Development of the CFD code through the Mathematica® program to simulate an adsorption column

Abstract

The simulation programs allow to describe real systems. One of the most important fields is computational fluid dynamics (CFD) that it studies the behaviour of fluids at rest or in motion. In this work, it is developed of the CFD code through the Mathematica® program to simulate a fixed bed adsorption column. The mathematical model that is used was described by Chatzopoulos and Varma. This model contains two adsorbate mass balances, one for the liquid phase and the other for the solid phase. Each balance contains two contour conditions. The concentration in each phase is related to the equilibrium equation, in this case, the Langmuir isotherm is used. The model describes the variation of solute concentration in the column and inside the particle as a function of position and time. The numerical results obtained through simulation were very similar to the experimental results, with a maximum error < 4%. With this check, concentration profiles were simulated in the column and in the particle.