Determination of residence time distribution in twin-column processes

Since all multi-column setups require some form of internal recycling, it is not immediately apparent how long a product molecule will stay in the process. Some products are prone to degradation and therefore, determining the residence time distribution of the processes is of great interest. In order to measure the residence time distribution experimentally, at one point in time the product in the feed is replaced by a labeled product species, either as a step change or as a pulse feed. Observing the appearance of labeled product in the outlet immediately yields the residence time distribution. The labeled variant must have the same or very similar adsorption behavior compared to the unlabeled product. In order to gain more insight into the results, the residence time distribution is also determined by numerical simulations.

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