Liquid holdup and pressure drop in the gas-liquid cocurrent downflow packed-bed reactor under elevated pressures

An experimental investigation of the residence time distribution, liquid holdup, and pressure drop in a gas-liquid downflow packed bed reactor with porous particles operated under elevated pressures is presented. The effects of the two-phase flow rates and reactor pressures on the external liquid holdup and pressure drop are discussed. A mechanistic model, which accounts for the interaction between the gas and liquid phases by incorporating the shear and velocity slip factors between phases, is employed to predict the external liquid holdup and pressure drop for the experimentally covered flow regime. The involved parameters, such as shear and velocity slip factors and Ergun single-phase flow bed constants, are calculated from the correlations developed via neural network regression. The model's predictions and the experimental observations at elevated pressure are compared. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.