CFD Studies of Pressure Drop and Increasing Capacity in Structured Packing

Packed columns equipped with structured packings are widely used in separation processes. In this study hydrodynamics of MellapakPlus 752Y was investigated by CFD. This packing includes short smooth bends on both ends of each corrugated sheet. Two adjacent sheets of a whole packing module were considered as computational domain. CFD results indicated that gas phase should be simulated using a turbulent model.Thus, k–ε, k–ω, RNG and BSL turbulent models were evaluated for the gas phase in the CFD model. The best results were achieved using BSL model. Predicted results of dry and wet pressure drops were in a good agreement with the experimental data. Effects of the bends in the structured packing were studied by the validated model. It was found that using bends in the packings is useful for increasing capacity and decreasing pressure drop of the systems. CFD model showed that by inserting a flat sheet between the corrugated sheets, the collisional losses of the gas–gas interactions in crisscross junction are eliminated so that the dry and wet pressure drops decrease significantly in loading region.

Keywords:

Structured Packing , Hydrodynamics , Capacity , CFD Modeling