I J C R E: Nternational Ournal of Hemical Eactor Ngineering

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL
REACTOR ENGINEERING
Volume 6 2008 Article A91
CFD Simulation of Hydrodynamics, Heat
and Mass Transfer Simultaneously in
Structured Packing
M.R. Khosravi Nikou
M.R. Ehsani
M. Davazdah Emami
Isfahan University of Technology, m khosravi@ce.iut.ac.ir
Isfahan University of Technology, ehsanimr@cc.iut.ac.ir
Isfahan University of Technology, mohsen@cc.iut.ac.ir

ISSN 1542-6580
Copyright c 2008 The Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved.
CFD Simulation of Hydrodynamics, Heat and Mass
Transfer Simultaneously in Structured Packing
M.R. Khosravi Nikou, M.R. Ehsani, and M. Davazdah Emami
Abstract
This paper describes the results of computational uid dynamic modeling of
hydrodynamics, heat and mass transfer simultaneously in Flexipac 1Y operated
under a counter-current gas-liquid ow condition. The simulation was performed
for a binary mixture of methanol-isopropanol distillation. The pressure drop,
the height of equivalent to theoretical plate (HETP) and temperature distribution
across the column were calculated and compared with experimental data. The
mean absolute relative error (MARE) between CFD predictions and experimental
data for the pressure drop, HETP and temperature prole are 20.7%, 12.9% and
2.8%, respectively.
KEYWORDS: CFD, structured packing, heat and mass transfer, hydrodynamics

1. INTRODUCTION

The gas-liquid contactors are one of the most wide-spread chemical engineering
apparatus. Two-phase flow of liquid with countercurrent vapor is widely
encountered in many industrial applications such as structured packed columns,
reactors, evaporators, condensers, etc. In this kind of equipment, the fluxes of heat
and mass transfer, in both liquid and gas phases are usually related to the flow
pattern. Therefore, many investigations are carried out to look for new structured
packing designs, to obtain hydrodynamic conditions which enhance transfer.
There are numerous types of corrugated surfaces and structured packing, refer to
the work done by Taylor and Krishna (2000) for details, for few of them.
Current popular design procedures, such as those by Gualito et al. (1997)
and references therein, are empirical and thus, their use beyond the range of their
validation is risky (Engel et al., 2001). It is felt that disadvantages of these
empirical models could be overcome by using more reliable modeling techniques
based on fundamental considerations.
Although falling films over smooth substrates have been widely studied
both theoretically and experimentally (Oron et al., 1997; and references therein),
only few studies have examined of flow on structured packings (Shetty and Cerro,
1993; Shetty, 1995; Shetty and Cerro, 1997a,b , 1998); these studies are for very
small Reynolds number and also two-dimensional.
It is well known that the most accurate methods of separation processes
are based on the continuous mechanics consideration, and thus the method of
CFD represents a promising application (Mahr and Mewes, 2007). In the recent
years, there have been significant academic and industrial efforts to exploit CFD
for the design, scale-up and optimal operation of various chemical processes
equipment.
The exact path and breakup of liquid films and rivulets on a section of
packing has been calculated (Hoffmann et al., 2006). Currently these approaches
using the exact packing geometry are only feasible for either gas or liquid flow
and for small segments of the packed beds only. However, the simulation of
large-scale structured columns still appears too difficult due to superposition of
different scales (Petre et al. ,2003; Valluri et al. ,2005; Mahr and Mewes ,2007;
Haghshenas Fard et al. ,2007; Wen et al. ,2007; Raynal et al. ,2007).
The work discussed here concerns three-dimensional simulation of
hydrodynamic, heat and mass transfer simultaneously in structured packing
Flexipac
1Y from Koch-Glitsch Company.

1 Khosravi Nikou et al.: CFD Simulation of Structured Packing
Published by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 2008

2. THEORETICAL AND NUMERICAL METHODOLOGY

The Eulerian-Eulerian approach is adopted for modeling two-phase flow in the
packing. The volume of fluid (VOF) method is used to track the free surface in
this application. The VOF method allows the construction of the interface to
become part of the solution based on the same grid system, which offers a flexible
and efficient method to describe the changes in topology of a gas-liquid interface.
VOF solves a single set of momentum equations throughout the domain, where
the resulting velocity field is shared among the phases. The accumulation and
convective momentum terms in every control volume (cell) balance the pressure
forces, shear forces, gravitational body forces and additional forces. The
momentum equation is dependent on the volume fractions of all phases through
the mean properties of the phases such as density and viscosity . In each
control volume, the volume fractions of all phases sum to unity. The tracking of
the interface(s) between the phases is accomplished by the solution of a continuity
equation for the volume fraction of one (two-phase flow) or more of the phases
(Ataki and Bart, 2006).

