Liquid Film Waves in a Trickle-bed Reactor under Low Gas and Liquid Superficial Velocity

Liquid film waves are recorded by local conductance probe method in a trickle bed reactor under trickling regime. Frequency spectrum analysis of the conductance time series shows that the frequency is about 3Hz. It is also the same frequency in the conductance time series measured under pulse flow regime. To explain this phenomenon, a group of model equations of gas are applied to describe the state variable of gas passing the packed column. Numerical results provide evidence to the origin of the liquid film wave. The small amplitude variance of the gas pressure over the liquid film may cause this phenomenon.