Numerical Simulation of Mass Transfer Aiming at Food Processes and Bioprocesses in Fixed-Bed Equipment: a Comparison Between Finite-Differences and Lattice-Bolztmann Method

摘要

Lattice-Boltzmann method (LBM) has been alternatively used to numerically simulate mass transfer in porous media. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and biospecific affinity chromatography (BAC) are fixed-bed processes that may benefit from LBM as their model frameworks are very similar. By allowing the species concentration in the fluid phase to vary both in time and along the bed axis, this work has simplified SFE and BAC models in order to obtain an identical governing partial differential equation (PDE). Cast in dimensionless form, such mutual PDE was numerically solved through either LBM or finite-differences method (FDM). As far as false diffusion is concerned, numerical simulations were compared and results encourage the use of LBM as a simulation tool to investigate either SFE or BAC processes.