2.1 Governing Equations

The hydrodynamic approach to multiphase-flow systems is based on the
principles of mass conservation, momentum balance and energy conservation for
each phase (Gidaspow, 1994).

- Conservation of mass for each phase

Gas phase:

o
ot
(e
g
p
g
) +7. (e
g
p
g
:
g
) = m
g

(1)

Liquid phase:

o
ot
(e
I
p
I
) +7. (e
I
p
I
:
I
) = m
I
(2)

where
N
j
j
j
l
l R M m ,

=
l
g m m , R
j
is the rate of mass transfer between gas
and liquid phases.

2 International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering Vol. 6 [2008], Article A91
http://www.bepress.com/ijcre/vol6/A91

- Conservation of phases

e
g
+e
I
= 1 (3)

- Momentum equations

Gas phase:

o
ot
(e
g
p
g
:
g
) +7. (e
g
p
g
:
g
:
g
)
= e
g
p
g
F
g
+ [
gm
(:
m
-:
g
) +7. |
g
] + m
g
:
g
m=g,I
(4)
Liquid phase:

o
ot
(e
I
p
I
:
I
) +7. (e
I
p
I
:
I
:
I
) = e
I
p
I
F
I
+ [
Im
(:
m
-:
I
) +7. |
I
] +m
I
:
I
m=g,I
(5)
- Energy equations

To treat non-isothermal multiphase flow systems the energy equations are needed
to compute the heat transfer primarily due to heat exchanges.

Gas phase:

o
ot
(e
g
p
g
E
g
) +7. (e
g
p
g
E
g
:
g
)
= _
oP
g
ot
+P
g
7. :
g
_ +7. (k
g
7I
g
) +r
g
E
g
+ |b
gm
(I
m
-I
g
) +[
gm
(:
m
-:
m
)
2
-m
m
E
g
|
m=g,I

(6)
Liquid phase:

o
ot
(e
I
p
I
E
I
) +7. (e
I
p
I
E
I
:
I
)
= b
gI
(I
g
-I
I
) +7. (k
I
7I
I
) +r
I
E
I
+m
I
E
g

+ {[
Im
(:
m
-:
I
)]
m=g,I

(7)
where

[
gI
= [
Ig
=
C
8
Ap
g
|:
g
-:
I
|

(8)
2.2 Constitutive Equations

- Interphase mass transfer equations

In order to solve the conservation of mass for each phase, R
j
, the rate of mass
transfer between phases must be evaluated. According to the two-film theory
(Whitman, 1923), in a binary distillation A-B, the mass transfer rate of a volatile
component can be determined by:

R
Ig
A
= k
L
o
c
H
A
(x
A
-x
A
I
) = k
u
o
c
H
A
(y
A
I
-y
A
) (9)

where k
G
and k
L
are the individual mass transfer coefficients of the gas and liquid
phase, respectively. a
e
is the effective interfacial area, M
A
is the molecular weight
of the more volatile component A in the liquid and gas phases, and x
A
I
and y
A
I
are
the interfacial mole fractions of component A in the liquid and gas phases. At the
interphase, x
A
I
and y
A
I
are in equilibrium, and:
y
A
I
=
ox
A
I
1 +(o -1)x
A
I
(10)

In addition, rearrangement of Eq.(10) results in:

x
A
I
= x
A
-
R
Ig
A
k
L
o
c
H
A

(11)
y
A
I
=
o(x
A
-
R
Ig
A
k
L
o
c
H
A
)
1 +(o -1)(x
A
-
R
Ig
A
k
L
o
c
H
A
)
(12)

where is the relative volatility. Combining Eqs.(9), (10), (11) result in:

(o -1)
k
L
k
u
(o
c
H
A
)
2
(R
Ig
A
)
2
+ _
(o -1)y
A
-o
k
L
o
c
H
A
-
(o -1)x
A
+1
k
u
o
c
H
A
_ (R
Ig
A
)
+ {ox
A
-|(o -1)x
A
+1]y
A
] = u
(13)

