Effect of Internals and Solid Loading on Bubble Dynamics in a Slurry Bubble Column

Abstract

Slurry bubble columns have been used in wide range of applications in industry such as the Fisher-Tropsch synthesis and many others. Effects of solids loading in the presence of heat exchanging internals on the bubble dynamics are lacking in the open literature. Therefore the focus of this study is to investigate the effects of dense internals and solids loading on the bubble dynamics such as; specific interfacial area, local and overall gas hold-up, bubble velocity, bubble frequency and bubble chord lengths using four-point optical probe. the experimental work is carried out in 0.14 m diameter Plexiglas bubble column with air-water and air-water-glass beads (particle size of 150μm and density of 2500 kg/m3). the superficial gas velocities based on free area for the flow were in the range of 0.03 to 0.45 m/s and solids loading were varied up to 40 % vol. the internals (0.5 inch diameter) occupied 25 % of column cross- section area. the experimental work is carried out in 0.14 m diameter Plexiglas bubble column with air-water and air-water-glass beads (particle size of 150 μm and density of 2500 kg/m3). the superficial gas velocities based on free area for the flow were in the range of 0.03 to 0.45 m/s and solids loading were varied up to 40 % vol. the internals (0.5 inch diameter) occupied 25 % of column cross- section area. the experimental data showed that the bubble frequency, local and overall gas hold-up decreases with increasing solids loading. Similar trend was also observed for gas-liquid interfacial area for all the studied superficial gas velocities. Moreover, there is no significant effect of solids loading on the bubble chord length in the churn turbulent flow regime. with internals and when the four-point optical probe was placed in the center of the column at the fully developed flow regime, it has also been found that, the addition of solids enhances the bubble sizes and velocity but lowers the bubble frequency, local gas holdup and specific interfacial area.

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Bubble column; Fisher-Tropsch synthesis; Heat exchanging tubes; Internals

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

978-081691073-1

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2024 American Institute of Chemical Engineers, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Dec 2012

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