Generalized correlation for loading in packed towers with countercurrent gas-liquid flow
✍ Scribed by J. E. Howkins; J. F. Davidson
- Publisher
- American Institute of Chemical Engineers
- Year
- 1958
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 698 KB
- Volume
- 4
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0001-1541
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Experiments in which a liquid film runs over a vertical string of spheres surrounded by a concentric tube through which air is blown upward have shown that loading in a packed tower is due to the formation of standing waves on the liquid film. In the ball‐and‐tube system a wave is formed just below the equator of each ball, owing to the pressure gradient within the air stream as it accelerates through the narrowing gap between the ball and the tube. Interfacial shear and surface tension are of secondary importance. The similarity between the characteristics of the ball‐and‐tube system and those of the randomly packed tower suggests that loading in the latter system is also due to wave formation. With this concept of loading, a correlation has been dérived.