Numerical simulation on the falling film absorption process in a counter-flow absorber

Falling liquid film is commonly employed in variety of industrial systems, such as LiBr/H2O absorption heat pump or chiller. In this paper, the falling film absorption in aqueous lithium bromide solution was investigated numerically using CFD software package-Fluent. The practical convective boundary condition at the cooling water side was considered. The heat transfer coefficient is assumed constant, and the coolant temperature changes linearly along its flow path. The numerical results indicate that the profile of temperature is exponential and their gradients are high due to the distinct heat effect associated with the absorption at the interface and the cooling effect of coolant at the wall at small downstream distance. As the downstream distance increases, the profile of temperature is nearly linear. The absorption heat and mass fluxes reach a maximum at the inlet region and decrease at the outside of the inlet region. Specially, the effect of variable physical properties on the absorption process was considered and discussed. The prediction of the total absorption mass transfer rate is about 6.5% higher when assuming constant properties. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.