Micromixing Efficiency of a Tubular Packed Bed Reactor with Different Packings

Micromixing characteristics of a tubular packed bed reactor with different packings were investigated by adopting the competitive parallel reaction, namely, the Villermaux–Dushman reaction. Better micromixing efficiency was achieved with the tube packed with Winpak® compared to that packed with Mini Ring or Mellapak™ or the empty tube. The segregation index (XS) decreased as the volumetric flow rate increased, but increased with increasing volumetric flow ratio. Moreover, the micromixing time (tm) was calculated using an incorporation model based on the experimental data. The minimum tm value of the tube packed with Winpak® (tm=1.54 ms) was less than that of the tube packed with Mini Ring (tm=2.73 ms) or Mellapak™ (tm=2.14 ms) or the empty tube (tm=3.79 ms).