STRUCTURE AND REGIMES OF LIQUID-FILM FLOW IN SPINNING CONE COLUMNS

Analyses of the spatial structure and hydrodynamic regimes of the liqu id-him flow over a rotating cone surface and application of this analy sis to the liquid-phase how in spinning-cone-distillation columns (SCC ) are presented. Based on the results obtained in dimensionless form, a diagram of the flow zones (the inner inlet-dependent, the intermedia te Coriolis, and the outer centrifugal zones) and regimes (the laminar , the wavy-laminar, and the fully turbulent regimes) in terms of the S CC operating conditions is developed, and a relationship between the c hanges in flow pattern and the scale of SCCs is established. Specifica lly, we find that the radial how structure is similar at all scales of the presently available range of spinning cone columns, and the flow regime is turbulent for all operating conditions in commercial scale, but not necessarily in laboratory-scale columns. Implications of these findings to the possible nature of flooding in SCCs are discussed. (C ) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.