The purpose of the so called “MOSAT project” is to provide a test rig able to collect a wide range of experimental data, keeping the expenses in a low cost target.
The core of the rig is constituted by the saturation tower. Structured internal packing is used because it is attractive for power generation plants due to the relatively small pressure drop along the saturator heigh (which applies to the air in a gas turbine cycle moving from the compressor to the expander). Moreover, in this way the internal geometry, which is relevant to the design phase of the tower and to the validation of simulation models, is precisely known. The tower is composed of four flanged pipes, a top and a bottom structure. Within each pipe two packing modules may be piled in series, thus providing the “effective” heat and mass transfer surface between air and water. The packing modules constitute the body of the saturator: the possibility of varying the number of internal packing modules, which involves changing the total exchange surface, led to the name MOSAT (MOdular SATurator). The packing modules employed are structured packages by Sulzer Ltd. with an effective contact area of 500 m3/m2.
