Study on hydrodynamics and mass transfer performance of an efficient gas-liquid Circulation Swirl Tray for CO2 absorption

Abstract

A novel tray for removing carbon dioxide from natural gas is proposed, named Efficient gas-liquid Circulation Swirl Tray (ECST). The cyclone tubes are used as the main working units of it. Utilizing the perforated blades and negative pressure zone generated by swirling flow, a large flux cycle of mixing and separation between gas and liquid can be carried in this tray. The flow field distribution and flow characters of ECST were investigated by CFD simulation. The hydrodynamics and tray efficiency of it have been studied with a CO₂-NaOH system and were compared to Glitsch V1 valve tray. Experiments show that the relative entrainment rate of ECST is always below 0.01 and its weeping critical F₀ is reduced by 15–17 %. When F₀ = 32.3 m/s·(kg/m³)^0.5, the CO₂ absorption amount of ECST can reach 3.9 times that of V1, which highlights its extraordinary capability in enhancing mass transfer efficiency.