Dynamics of droplets and mass transfer in a rotating packed bed

To do further research on the mass‐transfer mechanism in rotating packed bed (RPB), dynamics of droplets in a RPB are studied by an analytical approach combined with a series of laboratory measurements. Based on the results of the fluid dynamics, mathematical models of mass‐transfer coefficient and mass‐transfer process in RPB are proposed, respectively. Mass‐transfer experiments in RPB are also carried out using ethanol–water solution. By comparison, the results of simulation agree well with that of the experiment, which demonstrate that both hydrodynamic model and mass‐transfer models can better describe the real conditions of RPB. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 2705–2723, 2014