Figure 9. A comparison of
the HETP values obtained from various PNNL MCD devices, each as a
function of mass flux. Note the logarithmic scale for the HETP values.
The data for this figure is taken from a previous
publication17, with one point (Air) from the current
work added for reference. C3 refers to propane/propylene separation with
a 10.2 cm device; C1 and C1’ are for methane isotope separation with a
10.2 and 25.4 cm device, respectively; and CFD is for a computational
fluid dynamics simulation based on the propane/propylene separation in
the 10.2 cm long PTL device with liquid wicks and vapor channels with
heights of 100 µm and 500 µm, respectively.
Reboiler outlet flow
testing
Figure 10 shows the experimental measurements and model predictions for
testing to determine the maximum reboiler outlet flow. The experimental
values show that the AMPH column used in this work is capable of
producing up to about 0.4 SLM of product containing at least 90%
oxygen.