Pressure Drop in a Packed Column

Aim:
When a fluid flows through a packed bed, it experiences additional frictional forces. This process is widely used in the

industries for distillation and filtration processes. Our experiment aims to study the relationship between the frictional

factor for the flow of water in a column packed with Raschig rings and the modified Reynolds Number for the same. The

pressure drop across the ends of the pipe is used to calculate the friction factor.

Theory:
Packed beds used very commonly in chemical reactors, distillation processes as well as to store thermal energy. The main

principle behind using packed beds for the above-mentioned processes is to maximize the interaction between the reactor

components.

Frictional forces on the fluid flowing through a packed bed is related to the the pressure drop across the column using the

properties of the fluid and the flow conditions, namely laminar or turbulent.

As a theoretical approximation, we assume the total stream to be divided into numerous smaller streams flowing through

the channels formed by the voids in the Raschig rings. The expression to derive the friction factor as a function of P (in

case of a single fluid flow) is

=f=( ) where rH = average hydraulic radius

.(1)

U = average velocity of fluid through the channel

The modified Reynolds Number (NRe) considers the effect of the packing material in modifying the flow conditions.
.(2)

The average hydraulic radius of a material of porosity , volume Vp and surface are Sp, is given by:

.(3)

Rather than using linear velocity U, we use the superficial velocity based on the cross-section area of empty column.

U= .(4)
Using equations (1), (3) and (4) we get:
In the case of packing material being identical Raschig rings, the flow has both laminar and turbulent characteristics. The

friction factor for this condition is:

N
0.1
( )
5 1
f theo= +
N

Procedure:
1. The Reservoir is filled upto 90% of its capacity.
2. The pump is switched on and the speed varied to achieve the desired flow rate through the packed bed.
3. The air bubbles are removed from the pipe. (if any)
4. At lower flow rates, the CCl4 manometer is used to note the pressure drop. At higher flower rates, the mercury

manometer is used.
5. Allow the discharge tank upto the known volume by closing the valve below it. The time taken to achieve the

same is noted.
6. Empty the discharge tank and the process is repeated for different flow rates.

Observations:
Porosity of Raschig Rings () 0.632
Length of Raschig ring (l) 0.6 cm
Outside diameter of Raschig ring (d2) 0.6 cm
Inside diameter of Raschig ring (d1) 0.4 cm
Volume of Raschig ring (Vp) 0.0942 cm3
Surface Area of Raschig Ring (SP) 2.512 cm2
Height of packed column (L) 93 cm
Average temperature of water during
25oC
run
Viscosity of water at average
0.0000089 c.p.
temperature
Inside diameter of column (D) 5 cm
Volume of Calibrated tank 4800 cm3

h time Flow Rate (Q cm3/s) P (CGS)

85.5 35 137.1428571 50.40999117
84.5 36.96 129.8701299 49.82040063
 78 37.64 127.5239107 45.98806212
60.5 46.45 103.3369214 35.67022767
50 50.98 94.15457042 29.479527
43.5 55.76 86.08321377 25.64718849
39 58.54 81.99521695 22.99403106
37.5 66.47 72.21302843 22.10964525
23 82 58.53658537 13.56058242
14 110.11 43.59277087 8.25426756

Mercury Manometer
16 17.78 269.9662542 196.6634208
15.5 18.58 258.3423036 190.5176889
12 21.88 219.3784278 147.4975656
8.5 23.79 201.7654477 104.4774423
7.5 28.51 168.3619783 92.1859785

Superficial Velocity(Us) Average Velocity(U) Mod Nre fobs fth log(fobs) log(fth) log(Nre)
6.988171065 11.0572327 5056.779868 0.027981 0.427188 -1.55313 -0.36938 3.703874
6.617586235 10.4708643 4788.617299 0.030838 0.429572 -1.51091 -0.36696 3.68021
6.498033668 10.28169884 4702.106678 0.029523 0.430373 -1.52984 -0.36615 3.672292
5.265575614 8.331606984 3810.275466 0.034873 0.439746 -1.45751 -0.3568 3.580956
4.797685117 7.591273919 3471.700576 0.034716 0.443973 -1.45947 -0.35264 3.540542
4.386405797 6.940515502 3174.090663 0.036133 0.448092 -1.4421 -0.34863 3.501619
4.178100227 6.61091808 3023.3566 0.035706 0.450349 -1.44726 -0.34645 3.480489
3.679644761 5.822222723 2662.66429 0.044264 0.456309 -1.35395 -0.34074 3.425316
2.982755942 4.719550541 2158.381651 0.041316 0.46639 -1.38388 -0.33125 3.334128
2.221287687 3.514695708 1607.368044 0.045347 0.481067 -1.34345 -0.31779 3.206115
Mercury Manometer Mercury Manometer
13.75624225 21.7662061 9954.291078 0.028171 0.398792 -1.5502 -0.39925 3.99801
13.16393903 20.82901746 9525.688664 0.029802 0.400571 -1.52576 -0.39732 3.978896
11.17851861 17.68752945 8088.998874 0.031996 0.407259 -1.49491 -0.39013 3.907895
10.28104192 16.26747139 7439.566851 0.026793 0.41073 -1.57197 -0.38644 3.871548
8.578954306 13.57429479 6207.902328 0.033953 0.418353 -1.46913 -0.37846 3.792945
 log10(f) vs log(nre)
0
3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

Log(fobs )
-0.8
Logari thmi c (Log(fobs ))
LOG(F)

Log(fth)
-1

-1.2

-1.4

-1.6

-1.8

Log(Nre)

Results and Discussions:

As seen from the graph, increasing the flowrate results in lower friction factor and a

greater Reynolds number implying a more turbulent flow. On further research we found

that the boundary limits for laminar and turbulent flow are not the same as that for regular

flow in a pipe. The results are as shown on the side. (1)

The experimental graph has come quite similar to the theoretical graph which validates

our experiment.

Discussions led to the conclusion that the increased turbulent flow should be better for chemical reactions as turbulent

flow would result in better mixing of the components. (2)

We also learnt that increasing the flow rate beyond a limit would result in the formation of what is called a fluidized bed, a

hot topic of research related to the topic of packed bed flow. (3)

An excerpt about fluidized beds from (3).

References:
(1) https://neutrium.net/fluid_flow/packed-bed-reynolds-number/

(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbulence#Features

(3) http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.523.3704&rep=rep1&type=pdf

(4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFEC8OZWDCY