CFD-based Study on Hydrodynamics and Mass Transfer in Fixed Catalyst Beds

In the heterogeneous catalyst mass transfer phenomena with their strong influence on the reaction efficiency are very important. CFD (computational fluid dynamics) is used to determine the liquid-solid mass transfer coefficients. The determined coefficients can be used in the design of reactors and unit operations where boundary effects are negligible, that is at high apparatus-to-particle-diameter-ratios. The agreement between the theoretical results and the experimental data of other authors is qualitatively good, whereas quantitative differences result from the model simplifications.