A residence‐time model for trickle‐flow reactors incorporating incomplete mixing in stagnant regions

Abstract

Abstract A model for the liquid‐phase residence time in a trickle‐flow reactor has been derived and experimentally verified using a tracer input. The model, termed the Ideal Plug Flow Stagnancy Model, postulates that the prime liquid‐phase dispersive mechanism in such reactors is the interchange between the dynamic and stagnant regions. Unlike previous models, however, it does not require the assumption of perfect mixing in the stagnant zones. While the results of the study confirm that the mixing is incomplete, they show clearly that back mixing rather than molecular diffusion is the dominant exchange mechanism.