Taheri - Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology Tehran, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Jaber-e-bne Hayyan Laboratory
Goodarznia - Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology
Safdari - Tehran, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Jaber-e-bne Hayyan Laboratory

Extraction efficiencies in conventional packed columns are often poor. The efficiency of liquid-liquid extractors is primarily dependent on the degree of turbulence imparted to the system and interfacial area available for mass transfer. In conventional extractors, the energy for phase dispersion is provided by density difference between the phases. The performance of these columns can be improved by mechanical pulsation of the continuous phase. Although pulsed columns use either sieve plate or packing, most reported investigations have dealt with the sieve plate type. Dispersed phase holdup is one of the most important parameters for the design of pulsed extraction column. The holdup is needed to calculate the interfacial area per unit volume and the absolute phase velocities. Up to now, no research has considered the effect of height on holdup in this type of column. This paper describes the results of investigations carried out in a pulsed packed column (PPC) on a laboratory scale. Measurement of holdup have been done in a 2 in. diameter glass pulsed packed column. The variation of the dispersed phase holdup with height and the effect of operating conditions were studied experimentally in this work. The results were compared with similar studies carried out in other extraction columns. The purpose of this paper is to give a complete analysis of influence of operating conditions on the holdup profile of a pulsed packed column. The results show that with increasing height, the holdup increases. With increasing the flow rate of each phase, the holdup increases but the effect of dispersed flow rate is more than the flow rate of continuous phase. Pulse velocity has a direct influence on holdup but at high pulse velocity they have inverse relation to each other.

Pulsed Packed Column, Hydrodynamic, Holdup, Liquid-Liquid Extraction