Flowing characteristics of affinity adsorption in tapered bed with upflow method

In order to recognize the flow characteristics in a tapered affinity adsorption bed, FLUENT software was used in numerical simulation for the liquid-solid two phases flow. A two-fluid model of the liquid-solid in the tapered bed was established based on the theory of two-phase flow. The contours of inner velocity were obtained from this model. The effects of inlet velocity, solution concentration and angle were analyzed. The efficiencies were evaluated in terms of both solute recovery and the adsorbent utilization. The results showed that due to the existing of friction force between the wall and fluid, velocity near the wall is lower than that in center. Furthermore, the smaller the angle, the higher the expanded height; and the smaller the angle, the easier the overflow of particles. When operation is at the same angle tapered bed, expanded height will be higher along with increasing of inlet velocity and amount of particles in bed. Variation of protein concentration and adsorption reaction affected the fluid velocity a little.