The gas and liquid phase mass transfer coefficients, k
G
and k
L
, can be
calculated, using Delft Model proposed by Olujic (2002). The model is designed
to calculate mass transfer efficiency in the preloading region, which implies a
conservative approach when extended into loading region. It utilizes zig-zag
triangular flow channels with a corresponding hydraulic diameter at crossings of
corrugations. The model is based on complete wetting of the metal surface, thus
liquid holdup is determined from packing area and the average film thickness. It is
also founded on liquid film flow down inclined corrugated plates and in addition
takes into account explicitly several macro geometrical parameters which can
affect packing performance.

k
u
= _(
Sb
u,Lum
u
J
hu
)
2
+(
Sb
u,1ub
u
J
hu
)
2

(14)

k
L
= 2_

L
u
Lc
u.9nJ
hu

(15)

Sb
u,Lum
= u.664Sc
u
13
_Rc
u
J
hu
l
u,pc
(16)

Sb
u,1ub
=
(Rc
u
Sc
u

8
, ) _1 +_
J
hu
l
u,pc
_ _
23
_
1 +12.7_
uL
8
, (Sc
u
23
-1)

(17)

J
hu
=
_
(bb -2os)
2
bb
_
__[
bb -2os
2b

2
+[
bb -2os
b

2
_
0.5
+
bb -2os
2b
_
_

(18)

l
u,pc
=
b
pc
(Siny)
_
(19)


=
2s
(b +2s)
,

(20)

s = __
b
2
4
_ +b
2

(21)

o = _
Sp
L
u
Ls
p
L
go
p
Siny
_
13

(22)

o
p
=
4s
bb

(23)

Rc
u
=
p
uc
(u
uc
+u
Lc
)J
hu
p
u
,

(24)

uL
= _-2log_
[
o
J
hu
,
S.7
-
S.u2
Rc
u
log_
[
o
J
hu
,
S.7
+
14.S
Rc
u
___
-2

(25)

Sc
u
=
p
u
p
u
u

(26)

u
uc
=
u
us
e(1 -b
L
)Siny

(27)

u
Lc
=
u
Is
eb
L
Siny

(28)

b
L
= oo
p
(29)

u
c
u
p
= (1 -0) _1 -cxp _-1.4S [
c
c
c
L
0.75
Rc
L
0.1
Fr
L
-0.05
wc
L
0.2
_] [
Sin4S
Siny

n

(30)

n = [1 -
u
p
250
[1 -
y
45
+ln [
u
c,Ondc
250
+ _u.49 -_
760
p
] [1.2 -
y
45

(31)

where D is the diffusion coefficient and is the corrugation inclination angle, e is
the packing porosity, and represents the fraction of the packing surface area
occupied by holes.
Equations (9)-(31) were fed to CFX, to enable the software to perform
local calculation of the mass transfer equations.

- Heat transfer equations

In order to specify temperature profile, the value of heat transfer coefficient at
interface is required. Hughmark (1967) proposed the following empirical
correlations for calculation of overall Nusselt number. His model is a single
resistance type which is applied on the continuous fluid side with zero resistance
on the dispersed phase side of the interphase (CFX
Manual, 2007). It is,

however, important to use this correlation in the recommended Prandtl number
range.

Nu = 2 +u.6Rc
0.5
Pr
0.33
u Rc < 776.u6 u Pr < 2Su (32)

Nu = 2 +u.27Rc
0.62
Pr
0.33
Rc 776.u6 u Pr < 2Su (33)

These equations are built into correlation subprograms in the CFX code,
which are activated during the execution of the software.

- Height Equivalent to Theoretical Plate (HETP) relations

The mass transfer performance of a packed column in distillation or absorption is
often expressed by the HETP. Factors affecting HETP have usually been
identified as type and size of packing, physical properties of the test systems,
operating condition, and dimension of columns. According to double film theory
(Whitman, 1923), the relation between HETP and height mass transfer unit for the
gas phase (HTU
G
) and for the liquid phase (HTU
L
) is given by

EEIP =
lnz
z -1
(EIu
u
+zEIu
L
)
(34)

where is the stripping factor, which is defined as the slope of ratio of the slope
of the equilibrium line to that of the operating line. Equation (34) in combination
with the definitions of HTU
G
and HTU
L
, which are based on the concentration
driving force across the gas and liquid films, yields


where u
Gs
and u
Ls
are the gas and liquid phase superficial velocities, k
G
and k
L
are
the individual mass transfer coefficients of the gas and liquid phase, respectively,
and a
e
is the effective interfacial area provided by the packing to mass transfer.

