Improving liquid distribution in a rotating packed bed

A novel design rotating packed bed is presented, aiming at mitigation of liquid maldistribution commonly encountered in rotating packed beds. The design consists of three concentric, perforated rings placed in the packing, which act as liquid redistribution rings. The effectiveness of the redistribution rings in a rotating packed bed was experimentally demonstrated, showing that an induced maldistribution of 3 × 1/16th was mitigated by at least 90 % within the design operating window. Furthermore, an induced maldistribution of 1/4th of the reactor was mitigated by at least 70 %, irrespective of whether a random packing is present or not. The proposed repeated use of redistribution rings therefore enables a more uniform wetting of the whole packing, which potentially enables a more effective scale-up of rotating packed beds. To assist the design of redistribution rings, a design equation for the thickness of the liquid layer on the redistribution rings (which determines the operating window) was developed and shown to be accurate within 10 %.