Experimental study of a trickle-bed reactor operating at high pressure: two-phase pressure drop and liquid saturation

Abstract The effect of pressure on the hydrodynamics of trickle-bed reactors is investigated. The two-phase pressure drop and the liquid hold-up (liquid RTD determination) were measured for pressures up to 8.1 MPa. The influence of pressure, gas and liquid flow rates, viscosity, the coalescence behaviour of the liquid, and the particle size was examined. The experimental results were compared to correlations from the literature and two new correlations for the pressure drop and the liquid hold-up for non-foaming liquids are proposed; they are based on 1500 experimental results. Consideration of systems exhibiting non-foaming behaviour shows that the two-phase pressure drop is correctly described by the introduction of the modified Lockhart and Martinelli parameter. The liquid saturation data analysis shows that this hydrodynamic parameter is pressure-independent for very low gas superficial velocities allowing for an acceptable estimation at atmospheric pressure.

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