Hydrodynamics of gas-liquid-solid trickle-bed reactors: a critical review

While it is recognised that the hydrodynamic aspects have a considerable importance in the design and the operation of gas-liquid-solid trickle-bed reactors, the accuracy of the proposed calculation methods remains poor. Most studies in this field have been performed in atmospheric conditions in contrast of industrial reactors operating at quite high pressures. Only recently, some experimental results have been obtained at elevated pressures and correlations have been proposed in these conditions in order to predict the tricking-pulsing transition, the pressure drop and the liquid holdup. The scope of this article is twice. Firstly, the knowledge on the several hydrodynamic aspects of three-phase trickle-bed reactors, including the recent developments performed at high operating pressures, is summarised. Secondly, the models and the correlations of regimes transitions, pressure drop and liquid holdup are submitted to critical evaluations by comparing their predictions with the set of experimental data obtained in a wide range of operating pressure. Some conclusions have been deduced concerning the ability of the correlations and the models to be used in the design procedures of industrial three-phase trickle-bed reactors. Unfortunately, it is shown that there is no model of trickling-pulsing regimes transitions which gives satisfactory results. Up this time. the empirical correlation of Larachi et al. (1993) is found to be the more accurate method for the prediction of the location of the boundary between the trickle and pulsed regimes in a wide range of operating pressure. In the other hand, no empirical correlation of pressure drop and liquid holdup corresponds to an acceptable mean relative error of prediction. To now, the phenomenological extended model of Al-Dahhan et al. (1998) appears to be the more satisfactory method for the predictions of the two hydrodynamic parameters in the trickle flow regime. However, it is necessary to determine the two coefficients of the model from experiments to be performed in single-phase gas flow. Finally, it is recommended to apply the two-phase fluid mechanics tools for describing of the gas-liquid flow through fixed ed reactors by devoting a particular attention to the hydrodynamic interactions phenomena between the three phases of the system (gas, liquid and solid).