Reaction Engineering, Kinetics, and Catalysis

Nonequilibrium thermomechanical modeling of liquid drainage/imbibition in trickle beds

  1. I. Iliuta,
  2. M. Hamidipour,
  3. F. Larachi*

Article first published online: 7 DEC 2011

DOI: 10.1002/aic.12803

Issue

AIChE Journal

AIChE Journal

Volume 58, Issue 10, pages 3123–3134, October 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Iliuta, I., Hamidipour, M. and Larachi, F. (2012), Nonequilibrium thermomechanical modeling of liquid drainage/imbibition in trickle beds. AIChE J., 58: 3123–3134. doi: 10.1002/aic.12803

Author Information

  1. Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Laval University, Québec, Canada, G1V 0A6

*Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Laval University, Québec, Canada, G1V 0A6

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 10 SEP 2012
  2. Article first published online: 7 DEC 2011
  3. Accepted manuscript online: 28 OCT 2011 08:43AM EST
  4. Manuscript Revised: 17 OCT 2011
  5. Manuscript Received: 7 JUL 2011

Funded by

  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)

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Keywords:

  • trickle bed;
  • drainage imbibition;
  • nonequilibrium capillary pressure;
  • Helmholtz free energy;
  • gas-liquid interfacial area;
  • thermomechanical modeling;
  • electrical capacitance tomography

Abstract

We extend the macroscopic nonequilibrium thermomechanical multiphase flow theory proposed by Hassanizadeh and Gray for porous media to analyze a set of drainage and imbibition experiments in trickle beds. The nonequilibrium model rests on inclusion of mass and momentum conservations for the gas-liquid interface, nonequilibrium capillary pressure, Helmholtz free energy gradients in the body supply of momentum for fluid bulk phases and gas-liquid interface, and mass exchange rates between interface and fluid bulks accounting for production and destruction of gas-liquid interfacial area. To solve the nonequilibrium model, entropy-consistent constitutive relationships are derived and calibrated using liquid holdup and bed pressure drop measurements in drainage and imbibition. The model captures very well the decay (drainage), and breakthrough (imbibition) curvatures of liquid holdup and pressure drop kinetics, while model closer inspection allows assessing the role of nonequilibrium capillary pressure and of dynamic interfacial mass exchanges for the production/destruction of interfacial area. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 3123–3134, 2012

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