Effect of Inclination Angle of Baffled Reactor at Up-Flow on Residence Time Distribution
Résumé
The effect of wave baffles inclination angle on the behavior of a packed bed operating under liquid up-flow was experimentally investigated. The system has been widely used in biotechnology due to the large surface area available for the microorganisms attachment. The results of different flow rates showed that the reactor "e" at theta = 180 degrees behaves as a plug flow distorted by a constant axial dispersion. At low flow rates, the mean residence time (MRT) and variance residence time (VRT) are high. However, both parameters increase with increasing the height of the sand bed for all reactors "a", "b", "c", "d" and "e" (i.e. theta = 0 degrees, 15 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees and 180 degrees), respectively, and the flow patterns lie between plug flow and perfectly mixed. Other results of residence time distribution (RTD) obtained from all reactors showed that these reactors do not have segregations or dead volumes and the reactor "c" at theta = 30. presents a uniform dispersion, high N-tanks number and a low MRT compared with the reference reactor at flat baffles.