- Turbulence model

Considering the complex nature of fluid flow in the present geometry, the
Re-Normalization Group k- (RNG k-) model is adopted for the current
simulations to take account of the anisotropy of turbulence (CFX
Manual, 2007).

- Interphase transfer

The Particle Model is used to simulate the interaction of transported quantities at
interphase. Schiller-Naumann Drag Model is applied to calculate drag coefficient
between liquid droplets and the gas phase. This model is used when the fluid
droplets are sufficiently small and may be considered spherical (CFX
Manual,
2007).

C
=
24
Rc
(1 +u.1SRc
0.687
)
(36)

2.3 Geometrical Model and Boundary Conditions

Geometrical modeling is one of the most critical stages in CFD simulations;
correct definition of the geometry provides a more realistic scenario for the
simulation, and the technique used for constructing the geometry will ensure the
feasibility of generating a mesh good enough to capture all of the phenomena
involved in the problem.
An element of Flexipac
1Y is composed an ensemble consisting of a

large number of triangular flow channels having identical cross-sections. To form
an element, the corrugated sheets are alternately positioned parallel to each other,
so that the corrugations of the contiguous sheets are inclined in opposite
directions in the column.
Because of CFD models for heat and mass transfer simulation are very
complex, the computational domain in this study consists of two sheets at center
of the structured packing.
All the model geometry and Flexipac 1Y characteristics are given in
Figure 1 and Table 1.
EEIP =
lnz
z -1
_
u
us
k
u
o
c
+z
u
Ls
k
L
o
c
] (35)

Figure1. The model geometry

Table1. Geometrical characteristics for the simulated structured packing
Flexipac
1Y
Packing type a
p
(m
-1
) (%) (deg) l(m)
Channel dimensions (m)
Base
b
Height
h
Side
s
Flexipac
1Y
(Koch-Glitsch)
453 91 45 0.267 0.0127 0.0064 0.009

To obtain a solution of the CFD model, the geometry of the packing with a
numerical grid must be inserted in the program. In this study, the mesh generated
for geometry was performed in CFX
Mesh Generator 11 from ANSYS

Company.
The grid size used is chosen by performing a grid independence study,
since the accuracy of the solution depends on the number and the size of the cells.
The grid independence study was conducted by altering the cell size inside the
domain, and by refining the grid size on the corrugated walls. Simulation was
performed for 700,000, 1,100,000 and 1,500,000 cell elements and it was found
the results for pressure drop, HETP and temperature profile slightly differs for the
last two numbers of cells(less than 0.5%). Therefore, 1,100,000 cell elements
were considered for the final simulation. Unstructured tetrahedral mesh was used,
modified near the walls by applying prism layers, in order to simulate the wall
boundary layer accurately. The advantage of this grid is that it can be adapted to
complex geometry well and optimum properties are easier to achieve than the
other meshes. Since the grid lines follow the boundaries, the boundary conditions
are more easily implemented than the stepwise approximation of curved

boundaries (Ferziger and Peric, 2002). The use of prism layers on the walls is
advised for confined geometries (CFX
Manual, 2007).
Three-dimensional coordinate system is used for computation. No slip
boundary condition is provided at the wall. All the boundary conditions
mentioned in Table 2 are considered to have a constant value at inlet, outlet and
wall.

Table2. Boundary conditions
Location Boundary condition types
Inlet
Velocity, Volume fractions, Mass fraction of methanol,
Temperature
Outlet Velocity
Symmetry Plane Symmetry
Wall No-slip, Temperature

2.4 Simulation Scheme

The CFD software, ANSYS-CFX version 11, is used to simulate the motion of
gas-liquid two-phase flow on structured packing. A high resolution convection
scheme was chosen as the solution of the momentum and energy equations (CFX

Manual, 2007). The SIMPLEC algorithm is used to solve the pressure field.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Pressure Drop

One of the most important parameters for the packed bed design is the pressure
drop per unit length of packing (P/L). This pressure drop results from fluid
friction. Figure 2 shows result of pressure drop per unit length of packing against
parameter F
s
-factor which is defined as u
Gs
G
. As mentioned previously, the
simulations were carried out for two packing sheets and the CFD results are
shown for this geometry. To evaluate CFD results, experimental data (Koch-
Glitsch Bulletin) are also shown in Figure 2. It can be seen from the results that
the pressure drop for the current configuration is more than a complete packing.
This is in accordance with the findings of Wen et.al., 2007, and their explanation
about the difference is also relevant to the present case.

