Aroma absorption in a rotating packed bed with a tailor-made archimedean spiral packing

The high gravity field inside a Rotating Packed Bed (RPB) is a promising approach for the intensification of aroma absorption. Using standard wire mesh packing, the rotation has proven to be an additional degree of freedom for an intensified and more flexible process. Further findings showcase an increase of the absorption efficiency of 9 - 14% using spiral packing, produced by additive manufacturing, compared to a standard wire mesh under equal operating conditions (G(center dot) = 100 L/min, omega = 2750 rpm). The spiral packing could be operated at remarkably large gas load factors of up to 15.5 Pa0.5 without any evidence of flooding. All in all, the spiral packing is capable of handling larger liquid flow rates for a given volume and might be in particular beneficial for processing viscous or solid containing media like crude fermentation slurries and is one of the preferable solutions for multirotor RPBs. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd.