Catalyst wetting in trickle-flow reactors - A phenomenological model

A phenomenological model was developed to describe the effect of pressure, gas and liquid flow rates on pellet-scale external wetting efficiency in tr ickle flow reactors. External wetting efficiency was linked to both pressur e drop and liquid holdup. Shear slip factor, Ergun creeping flow constant, liquid holdup and two-phase pressure drop required by the model were calcul ated using a set of hybrid neural network dimensionless correlations based on an extensive trickle flow regime database.