Raschig rings for gas drying are widely utilized as packed beds within distillation columns for the separation of liquids and gases. Constructed from metal or ceramic material, they offer an increased surface area that optimizes interactions among vapour, gases, liquids within a column – this is particularly crucial at low Peclet numbers; in order to do this it’s essential to understand how packing pattern impacts gas flow through an enclosed packed bed bed.
At this point, the authors conducted a comprehensive examination of three Raschig ring packing patterns on the distribution of methane in a packed bed with Peclet numbers 4 and 8. Their results demonstrated that only the VS pattern showed two forms of coke deposition: whisker-like carbon or pyrolytic carbon; in comparison, only CS and RS patterns produced only a single type. Furthermore, an extension model originally developed for packed beds of spheres was implemented into their study as a bypass model to account for Raschig rings as an added measure.
This invention provides a method of cleaning carbonaceous and/or polymeric deposits from fouled Raschig rings made of aluminum used as packing in commercial distillation or solvent extraction columns. To do this, an aluminum Raschig ring containing carbonaceous or polymeric deposits must be mixed with sand to form a mixture before being subjected to tumbling action; preferably this mixture should either be dry with respect to water content, or very wet using cleaning solution as desired.