Pressure drop characteristics of the three-levels-of-porosity reactor

A relatively simple model with physically meaningful parameters has been de veloped to describe pressure drop across the three-levels-of-porosity (TLP) reactor. This reactor has a structured catalyst packing and is suitable fo r countercurrent trickle flow. The model is based on gas flow through the t ortuous channels between the packing elements. The shape of these channels introduces three different contributions to pressure drop: frictional loss, expansion and contraction losses and 'zigzag' loss. The model describes pr essure drop across different packings, without liquid flow, with a maximum error of 20%. The model parameters show a good agreement with values calcul ated with literature correlations. Irrigation of the packings leads to an a dditional pressure drop of ca. 2 Pa per catalyst layer, or ca. 60 Pa per me ter catalyst bed. This can be explained by the presence of a thin liquid fi lm, which reduces the cross-sectional area available for gas flow. The deve loped model can help to reduce the experimental effort hitherto necessary t o develop novel reactor packings. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.