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Effect of Inclination Angle of Baffled Reactor at Up-Flow on Residence Time Distribution

  • Research Article - Chemical Engineering
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Abstract

The effect of wave baffles inclination angle on the behavior of a packed bed operating under liquid up-flow was experimentally investigated. The system has been widely used in biotechnology due to the large surface area available for the microorganisms attachment. The results of different flow rates showed that the reactor “e” at \(\theta = 180^{\circ }\) behaves as a plug flow distorted by a constant axial dispersion. At low flow rates, the mean residence time (MRT) and variance residence time (VRT) are high. However, both parameters increase with increasing the height of the sand bed for all reactors “a”, “b”, “c”, “d” and “e” (i.e. \(\theta = 0^{\circ }, 15^{\circ }, 30^{\circ }, 45^{\circ }\) and \(180^{\circ }\)), respectively, and the flow patterns lie between plug flow and perfectly mixed. Other results of residence time distribution (RTD) obtained from all reactors showed that these reactors do not have segregations or dead volumes and the reactor “c” at \(\theta = 30^{\circ }\) presents a uniform dispersion, high N-tanks number and a low MRT compared with the reference reactor at flat baffles.

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Abbreviations

C :

Tracer concentration \(\left( \hbox {kg/m}^{3}\right) \)

D :

Axial dispersion coefficient \(\left( \hbox {m}^{2}/\hbox {s}\right) \)

L :

Packed-bed length (cm)

N :

Number of stirred tanks (dimensionless)

\({ Pe}\) :

Peclet number (dimensionless)

Re :

Reynolds number (dimensionless)

t :

Time (h)

u :

Superficial velocity (m/s)

H :

Height

L :

Liquid

Li:

Liquid interstitial

p :

Particle

i :

Seriatim

t :

Time

\(\varepsilon \) :

Bed porosity (dimensionless)

\(\theta \) :

Inclination angle (degrees)

\(\rho \) :

Liquid density \(\left( \hbox {kg/m}^{3}\right) \)

\(\mu \) :

Liquid viscosity (Pa s)

\(t_{\mathrm{m}} \) :

Mean residence time (h)

\(\sigma _{t}^{2} \) :

Variance of residence time (\(\hbox {h}^{2}\))

\(\sigma _{\theta } ^{2} \) :

Variance residence time (dimensionless)

\(\Delta t_i \) :

Sampling times (min)

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Acknowledgements

The investigations have been supported by the Laboratory of Industrial Processes Engineering Sciences (Algiers). The authors are thankful to Pr. F. Kaouah and A. Semssoum for their technical assistances.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Industrial Processes Engineering Sciences, Faculty of Mechanical and Engineering Processes, USTHB, BP 32, 16111, Algiers, Algeria

    Nadji Bouakaz, Zoubida Bendjama & Mohamed Trari

  2. Centre of Scientific and Technical Research Analyses Physical-Chemical, CRAPC, BP 248, Algiers, Algeria

    Adh’ya-eddine Hamitouche

  3. Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes, Université de Rennes 1, CNRS, UMR 6226, Avenue du général Leclerc, CS 50837, 35708, Rennes Cedex 7, France

    Abdeltif Amrane

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  1. Nadji Bouakaz
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Correspondence to Nadji Bouakaz.

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Bouakaz, N., Bendjama, Z., Hamitouche, Ae. et al. Effect of Inclination Angle of Baffled Reactor at Up-Flow on Residence Time Distribution. Arab J Sci Eng 43, 5723–5731 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-017-2935-y

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