Liquid jet impaction on the single-layer stainless steel wire mesh in a rotating packed bed reactor

Liquid flow behaviors in the packing zone of a rotating packed bed reactor significantly affect the mass transfer performance. However, the interaction between the rotating packing and liquid is still not clear, due to packing's complex structure. In this work, liquid jet impaction on a rotating single-layer wire mesh was investigated to clarify the interaction and liquid flow behaviors after the impaction was observed and analyzed by visualization and simulation methods. Visual experiments showed that the interaction could be divided into the shearing action generated by vertical fibers and carrying action generated by horizontal fibers of wire mesh. A dimensionless number beta was introduced as a criterion to evaluate the influence of these actions on the liquid dispersion. Simulation results agreed well with the experimental results of liquid dispersion. Dynamic liquid film behaviors on the fiber surface were further simulated and the average film thickness was 21-32 mu m.