Investigation of flow Maldistribution in Trickle Bed Reactors Dense and Sock Loading Beds

Liquid mal-distribution in catalytic Trickle bed reactor have investigated using porous alumina extrudate trilobe catalysts. Two different catalyst loading methos (dense and sock) were used to evaluate the performances of the dense and sock loaded bed in terms of liquid spreading. The experimental setup has capability for studying the effect of bed height on distribution of the liquid for different gas and liquid flow rates. A collector device with seven compartments has been used in bottom of the reactor to investigate the liquid radial distribution. Furthermore, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) algorithm has been applied to predict the effective parameters on liquid spreading in trickle bed using the obtained experimental data. was concluded that with same liquid distributor and operating conditions, the sock packed beds distribute liquid better than dense ones. It was explaind that these results are due to the Isotropic distribution of porosity in sock loaded beds in comparison with dense beds. It was observed that any increase in gas and liquid flow rate enhances the liquid flow distribution; however, the effect of liquid flow rate is more considerable