Figure 2 also shows the prediction of CFD for air-water two phase flow
which is performed by authors for one complete element. The mean absolute
relative error (MARE) which is calculated by Eq.(37) between CFD predictions
and the experimental data is 20.7%.

HARE(%) = 1uu
1
N
_1 -

CP
cxp.
_ (37)

It is clear from Figure 2 that CFD results can predict the trend of pressure
drop across the packing very well, but under-estimates values for pressure drop.
This can be attributed to some important phenomena which have a major effect on
pressure drop but are not considered in the modeling, such as uneven gas and
liquid distribution, liquid back-mixing and flow channeling.
Figure 3(a,b,c) shows pressure profile and velocity contours of the liquid
and gas phases on a plane at the center of the computational domain at
u
Gs
=0.17m/s. A uniform pressure field at each station along the axis of the
packing is seen in the figure, which indicates that the assumption of uniform cross
sectional pressure for analyzing the packings and beds is a reasonable assumption.
The velocity profiles are non-uniform in the cross sectional planes, which is a
measure of momentum exchange in these planes.

Figure2. Simulated and experimental pressure drop versus gas flow factor F
s

0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
P
/
Z
(
P
a
/
m
)
F
s
m/s(kg/m
3
)
0.5
Twosheets
Foursheets
Complete
Element
Exp .

Figure3. (a) Pressure profile, (b) liquid and (c) gas velocity contours for
U
l
=0.0128 m/s, U
g
=0.235 m/s, x
meth.
= y
meth.
= 0.7049 wt/wt
(b)
(a)
(c)

3.2 Mass Transfer

HETP is one of the most commonly used measures to characterize the separation
efficiency of packed bed columns. HETP can be identified by using the velocity
and concentration profiles which are derived from CFD results. As mentioned
earlier, the distillation of Methanol-Isopropanol binary mixture at total reflux and
atmospheric pressure conditions is simulated. Figure 4 shows a sample of
methanol mass fraction profile in the liquid phase between the sheets of the
structured packing, obtained by CFD modeling. Methanol concentration in liquid
phase starts to decrease when moving from the top to the bottom of the packed
bed.
The flow domain includes two adjacent sheets of packing that make
several pairs of crossing channels. Due to this channel structure, the heat and
mass transfer within the packing is highly anisotropic. Methanol concentration
profile depends not only on the liquid and gas velocity, but also on the flow
direction of gas and liquid. However, velocity constant boundary condition for the
outlet region seems to be inappropriate for the simulation. Other boundary
conditions such as pressure or distributed velocity profile may be used for further
investigation. Also, as discussed by Raynal et al. (2004), whatever the kind of
boundary conditions, imposed mass flow or imposed velocity conditions, is used,
the velocity profiles at the exit of domain are quite different from the inlet and
may have a distributed profile.
A comparison between the predicted HETP values from the CFD
simulations and experimental data (Haghshenas Fard et al., 2007) can be found in
Figure 5. It is clearly seen that the CFD simulation can predict the separation
efficiency quite well over the range of gas F
s
-factors. It is observed from Figure 5
that the predicted HETPs from CFD results are slightly lower than the
experimental data. This may be attributed to the assumption of uniform
distributions of vapor and liquid phase in the CFD models, which causes an
increasing of mass transfer area that results in lower HETP. The mean absolute
relative error (MARE) between CFD predictions and the experimental data is
12.9%.

Figure4. Methanol concentration in liquid phase on (a) a plane at the
center and (b) through sections of structured packing for U
l
= 0.0128 m/s,
U
g
= 0.235 m/s, x
meth.
= y
meth.
= 0.7049 wt/wt

(b)
(a)

Figure5. Comparison between experimental data and predicted HETP for
methanol-isopropanol system

3.3 Heat Transfer

As mentioned in the previous section, in the CFD simulations, continuity,
momentum, heat and mass transfer equations have been solved simultaneously,
and, therefore, the temperature distribution through the packed bed can be
predicted directly. Figure 6 shows a contour of temperature between two
corrugated sheets and through sections of the packing. In Figure 7, comparisons
between CFD predictions and experimental data (Haghshenas Fard et al, 2007)
are shown. It is observed that there exists a good agreement between CFD and
experiments in temperature profile across the column. The mean absolute relative
error (MARE) between CFD predictions and the experimental data is 2.8%.
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
H
E
T
P
(
m
)
F
s
(m/s)(kg/m
3
)
0.5
RNGk
Exp .

