chemical process In a scientific sense, a chemical process is a method or means of somehow changing one or more chemicals or chemical compounds. Such a chemical process can occur by itself or be caused by an outside force, and involves a chemical reaction of some ...

ing, a packed bed is a hollow tube, pipe, or other vessel that is filled with a packing material. The packing can be randomly filled with small objects like Raschig rings or else it can be a specifically designed

structured packing The term structured packing refers to a range of specially designed materials for use in absorption and distillation columns and chemical reactors. Structured packings typically consist of thin corrugated metal plates or gauzes arranged in a way ...

. Packed beds may also contain catalyst particles or adsorbents such as zeolite pellets, granular activated carbon, etc. The purpose of a packed bed is typically to improve contact between two phases in a chemical or similar process. Packed beds can be used in a chemical reactor, a

distillation Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the he ...

process, or a scrubber, but packed beds have also been used to store

heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

in chemical plants. In this case, hot gases are allowed to escape through a vessel that is packed with a refractory material until the packing is hot. Air or other cool gas is then fed back to the plant through the hot bed, thereby pre-heating the air or gas feed.

Applications

Packed column

In industry, a packed column is a type of packed bed used to perform separation processes, such as absorption, stripping, and

. A packed column is a pressure vessel that has a packed section. Columns used in certain types of

chromatography In chemical analysis, chromatography is a laboratory technique for the separation of a mixture into its components. The mixture is dissolved in a fluid solvent (gas or liquid) called the ''mobile phase'', which carries it through a system ( ...

consisting of a tube filled with packing material can also be called packed columns and their structure has similarities to packed beds.

Column structure: random and stacked packed columns

The column can be filled with random dumped packing (creating a random packed column) or with

sections, which are arranged or stacked (creating a stacked packed column). In the column, liquids tend to wet the surface of the packing and the vapors pass across this wetted surface, where

mass transfer Mass transfer is the net movement of mass from one location (usually meaning stream, phase, fraction or component) to another. Mass transfer occurs in many processes, such as absorption, evaporation, drying, precipitation, membrane filtra ...

takes place. Packing material can be used instead of trays to improve separation in distillation columns. Packing offers the advantage of a lower pressure drop across the column (when compared to plates or trays), which is beneficial while operating under vacuum. Differently shaped packing materials have different surface areas and void space between the packing. Both of these factors affect packing performance.

Liquid and vapor distribution (vapor to liquid ratio)

Another factor in performance, in addition to the packing shape and surface area, is the liquid and vapor distribution that enters the packed bed. The number of theoretical stages required to make a given separation is calculated using a specific vapor to liquid ratio. If the liquid and vapor are not evenly distributed across the superficial tower area as it enters the packed bed, the liquid to vapor ratio will not be correct and the required separation will not be achieved. The packing will appear to not be working properly. The ''height equivalent to a theoretical plate'' (HETP) will be greater than expected. The problem is not the packing itself but the mal-distribution of the fluids entering the packed bed. These columns can contain liquid distributors and redistributors which help to distribute the liquid evenly over a section of packing, increasing the efficiency of the mass transfer. The design of the liquid distributors used to introduce the feed and reflux to a packed bed is critical to making the packing perform at maximum efficiency.

Packed column vapor-equilibrium curve

Packed columns have a continuous vapor-equilibrium curve, unlike conventional tray distillation in which every tray represents a separate point of vapor-liquid equilibrium. However, when modeling packed columns it is useful to compute a number of theoretical plates to denote the separation efficiency of the packed column with respect to more traditional trays. In design, the number of necessary theoretical equilibrium stages is first determined and then the packing height equivalent to a theoretical equilibrium stage, known as the ''height equivalent to a theoretical plate'' (HETP), is also determined. The total packing height required is the number theoretical stages multiplied by the HETP.

Packed bed reactors

''Packed bed reactors'' can be used in chemical reactions in chemical industries. These reactors are tubular and are filled with solid catalyst particles, most often used to catalyze gas reactions. The chemical reaction takes place on the surface of the

catalyst Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

. The advantage of using a packed bed reactor is the higher conversion per weight of catalyst than other catalytic reactors. The conversion is based on the amount of the solid catalyst rather than the volume of the reactor.

Theory

The Ergun equation can be used to predict the pressure drop along the length of a packed bed given the fluid

velocity Velocity is the directional speed of an object in motion as an indication of its rate of change in position as observed from a particular frame of reference and as measured by a particular standard of time (e.g. northbound). Velocity i ...

, the packing size, and the

viscosity The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water. Viscosity quantifies the inte ...

and

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematicall ...

of the fluid. The Ergun equation, while reliable for systems on the surface of the earth, is unreliable for predicting the behavior of systems in microgravity. Experiments are currently underway aboard the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

to collect data and develop reliable models for in-orbit packed-bed reactors.

Monitoring of packed columns/beds

The performance of a packed bed is highly dependent on the flow of material through it, which in turn is dependent on the packing and how the flow is managed. Electrical tomography may be used to observe the distribution of liquids at different cross sections of the vessel, or indeed the flow pattern throughout the packed column. Depending on the nature of the materials, capacitance or resistance tomography may be used.

Bibliography

References

{{Reflist Distillation Chemical equipment