Modeling of a two-phase countercurrent pulsed sieve plate extraction column-A hybrid CFD and radiotracer RTD analysis approach

A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based model of a two-phase countercurrent pulsed sieve plate extraction column has been developed. Euler-Euler multiphase flow model and standard k-ɛ turbulence model for multiphase flow were used. Sieve plates in the column were modeled using the porous media formulation. The coefficients of porous media were evaluated using radiotracer RTD analysis data. A pulse generation model was developed and incorporated to simulate the effect of pulses in the system. The developed simulation approach has been proved successful and it provided the possibility of modeling the subject system with lesser computational resources. The models used for CFD simulation of the system were suitable and simulation results were found 72.17% of the radiotracer experiment.