Spinning Cone Column Research

The Spinning Cone Column is a countercurrent gas-liquid separation unit which has found industrial applications, particularly in the food processing industry. These applications include the processing of low alcohol wines, citrus processing, the production of instant coffee and tea and the removal of taints. A company, Flavourtech Pty Ltd, manufactures the columns in Australia and markets them in Australia and overseas.

In order to enable the Spinning Cone Column to be used further for flavour recover and other applications, the numerical modelling of the fluid flow in this equipment using CFX 4 (a Computational Fluid Dynamics package) is very important, and this is being carried out by our group. Once the fluid behaviour is modelled accurately, this simulation can be used to estimate how and where the column floods and how the column design affects the volatile stripping rate and the separation efficiency. This simulation will then be used to improve the design of these columns.

In addition, the influence of the gas/vapour flow on the column performance is being studied in order to fully understand the influence of column design and operation on performance. Experimental work is being carried out using fluorescence emission to measure liquid film thicknesses, and dimensional analysis is being used to characterise these data, which are being used to test the model predictions.

For further information, please email Associate Professor Tim Langrish