Characterization by radiotracer of flow dynamics in laboratory and pilot-plant molecular sieves columns dehydrating organic liquids

Experiments with113mIn radiotracer in 0.01M aqueous solutions of EDTA have been carried out to investigate the fluid flow dynamics in columns of three different diameters filled with molecular sieve spherical particles. The dependence of the Peclet number upon the column diameter-to-particle diameter ratio is demonstrated and irregularities and fluctuations for ratios smaller than 10 are observed. The influence of these phenomena on the adsorption process was investigated.