Mass Transfer Studies in a Rotating Packed Bed with Novel Rotors: Chemisorption of CO2

In this work, gas-liquid mass transfer characteristics, such as effective interfacial area (a(e)) and liquid side mass transfer coefficient (k(L)), were investigated in a rotating packed bed (RPB) contactor with 5 novel rotors equipped with blades in the packing section and 1 conventional rotor without blades and fully filled with the same packing. The chemisorption of CO2 into a NaOH solution was used to evaluate a(e) and k(L) within each rotor of the RPB. The experimental results indicate that the rotors with blades can significantly intensify the mass transfer process at all rotational speeds, over a range of gas-liquid ratios. The mass transfer rate achieved within these novel rotors was between 8% and 68% higher in comparison with the conventional rotor. A model based on the Danckwerts surface renewal theory was developed to calculate the liquid side volumetric mass transfer coefficient (k(L)a(e)) in the rotor. The experimentally obtained values of k(L)a(e) are in agreement with model predictions within +/- 15%.