MODELING OF SEPARATION PROCESSES ON CONTACT DEVICES IN INDUSTRIAL COLUMNS

This paper surveys publications on the physical and mathematical model ing of mass and heat transfer, flow structure, and efficiency for bubb le-cap contact devices in column-type equipment. It is concluded that existing approaches to modeling lack a quantitative foundation linking fundamental and specialized knowledge. Bypassing multiple experimenta l studies in the design of industrial systems requires that fundamenta l knowledge in the form of conservation and equilibrium laws be used f or modeling. A new approach to modeling of separation processes on con tact devices is discussed; it only provides for experimentation with a laboratory prototype. The mathematical description structure is selec ted in this stage, and the parameters of the resultant model are found during scaleup, utilizing the variational formulation of the momentum , mass, and energy conservation laws.