Comparison of Raschig Ring Packing Pattern via Mean Resident Time using CFD Particle Tracing Technique: Dry Methane Reforming for Case Study

This paper aims to study the effect of raschig ring packing patterns using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). CFD module of particle tracing was established to measure particles diffusing through the packed bed. The support raschigs catalyst was modeled in three patterns within a tubular reactor – namely, vertical staggered, chessboard staggered and reciprocal staggered pattern. A case study of Dry Methane Reforming (DMR) was investigated at 600°C, 1 atm. The study of Mean Resident Time (MRT) and E(t) function were investigated to identify the packing pattern performance. The results showed that the minimum value of the E(t), which means the flow behavior, was close to ideal plug flow behavior. MRT can be used to systematically identify the deviation from the ideal plug flow reactor of the three different packing patterns.