Seamless Mass Transfer Correlations for Packed Beds Bridging Random and Structured Packings

A unifying correlative approach for the gas−liquid mass transfer in both structured- and random-packing containing towers was developed based on a two-correlation kernel. Two databanks consisting of 861 experiments for structured packings and 4291 experiments for random packings were merged and concerned the volumetric local and overall gas- and liquid-side mass transfer coefficients kGaw, kLaw, KGaw, and KLaw, the effective gas−liquid interfacial area, aw, and the height equivalent to a theoretical plate, HETP. The three-phase systems were representative of absorption, desorption and distillation applications. Two correlations have emerged, the first to evaluate the local gas- or liquid-side mass transfer coefficient (kγ), the second to correlate the effective gas−liquid interfacial area (aw). A reconciliation method was used to calibrate and validate the two-correlation kernel (kγ,aw) owing to a broad domain of applicability and embracing indifferently both structured- and random-packing columns. The re...