Mass transfer in a gas-solid packed column at trickle flow

The height of an overall transfer unit has been evaluated in a gas—solid packed column at trickle flow by measuring column performance during steady state adsorption experiments. Results have been interpreted with an extraction model: mass transfer and axial dispersion in both phases. Using Bodenstein numbers for the gas and solid phases from a previous investigation the height of a true transfer unit has been calculated. The column was filled with dumped Pall rings, the solid phase was a freely flowing catalyst carrier, and the gas phase was air at ambient conditions containing freon-12 as adsorbing component. At low gas velocities column performance is entirely determined by axial dispersion but at higher gas velocities mass transfer limitations become important. For conditions of practical importance the height of a true transfer unit corresponds to 4 – 9 Pall ring layers.