Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media Under Spatially Uniform Magnetic-Field Gradients: Novel Way to Process Intensification

External inhomogeneous magnetic fields exert a body force on electrically nonconducting, magnetically permeable fluids, and this force can be used to compensate or to amplify the gravitational body force. The ability to influence two-phase flow by the application of external inhomogeneous magnetic field is of potential interest in the operation of trickle-bed reactors from the point of view of catalytic process intensification. An exhaustive modeling framework was developed to illustrate how external inhomogeneous magnetic fields are able to influence both trickle bed hydrodynamics and reaction performance. The model was based on the volume-average mass and momentum balance equations and volume-average species balance equations under a spatially uniform magnetic-field gradient, (mu)20H(dh/dz). The catalytic wet air oxidation of phenol in the presence of a catalyst consisting of a mixture of CuO, ZnO and CoO was considered as a case study.