Fluid-Dynamics Study of Multiphase Flow in a Sieve Tray of a Distillation Column

Abstract Many studies on distillation columns are based on macroscopic models of mass and energy conservation. This paper deals with the complex hydrodynamics of sieve trays in pilot plant distillation columns based on a distributed control system with heating action at intermediate points, through electrical resistance heaters placed on the surfaces of sieve trays, using computational fluid dynamics. In this context, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of these electrical resistance heaters on the hydrodynamics. A three-dimensional mathematical homogeneous biphasic model was implemented in the commercial code of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for a numerical experimentation study. The results showed that electrical resistance heaters placed on the surfaces of the sieve trays influenced the flow patterns, without affecting the hydrodynamics as a whole, and helped to mix and homogenize the region with active bubbles. Thus, the use of electrical resistance heaters could be applied in a distributed control system approach.