Distillation and absorption are among the most important thermal separation processes in the chemical industry. However, smooth operation of the columns is essential in order to achieve high separation efficiencies and long running times. Undesirable operating conditions include, for example, raining, flooding, choking, blowing and entrainment. Entrainment is practically omnipresent, but varies in its severity. Entrainment refers to the entrainment of liquid by the gaseous phase and thus disrupts the counterflow principle of the separation equipment used. In tray columns, this entrainment can be easily observed above the individual mass transfer trays, which are pressurized with gas/vapor from below so that parts of the liquid are entrained on their way across the tray to the higher tray. This process is undesirable as it entrains heavy boilers to higher areas of the column.

The BMWi project TERESA (Droplet Formation and Reduction in Mass Transfer Apparatuses) focuses on the investigation of entrainment with the aim of developing new strategies, concepts and solutions for the separation of droplets. TERESA is a joint project of the following partners: Envimac Engineering, Falk & Thomas Engineering GmbH, Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, HZDR Innovation GmbH, Linde AG, Munters-Euroform GmbH, Denco-Happel GmbH, Raschig GmbH, RVT Process Equipment GmbH, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Horst Weyer und Partner GmbH.

The task of the TU Kaiserslautern is to investigate the entrainment occurring at the head of a column. For this purpose, an optical imaging probe developed at the chair is to be further developed to enable and advance the investigation of entrainment.

Work to be awarded for the TERESA project will be carried out in the following areas, among others:

• Design and further development of imaging probe measurement technology
• Investigation of entrainment via soils as well as packings and packed beds
• Investigation of different types of separators for tolerable liquid loads
• Use of alternative measuring instruments to validate the imaging probe measurement technology
• Optical and statistical evaluation of the image data obtained from the probe measurement technology
• Simulation of the invasive character of the probe measurement technology for comparison with non-contact variants such as phase Doppler anemometry.
• Development and extension of correlations based on experimental data.

Further project information: www.teresa-projekt.de

BMWi