Abstract
A lab scale trickle bed reactor (TBR) has been employed to investigate the effect of particles and liquid flow rate on the phase distribution in TBR. The TBR module, made up of 100 mm inner diameter acrylic column, was randomly packed with inert porous alumina particles of different average diameters that are used in actual reactor. Water was fed from the top of the column by “point feed” and “homogenous feed” strategies and cross-sectional liquid distributions were captured at several axial positions from the top to the bottom of the column by employing electrical resistance tomography (ERT) technique. ERT is a non-invasive cross-sectional imaging technique that provides the cross-sectional conductivity distribution by injecting current and measuring voltages between the several electrodes (16 electrodes in our case) that are attached around the column. The cross-sectional conductivity thus obtained represents the liquid hold up and degree of maldistribution of the liquid. In the experiment, quicker and more homogenous distribution of liquid was obtained for the particles with smaller diameters. That is due to capillary force that cancels the randomness of packing. Electrical resistance tomography seems to be reliable non-invasive instrumentation technique to optimize the design and operations of the trickle bed reactors.
