The zero-gravity distillation (ZGD) is a promising concept to realize a small-scale distillation process. In contrast to gravity in conventional distillation columns, capillary forces, e.g. created using metal foams, are employed to guide the liquid phase in counter current flow to the vapor phase. In this work, a predictive model for simulation of ZGD units is presented. It includes the momentum, heat and species transfer in the liquid and vapor phase. The feed stream as well as the distillate and bottom product streams are included into consideration. Furthermore, the thermal conduction in the unit walls is taken into account. The fluid dynamics of the vapor and liquid is captured in a simplified manner using the concept of hydrodynamic analogy. The developed model was implemented in the MATLAB® software. Simulations of ZGD units in two-dimensional approximation could be validated using experimental data from the literature for ZGD with total reflux. With the validated model, the influence of the wall material and the initial composition on the ZGD process was explored. The focus of a further parametric study was laid on the impact of varying reflux ratio and boil-up ratio.

所述零重力蒸馏(ZGD) 是实现小规模蒸馏过程的有前途的概念。与传统蒸馏塔中的重力相反，毛细管力（例如使用金属泡沫产生）被用来引导液相逆流至气相。在这项工作中，提出了用于模拟 ZGD 单元的预测模型。它包括液相和气相中的动量、热量和物质传递。进料流以及馏出物和底部产物流都包括在内。此外，还考虑了单元壁中的热传导。使用流体动力学类比的概念以简化的方式捕获蒸汽和液体的流体动力学。开发的模型是在 MATLAB® 软件中实现的。可以使用文献中关于全回流的 ZGD 的实验数据来验证二维近似中 ZGD 单元的模拟。使用经过验证的模型，探讨了壁材料和初始成分对 ZGD 过程的影响。进一步参数研究的重点是不同回流比和沸腾比的影响。