Effect of Liquid Flux on Wetting Behavior in Slender Trickle Bed Reactors: A Particle-Resolved Direct Numerical Simulation Study

Arvin Tavanaei; David R. Rieder; Maike W. Baltussen; Kay A. Buist; J.A.M. Kuipers

doi:10.1016/j.ces.2024.120930

Effect of Liquid Flux on Wetting Behavior in Slender Trickle Bed Reactors: A Particle-Resolved Direct Numerical Simulation Study

Arvin Tavanaei, David R. Rieder, Maike W. Baltussen (Corresponding author), Kay A. Buist, J.A.M. Kuipers

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Abstract

Slender trickle beds play a crucial role in various industrial processes involving gas-liquid-solid systems. Understanding the wetting characteristics is vital for optimizing their performance and efficiency. In this study, we employ a particle-resolved Computational Fluid Dynamics approach combining the Volume of Fluid (VoF) method for gas-liquid interactions and a second-order implicit Immersed Boundary Method (IBM) for fluid-solid interactions. The particle wettability is modeled by imposing a contact angle boundary condition at the gas-liquid-solid interface. The impact of the liquid flux on the wetting patterns and the rate of liquid penetration depth within the slender trickle bed is studied. The results show two main mechanisms of penetration through the bed: gravitation and inertia driven. The penetration of the liquid in the bed is driven by gravity when the liquid flux is low and the inertia is diminished in the top of the bed. This results in enhanced wetting from the onset of the penetration. If the inertia is high (high liquid flux), the initial liquid penetration is fast and spreading in the bed only occurs after full penetration of the bed.

Original language	English
Article number	120930
Number of pages	7
Journal	Chemical Engineering Science
Volume	303
Early online date	20 Nov 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2024.120930
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2025

Funding

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: J.A.M. Kuipers reports financial support was provided by Dutch Research Council. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. This work was supported by the Netherlands Center for Multiscale Catalytic Energy Conversion (MCEC), an NWO Gravitation programme funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the government of the Netherlands. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie grant agreement No 801359. The authors also would like to thank SURFsara and NWO domain Science for the use of the Snellius supercomputing facilities.

Keywords

Direct numerical simulation
Trickle bed
Volume of fluid
Wetting

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title = "Effect of Liquid Flux on Wetting Behavior in Slender Trickle Bed Reactors: A Particle-Resolved Direct Numerical Simulation Study",

abstract = "Slender trickle beds play a crucial role in various industrial processes involving gas-liquid-solid systems. Understanding the wetting characteristics is vital for optimizing their performance and efficiency. In this study, we employ a particle-resolved Computational Fluid Dynamics approach combining the Volume of Fluid (VoF) method for gas-liquid interactions and a second-order implicit Immersed Boundary Method (IBM) for fluid-solid interactions. The particle wettability is modeled by imposing a contact angle boundary condition at the gas-liquid-solid interface. The impact of the liquid flux on the wetting patterns and the rate of liquid penetration depth within the slender trickle bed is studied. The results show two main mechanisms of penetration through the bed: gravitation and inertia driven. The penetration of the liquid in the bed is driven by gravity when the liquid flux is low and the inertia is diminished in the top of the bed. This results in enhanced wetting from the onset of the penetration. If the inertia is high (high liquid flux), the initial liquid penetration is fast and spreading in the bed only occurs after full penetration of the bed.",

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author = "Arvin Tavanaei and Rieder, \{David R.\} and Baltussen, \{Maike W.\} and Buist, \{Kay A.\} and J.A.M. Kuipers",

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doi = "10.1016/j.ces.2024.120930",

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T2 - A Particle-Resolved Direct Numerical Simulation Study

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AU - Rieder, David R.

AU - Baltussen, Maike W.

AU - Buist, Kay A.

AU - Kuipers, J.A.M.

PY - 2025/1/1

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N2 - Slender trickle beds play a crucial role in various industrial processes involving gas-liquid-solid systems. Understanding the wetting characteristics is vital for optimizing their performance and efficiency. In this study, we employ a particle-resolved Computational Fluid Dynamics approach combining the Volume of Fluid (VoF) method for gas-liquid interactions and a second-order implicit Immersed Boundary Method (IBM) for fluid-solid interactions. The particle wettability is modeled by imposing a contact angle boundary condition at the gas-liquid-solid interface. The impact of the liquid flux on the wetting patterns and the rate of liquid penetration depth within the slender trickle bed is studied. The results show two main mechanisms of penetration through the bed: gravitation and inertia driven. The penetration of the liquid in the bed is driven by gravity when the liquid flux is low and the inertia is diminished in the top of the bed. This results in enhanced wetting from the onset of the penetration. If the inertia is high (high liquid flux), the initial liquid penetration is fast and spreading in the bed only occurs after full penetration of the bed.

AB - Slender trickle beds play a crucial role in various industrial processes involving gas-liquid-solid systems. Understanding the wetting characteristics is vital for optimizing their performance and efficiency. In this study, we employ a particle-resolved Computational Fluid Dynamics approach combining the Volume of Fluid (VoF) method for gas-liquid interactions and a second-order implicit Immersed Boundary Method (IBM) for fluid-solid interactions. The particle wettability is modeled by imposing a contact angle boundary condition at the gas-liquid-solid interface. The impact of the liquid flux on the wetting patterns and the rate of liquid penetration depth within the slender trickle bed is studied. The results show two main mechanisms of penetration through the bed: gravitation and inertia driven. The penetration of the liquid in the bed is driven by gravity when the liquid flux is low and the inertia is diminished in the top of the bed. This results in enhanced wetting from the onset of the penetration. If the inertia is high (high liquid flux), the initial liquid penetration is fast and spreading in the bed only occurs after full penetration of the bed.

KW - Direct numerical simulation

KW - Trickle bed

KW - Volume of fluid

KW - Wetting

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Effect of Liquid Flux on Wetting Behavior in Slender Trickle Bed Reactors: A Particle-Resolved Direct Numerical Simulation Study

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