Rotating packed beds (RPBs) overcome gravitational limitations by the utilization of centrifugal fields. The cocurrent deaeration of water with nitrogen is studied for centrifugal accelerations of up to 224-times gravitational acceleration. The performance increase of packed rotors with different packing materials (knitted mesh, metal foam) compared to an empty rotor is evaluated. The comparison of mass transfer experiments conducted in a lab-scale and a pilot-scale RPB enables the derivation of scale-up guidelines. For an increased radial packing length of 0.152 m, the industrially relevant oxygen outlet concentration of less than 50 ppb is reached at a 50% lower rotational speed. Furthermore, the results indicate the importance of nonconstant kLa values for scale-up computations.
