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Development of enhanced 3D printed packings for scale-up of distillation columns: a successful case study
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  • Johannes Neukäufer,
  • Mohamed Ashour,
  • Nadin Sarajlic,
  • Harald Klein,
  • Sebastian Rehfeldt,
  • Heiko Hallmann,
  • Sebastian Meinicke,
  • Jürgen Paschold,
  • Carsten Knösche,
  • Thomas Grützner
Johannes Neukäufer
Ulm University

Corresponding Author:johannes.neukaeufer@uni-ulm.de

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Mohamed Ashour
Ulm University
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Nadin Sarajlic
Technical University of Munich
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Harald Klein
Technical University of Munich
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Sebastian Rehfeldt
Technical University of Munich
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Heiko Hallmann
BASF SE
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Sebastian Meinicke
BASF SE
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Jürgen Paschold
BASF SE
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Carsten Knösche
BASF SE
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Thomas Grützner
Ulm University
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Abstract

This publication presents a general approach for the enhancement of packings using 3D printing. Within a joint research project of the Ulm University, the Technical University of Munich and BASF SE, the presented methodology is used to develop miniaturized, scalable distillation columns for process development and scale-up applications. Therefore, a combination of design, computational fluid dynamics, 3D printing and experiment is used to overcome current limitations in the design of structured packings. The packing to be developed should have a high, constant separation efficiency independent of the F-factor at the target diameter of 20 mm. Based on a 3D printable version of the Rombopak 9M, an improved structure is introduced using the proposed methodology. This packing is an intermediate step, but already exhibits a higher, more constant separation efficiency and an improved reproducibility. This publication acts as proof of concept for this methodology.
31 Aug 2022Published in AIChE Journal. 10.1002/aic.17902