Experimental and numerical study of multiphase flow in new wire gauze with high capacity structured packing

• A new high capacity structured packing is constructed and investigated in various conditions.
• Hydrodynamic analysis is performed to evaluate the performance of packing.
• Wet pressure drop and liquid holdup significantly enhanced in the new packing.
• Numerical simulations were performed to describe the flow pattern inside of the packing.

A new structured packing with the specific surface area of 2100 m2 m−3 (PACK-2100) was characterized through experimental and numerical studies to evaluate its performance in the distillation column. For serving this purpose, various operational conditions were studied to assess the main parameters such as wet pressure drop and liquid holdup of PACK-2100. The results indicate that the wet pressure drop and hold up values are enhanced in comparison to commercial ones. In addition, the pressure drop slowly increases from 0.5 to 25 millibar per meter of packing as mass flow rates of air and liquid flow are increased. In the similar manner, the holdup is raised from 12% to 33%. The numerical simulations were also performed to describe the flow pattern inside of the PACK-2100. The computational results confirmed that the liquid stream fall on the surface of packing forming the uniform film. The present study introduces the new packing of PACK-2100 with superior characteristics for special application in the systems with a low separation factor.

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