New fields of application in thermal separation technology by additive manufacturing using the example of a laboratory-scale dividing wall column

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Grützner
• Subject Area: Chemical and Thermal Process Engineering
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 510113776

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) allows the creation of components with significantly fewer design restrictions than is the case with classic manufacturing processes. In this way, geometries can be created whose complexity far exceeds previous possibilities. These advantages have long been exploited in the field of chemical process engineering, for example to create customized reactors. In thermal separation technology, however, there are still relatively few approaches to realizing the potential of this novel manufacturing technology. In recent years, however, there has been an increase in the number of publications dealing primarily with the creation of new packing structures for thermal separation apparatus based on additive manufacturing. Since additive manufacturing is still orders of magnitude more expensive than classical manufacturing processes, it is clear that an attempt must be made to initially focus on small-scale apparatuses, i.e. those intended for laboratory applications. In the context of this application, a complex apparatus, the dividing wall column, is chosen as an example to study the potential of additive manufacturing for thermal separation technology. The goal is a dividing wall column that can be tailored to the separation task and easily integrated into existing laboratory infrastructure (e.g. evaporator, condenser). This new technology can be used for experimental validation as part of the development of large-scale columns, or as a compact separation apparatus for laboratory applications. A major focus is on the scalability of the column. In particular, the separation performance should be as constant as possible over a wide range of gas and liquid loads and heat losses should be minimized. Here, additive manufacturing offers the potential to achieve these goals by optimizing the design. Basically, all relevant components such as the column shell, packing, distributor, headers, flanged connections, etc. are to be designed and optimized within the scope of this application. The properties of all components are to be optimized and finally characterized so that a component library is available which allows the rapid computer-aided adaptation of the column design to the separation task. Subsequently, a column will be assembled from the components developed in this way, integrated into an existing laboratory infrastructure and experimental studies will be carried out on it with the aim of proving the feasibility of this concept. Due to the complexity of the problem, the focus will certainly be on packing structures and adiabatic operation. The combination of CFD simulation with experiments forms the methodical backbone of the application and here numerous and fundamental scientific questions are located.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants