium capacity shown on Figures 9a and 9b. The useful capacity is a measure of the total moisture taken up by a packed bed of adsorbent at the point where moisture begins to appear in the effluent. Thus the drying process cycle must be stopped before the adsorbent is fully saturated. The portion of the bed that is not saturated to an equihbrium level is called the mass-transfer 2one. 

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