Determination of the effective interfacial area in rotating packed bed

A sampling tube was installed closely to the rotor in a rotating packed bed (RPB) to collect the liquid immediately flowing out of the packing so as to measure the real effective gas-liquid interfacial area in the packing of the RPB (i.e. excluding the cavity zone). It was calculated that the contribution of the cavity zone to mass transfer accounted for about 13-25%of the overall mass transfer in the whole RPB. The existence of the end effect in the packing was confirmed by an investigation on the effective gas-liquid interfacial area in the packings with different radii. Effects of radial thickness of the packing, rotation speed, liquid and gas volumetric flow rate on the effective interfacial area were also studied. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.