The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
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Title:	The effect of surface tension upon the flow of fluids through packed beds
Author:	Streib, William Charles
View Online:	njit-etd1953-013 (iii, 37 pages ~ 1.3 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Chemical Engineering
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Chemical Engineering
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:
Date:	1953-05
Keywords:	Surface tension
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	Flow tests through beds of unconsolidated sand, glass beads and 1/4 inch Berl saddles showed that wide variations in the surface tension of a fluid had no significant effect on its flowrate through the bed. Viscosity and density were the only fluid properties affecting such flow. Excellent comparative results were observed between the flowrates through sand beds and those predicted by the Leva equation. The complex Brownell and Katz equation for predicting the residual saturation of a packed bed was found to apply for fluids having a much wider range of surface tension than those originally used to derive their equation. A new relationship of greater utility than the Brownell and Katz equation was derived for predicting the residual saturation of a packed bed. It permits the direct calculation of residual saturation without the need of secondary or auxiliary graphs. The new equation is as follows: Sr = 1/30.2 ((D2φ2x3ΔP)/(1-x)2γL)-9-0.365 Operating holdup of a packed column was found to depend solely upon the flowrate and was not a function of fluid surface tension as contended by Jesser and Elgin.