Tomographic investigation of the influence of wall effects on the breakthrough in a highly loaded packed bed adsorber

An optical tomographic measurement technique is developed that enables non-intrusive concentration field measurements at the outlet of a packed bed adsorber. The measurement technique stands out with a high time and spatial resolution, a maximum measurement frequency of 20Hz and a spatial resolution of 0.02% related to the measurement cross-section. It is applied on the investigation of wall effects on adsorbtion occurring in a packed bed with a low ratio between tube and particle diameter of D/d_p=11. The measured concentration fields point up that for the design of such packed bed adsorbers, the breakthrough must be regarded not only in respect to time, but also in respect to the radial coordinate.