CHL 331

Problem Sheet # 2
1. A 150- mm-thick demister pad for removing fine droplets of H2SO4 from a gas
stream is made of 50-

m fibers randoml oriented in the plane perpendic!lar to
the gas flo". #he average porosit is 0.$0. %alc!late the press!re drop for gas
velocities of 0.& and 0.$ m's at $0
o
% and 1 atm !sing the drag coefficients for
individ!al fibers.
2. (rea pellets are made b spraing drops of molten !rea into cold gas at the top of a
tall to"er and allo"ing the material to solidif as it falls. )ellets * mm in diameter
are to be made in a to"er 25 m high containing air at 20
o
%. #he densit of !rea is
1.&&0 kg'm
&
. +iscocit of air is 10
-5
)aS. ,a- .hat "o!ld be terminal velocit of the
pellets/ ass!ming free settling conditions0 ,b- .o!ld the pellets attain $$ percent of
this velocit before the reached the bottom of the to"er0
&. Spherical particles 1 mm in diameter are to be fl!idi1ed "ith "ater at t"ice the
minim!m velocit. #he particles have an internal porosit of 40 percent/ an average
pore diameter of 10

m/ and a particle densit of 105 g'cm

&
. )rove that flo"
thro!gh the internal pores is ver small compared to the flo" bet"een the particles/
and that the internal porosit can be neglected in predicting the fl!idi1ation
behavior.
4. %atalst pellets 5 mm in diameter are to fl!idi1ed "ith 45/000 kg'h of air at 1 atm
and 20
o
% in a vertical clindrical vessel. #he densit of the catalst particles is $*0
kg'm
&
3 their sphericit is 0.2*. 4f the given 5!antit of air is 6!st s!fficient to
fl!idi1e the solids/ "hat is the vessel diameter0
5. 7ig!re given belo" o!tline briefl the 6!stification for s!pposing that the energ-
e5!ation frictional dissipation term for flo" "ith s!perficial velocit
u
0 thro!gh a
packed bed of length L is of the form3
F 8 ,a u0 9b
2
0
u - L /
in "hich
a
and b are constants that depend on the nat!re of the packing and the
properties of the fl!id flo"ing thro!gh the bed.


Flow through a packed bed
As sho"n in fig!re a bed of ion-e:change resin particles of depth ; 8 2 cm is s!pported
b a metal screen that offers negligible resistance to flo" at the bottom of a clindrical
container. ;i5!id ,"hich is essentiall "ater "ith 8 1 c) and 8 1 g' cm
&
- flo"s
steadil down thro!gh the bed. #he press!re at both the free s!rface of the "ater and at
the e:it from the bed are both atmospheric.
#he follo"ing res!lts are obtained for the li5!id height H as a f!nction of
s!perficial velocit u03
H ,cm-3 2.5 <5.4
u0 ,cm ' s-3 0.1 1.0
7irst/ obtain the val!es of the constants a and b for the packed bed. ,Hint3 perform
overall energ balances bet"een the li5!id entrance and the packing e:it/ ignoring an
e:it kinetic energ effects.- Second/ "hat is the d= Arc la" permeabilit/ / ,cm
2
- for
the packed bed at very low flo" rates0
#hird/ a prototpe apparat!s is to be constr!cted in "hich the same tpe of ion-
e:change particles are contained bet"een t"o metal screens in the form of a hollo"
clinder of o!ter radi!s 5 cm and inner radi!s 0.5 cm. .hat press!re difference ,bar- is
needed to effect a stead flo" rate of 10 cm
&
's of "ater per cm length of the hollo"
clinder0 ,4f needed/ ass!me the flo" is from the o!tside to the inside.-
*. 7ig!re given belo" sho"s a particle of mass M that is e6ected verticall !p"ards
from the s!rface of fl!idi1ed bed "ith an initial velocit
s

. #he velocit of the

fl!idi1ing gas above the bed is g

/ and the res!lting drag force on the particle is >

8 c ,
-
g / "here c is constant and

is the c!rrent velocit of the particle.

Departure of particle from the top of a fluidized bed.
)rove that the ma:im!m height h to "hich the particle can be entrained above
the bed is given b3

/ 1 1
1
1
]
1

,
_

b
s
b s
b g
n
g
h

in "hich b
v
is the stead !p"ards velocit of the particle "hen the drag and
gravitational forces are balanced.
<. 7ig!re given belo" sho"s an apparat!s for st!ding flo" in a poro!s medi!m.
7l!id of high viscosit flo"s bet"een t"o parallel plates )) !nder the
Fluidized bed
z
D
v
M
v
g
v
s

infl!ence of a !niform press!re gradient dp ' d
x
. ?id"a bet"een the plates is a
slab S of poro!s material of void fraction and permeabilit
.
#he diagram
sho"s the velocit profile in the fl!id/ the velocit "ithin the slab being the
interstitial velocit3
dx
dp
u
i

.2


pparatus for studying flow in a porous medium.

@:plain "h the velocit profile is of the form indicated/ "ith partic!lar attention to
the bo!ndar conditions at the slab s!rfaces. Sho" that the total flo" rate
!
per
!nit "idth is3
( ) .
*
1
&
1
]
1

+ +
,
_

h a
a
dx
dp
!

2. 7ig!re given belo" sho"s a spherical reactor of internal diameter > that is packed
to a height H ,smmetricall disposed abo!t the Ae5!atorB- "ith spherical catalst
particles of diameter d and void 7raction

. A vol!metric flo" rate

!
of a li5!id
of
densit

and viscosit flo"s thro!gh the packing.

Flow through a spherical reactor.
Ho" "o!ld o! determine the res!lting press!re drop0 Cive s!fficient detail so that
Some bod else co!ld perform all necessar calc!lations based on o!r plan.