Mass transfer characteristics in a rotating packed bed with split packing

The rotating packed bed (RPB) with split packing is a novel gas–liquid contactor, which intensifies the mass transfer processes controlled by gas-side resistance. To assess its efficacy, the mass transfer characteristics with adjacent rings in counter-rotation and co-rotation modes in a split packing RPB were studied experimentally. The physical absorption system NH3–H2O was used for characterizing the gas volumetric mass transfer coefficient (kyae) and the effective interfacial area (ae) was determined by chemical absorption in the CO2–NaOH system. The variation in kyae and ae with the operating conditions is also investigated. The experimental results indicated that kyae and ae for counter-rotation of the adjacent packing rings in the split packing RPB were higher than those for co-rotation, and both counter-rotation and co-rotation of the split packing RPB were superior over conventional RPBs under the similar operating conditions.

The rotor of split packing RPB consists of a pair of disks, and each has three concentric annular rings of different radius attached. Two disks rotate in the counter direction to promote a large tangential slip velocity between the gas and packing, so that the gas-side mass transfer coefficient and interfacial area are greatly increased.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide