The term HiGee and Rotating Packed Beds (RPB) are generally known as a Gas-liquid contacting device in chemical process industries involving transfer of chemical component/ components from one phase to another.
In conventional distillation and absorption columns, the gravitational field inherently governs the flow of liquid and gas, and the mass transfer rates. If this field is replaced by a centrifugal field of about 500 g to 1000 g, high process intensification can be achieved. This leads to miniaturization of equipments and attendant benefits.
The Rotating Packed Beds exploits this strategy of operating under centrifugal fields to intensify the operation into a compact mode, which is not in the reach of units that rely on terrestrial gravitation.
The concept of HiGee with conventional RPB’s having single packing element is decades old and has not proved to enhance the process drastically.
With the idea to subdue the shortcomings of the conventional design, a new innovative process design was carried out by IIT-Kanpur India under the guidance/ leadership of Dr. D P Rao, and the concept of split RPB was developed.
Trilok RPB unit is designed with the split packing. The split packing is made of perforated metal which is suitable for various processes.
HiGee Unit:
Encased within a steel shell which is designed as per required volume, operating pressure and temperature is housed the Rotating Packed Bed. This Packed Bed mounted on a motor driven shaft supported by bearing housing on one side of the shell and distributor assembly on the other side. Trilok has designed a very compact and unique solvent feed and gas withdrawal system which optimizes the small size of the unit.
The solvent is sprayed onto the inside diameter of the RPB through spray nozzles and the centrifugal force generated by the RPB carries the solvent through the perforated metal, to the periphery of the vessel. Impure Gas is fed into the vessel from the top nozzle of shell. This impure gas flows from the outer periphery of the RPB to the centre due to differential pressure. The intimate contact takes place between the impure gas and solvent in the RPB due to the above resulting in absorption of gas impurities by the solvent. The impure/ spent solvent goes out of the shell from the bottom nozzle for further processing and the purified gas is withdrawn from the centre of the uniquely designed distributor. However, the HiGee unit can also be used for various other processes like separation, distillation and filtration.