Characteristics of Fin Baffle Packing Used in Rotating Packed Bed

For an alcohol/water system and with fin baffle packing, continuous distillation experiments were carried out in a rotating packed bed (RPB) system at atmospheric pressure. The effects of the average high gravity factor (β), liquid reflux ratio (R) and feedstock flux (F) on the momentum transfer and mass transfer were investigated. The gas phase pressure drop of RPB increased with the average high gravity factor, liquid reflux ratio and feedstock flux, which was 13.55–64.37 Pa at β of 2.01–51.49, R of 1.0–2.5, and F of 8–24 L·h−1 for a theoretical tray in the RPB with fin baffle packing. The investigation on the mass transfer in the RPB with different packings showed that the number of transfer units of RPB with a packing also increased with the average high gravity factor, reflux ratio and feedstock flux. It is found that the fin baffle packing (packing III) presents the best mass transfer performance and lowest pressure drop for the height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP), which is 6.59–9.84 mm.