CFD
Simulation

Figure6. Temperature profile in liquid phase on (a) a plane at the center and (b)
through sections of structured packing for U
l
= 0.0128 m/s, U
g
= 0.235 m/s,
x
meth.
= y
meth.
= 0.7049 wt/wt

(b)
(a)

4
In
pr
st
T
w
pr
pr
ex
H
pr
re
N

a
e
a
p
A
B
C
Figure7. C
4. CONCL

n the presen
ressure drop
tructured pac
The volume-
were simulta
ressure, con
redicted by C
It ha
xperimental
HETP and te
rediction of
espectively.

NOTATIO
e

p

A
B
C
D

T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
(
0
C
)
Comparison
prof
LUSIONS
nt study, an
p, heat and m
cking by me
averaged co
aneously sol
ncentration
CFD.
s been sho
data that th
emperature
f pressure dr
ON
Effe
m
2
/m
Spe
Surf
Cha
Dra
67.2
67.4
67.6
67.8
68
68.2
68.4
68.6
68.8
69
69.2
0
p
(
)
R
.
between exp
file for metha
S
n attempt ha
mass transfer
eans of comp
ontinuity, m
lved by num
and temper
own throug
he CFD mod
profile. The
op, HETP a
ective interfa
m
3

cific surface
face area, m
2
annel base, m
g coefficient
1
RNGk
Exp
CFD Simulatio
perimental d
anol-isoprop

as been mad
r parameters
putational flu
momentum, h
merical met
rature profi
gh comparis
del can accu
e mean abso
and temperat
facial area o
e area of the
2

m
t
2 3
HeightofPack
on
data and pred
panol system
de to determ
of an eleme
uid dynamic
heat and ma
thods. The
iles within
son betwee
urately predi
olute relativ
ture are 20.7
of the packin
packing per
4
king(cm)
dicted tempe
m
mine two-ph
nt of Flexipa
s.
ass transfer
velocity dis
Flexipac

n CFD res
ict the press
ve error (MA
7%, 12.9% a
ng per unit
r unit volume
5
erature
hase flow
ac
1Y as
equations
stribution,
1Y were
sults and
sure drop,
ARE) for
and 2.8%,
volume,
e, m
2
/m
3

6

D Diffusivity, m
2
/s
d
hG
Hydraulic diameter of triangular gas flow channel, m
F External body forces, kg/m.s
3

F
s
Gas F-factor, m/s(kg/m
3
)
0.5

H Channel height, m
HETP Height of equivalent to a theoretical plate, m
h
L
Liquid holdup
HTU
G
Height mass transfer unit for the gas phase, m
HTU
L
Height mass transfer unit for the liquid phase, m
k
G
Gas phase mass transfer coefficient, m/s
k
L
Liquid phase mass transfer coefficient, m/s
l Packing height, m
M Molecular weight, kg/mole
P Pressure, kg/m.s
2

R Mass transfer rate, kg/m
3
.s
s Channel side, m
T Temperature, K
u
Ge
Effective gas velocity, m/s
u
Gs
Superficial gas velocity, m/s
u
Le
Effective liquid velocity, m/s
u
Ls
Superficial liquid velocity, m/s
v Velocity, m/s
x Mole fractions
y Mole fractions
Z Packed bed height, m
P Pressure drop, kg/m.s
2

Greek symbols
Relative volatility
Frictional coefficient
Inclination Angle
Liquid film thickness, m
Volume fraction, Turbulence dissipation
e Porosity
Ratio of equilibrium line slope to operating line slope
Viscosity, kg/m.s
Density, kg/m
3

Viscous stress tensor, kg/s
2

Subscripts
A Component
B Component

G, g Gas phase
L, l Liquid phase
Superscripts
I Interphase

REFERENCES

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structured packings", AIChE Spring National Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana,
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Isfahan University of Technology, m khosravi@ce.iut.ac.ir

Isfahan University of Technology, ehsanimr@cc.iut.ac.ir

Isfahan University of Technology, mohsen@cc.iut.ac.ir

1Y from Koch-Glitsch Company.

Manual, 2007). It is,

1Y is composed an ensemble consisting of a

Mesh Generator 11 from ANSYS

11 User Manual, ANSYS, Inc., 2007.

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