Prediction of Liquid Hold up and Pressure Distribution in the Structured Packings Using CFD Analysis

In this study, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been used to determine the dry pressure drop, wet pressure drop and Liquid holdup in four types of structured Packings (Mellapak 250Y, Mellapak 250X, Flexipak 1Y and Gempak 1A). By predicting the dry pressure drop and liquid hold up, the two-phase pressure drop can be easily calculated from the correlations. The results show that the liquid film thickness in the Mellapak 250Y, Flexipak 1Y, Gempak 1A and Mellapak 250X are 0.324, 0.34 and 0.3232 mm in the preloading region, respectively. The liquid hold up in the Mellapak 250Y, Flexipak 1Y, Gempak 1A and Mellapak 250X are 7.62%, 4.24%, 3.77% and 7.55% in the preloading region, respectively. In general the predictions agree well with the experimental data, indicating the suitability of the proposed models for the simulation of the hydrodynamics and mass transfer in structured packed columns.