Flow Morphology of TEG Desiccant in a Structured Packing Air Dehumidifier Exposed to Floating Conditions

In this work, an approach is proposed to study the influence of floating conditions on the fluid flow behavior of separation columns. A structured packing (Mellapak 250Y) air dehumidifier was embarked on a hexapod ship motion emulator with six-degree-of-freedom motions to mimic swell. A novel flow imaging sensor has been developed to visualize the flow morphology dynamics of triethylene glycol evolving on the corrugated sheets of packings. Furthermore, a numerical model was developed based on the hydrodynamic analogy concept to evaluate the separation performance using experimentally observed flow patterns. In our contribution, we describe the flow imaging sensor design as well as the impact of tilt on efficiency losses in comparison with the conventional upright stationary column.