Axial dispersion coefficients in packed beds at low reynolds numbers

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Abstract
Peclet numbers describing axial dispersion in gas flow through packed beds of spheres were obtained using a two measurement point, pulse technique in a test section four inches inside diameter and 5.14 feet high. Three packing sizes were investigated, corresponding to tube to particle diameter ratios of 6.4, 17, and 66In the experiments the contribution of the velocity profile to axial spreading was reduced by using thermal conductivity detectors which responded to dispersion only in the central part of the bed cross‐section. In this region of a packed bed the velocity profile is relatively flat. The results point to a particle diameter effect which is more pronounced than has been previously reported. This is in accord with the diffusive mechanism of axial dispersion in a packed bed provided dispersion caused by the velocity profile does not affect the measured pulse response.In the absence of velocity profile effects, the spreading of residence times in void cells is caused primarily by the shedding of the decelerated boundary layers on the downstream side of the particles. At low velocities however, molecular diffusion predominates. Implicit in this discussion is the hypothesis that the uniformity of shape and size of packing particles has an important bearing on the manner in which the Peclet number approaches its limiting value as the gas velocity is increased.