Influence of Gas Separator and Scale-up on the Hydrodynamics of External Loop Circulating Bubble Columns

• Published in: Chemical engineering research & design Vol. 82; no. 3; pp. 381 - 389
• Main Author: Al-Masry, W.A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.03.2004
• Subjects: circulating bubble column; gas hold-up; gas separator; hydrodynamics; liquid circulation; scale-up; scale-up; hydrodynamics; circulating bubble column; gas separator; liquid circulation; gas hold-up
• ISSN: 0263-8762
• DOI: 10.1205/026387604322870499

Gas separators play a significant role on the operation of circulating bubble columns (CBCs), and affect the system hydrodynamics of gas hold-up and the liquid circulation. To study these effects experimentally, a 135l external loop CBC made from Perspex was used in this work. The CBC had riser and downcomer diameters of 0.153 and 0.082 m, respectively. The liquids used were water and glycerol, while the sparging gas was air. The ratio of the liquid volume in the gas separator to the liquid volume in the reactor, volume ratio T VR, was varied up to 57%. Discernible effects of the volume-ratio on riser, downcomer gas hold-ups and liquid circulation velocity were observed at T VR < 18%. Smooth operation of the CBC was observed at an optimum volume ratio T VRO = 30%. Transition of operation between that of bubble column BC and CBC occurred at T VR = 0% and U GR = 0.07 m s −1 for air-water system, and T VR = 0% and U GR = 0.03 m s −1 for air–glycerol system. The drift flux model was found useful, with an average distribution parameter C 0 equal to 0.965, 1.91, 0.78 for homogenous, transitional and heterogenous regimes, respectively. Simple correlations for predicting gas hold-up in the riser, gas hold-up in the downcomer, and liquid circulation velocity were developed taking into account the effect of the volume ratio and liquid viscosity. To account for the scale-up factor A D/ A R, the 170 l external loop CBC data of Al-Masry (1999b), with d R = 0.19 m and d D = 0.14 m, were utilized along the data from this work. The two combined effects, i.e. T VR and A D/ A R were recorded in new correlations which predict gas holdup and liquid circulation with good accuracy.