Process tomography: An option for the enhancement of packed vapor-liquid contactor model development

A multitude of packed vapor-liquid contactor mass-transfer and hydraulic mo dels exist in the Literature. With few exceptions, the development of these models has been based on a very limited understanding of the microscale hy draulic phenomena inside the contacting column. Recently, the use of X-ray tomography has been shown to be an effective technique for imaging flow pat terns in multiphase contactors. This paper describes the potential benefits that X-ray tomography analysis can bring to the understanding and modeling of the vapor-liquid contacting process. The technology has significant pot ential for enhancing the prediction of both mass-transfer efficiency and pa cking pressure drop of commercial packed columns.