Understanding the dynamics of fixed-bed adsorption columns for modeling is a demanding task due to the strong nonlinearities in the equilibrium isotherms, interference effects of competition of solutes for adsorbent sites, mass transfer resistances between fluid phase and solid phase, and fluid-dynamic dispersion phenomena. The interplay of these effects produces steep concentration fronts, whi...

A large amount of fuel cell research focuses on porous gas diffusion (PGD) fuel cells which currently produce the best power density. However, this sect of fuel cell technology has many obstacles to overcome before becoming a viable large scale source or power. Nevertheless, alternatives to PGD fuel cells exist. Fluidized bed electrodes (FBE), packed bed electrodes, and packed screen electrodes...

Chemical engineering operations commonly involve the use of packed and fluidized beds. These are devices in which a large surface area for contact between a liquid and a gas (absorption, distillation) or a solid and a gas or liquid (adsorption, catalysis) is obtained for achieving rapid mass and heat transfer, and particularly in the case of fluidized beds, catalytic chemical reactions. You wil...

An X-ray visualization technique has been used for the quantitative determination of local liquid holdups distribution and liquid holdup hysteresis in a nonwetting twodimensional (2-D) packed bed. A medical diagnostic X-ray unit has been used to image the local holdups in a 2-D cold model having a random packing of expanded polystyrene beads. An aqueous barium chloride solution was used as a fl...

PEM fuel cells utilizing hydrogen and oxygen have shown great promise as future sources of clean, efficient power. Due to difficulties encountered in hydrogen storage and transport, investigation of on-board generation of hydrogen via fuel processing of liquid hydrocarbons has gained prominence. To achieve these goals, the need for compact reactor systems with effective component and heat integ...

A new twin-roll continuous slag solidification process and heat recovery process from a slag packed bed was developed for utilization of the waste heat of steelmaking slag. Plate-shaped slag with the thickness about 7 mm was successfully produced in a pilot plant, and the sensible heat of the slag was recovered by blowing air into the slag chamber. However, the gas distribution inside the slag ...

Rum is a sugar cane spirit obtained by the distillation of molasses through yeast fermentation and subsequent aging in wooden barrels, where the spirit acquires its special flavor and aroma. Packed bed schemes were applied to the accelerated aging of rum samples. These involved maturation in contact with natural, toasted or chemically treated oak wood chips for 90 d and four secondary treatment...

Column liquid chromatography (CLC) is a widely used unit operation in biotech and chemical process engineering for purification of target products (e.g. proteins for pharmaceutical agents) from unwanted substances. An aqueous solution containing the mixture of molecules is forced to flow through the chromatography column which is filled with porous particles (beads). While transport through the...

Efficient transport of regulatory molecules is one of the main requirements for directing the growth and differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC). We have designed and utilized a packed bed bioreactor system for cultivation of murine BMSC immobilized in alginate microbeads produced by electrostatic droplet generation. Continuous medium perfusion at velocities that are physiological f...