Liquid-solid mass transfer in a rotating trickle-bed reactor: mathematical modeling and experimental verification

Abstract Liquid-solid mass transfer model is significant but deficient for the design of a rotating trickle-bed reactor (RTBR), which has great potential for process intensification of heterogeneous catalytic reactions. In this work, a mathematical model considering the wetting efficiency was first established to describe the liquid-solid mass transfer process in the RTBR. External static liquid holdup was referred to give a reasonable initial value for calculation. The profile of concentration boundary layer was obtained by mass balance analysis of an Eulerian element on a single sphere. The above model was then extended to predict the liquid-solid mass transfer coefficient (kLS) in the RTBR. A copper dissolution method was employed to measure the kLS, considering the effects of particle diameter, rotational speed, and liquid superficial mass velocity. The comprehensive comparison between predicted and experimental values of kLS was conducted and deviations were within ± 25%.