Experimental Investigation of Gas-Liquid Flow in Monolith Channels using Monofiber Optical Probes

Abstract

Two-phase hydrodynamics has been experimentally investigated using optical fibre probes in individual channels of a laboratory scale monolith bed. Experimental investigations were carried out to validate the optical probe measurements in a single capillary. Optical probes were positioned at selected single channels of a monolith block, and the signals were processed to assess the local hydrodynamics under cocurrent gas-liquid downflow configuration, using air and water as fluids. The investigations were performed for three different distributors, viz. single pipe, multipipe, and packed bed distributor configurations. The different distributor configurations were evaluated on the basis of void fraction and bubble frequency for a wide range of flow velocities. The specific novelty aspect of this study comes from the fact that we have undertaken channel scale investigations in monoliths under conditions where we have also reported the global gas-liquid distribution. Thus, one can readily correlate the bed-scale hydrodynamics with the local channel-scale hydrodynamics.

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Research Center/Lab(s)

Center for High Performance Computing Research

Keywords and Phrases

Air; Fluid Dynamics; Hydrodynamics; Liquids; Optical Fibers; Packed Beds; Two Phase Flow; Void Fraction; American Institute of Chemical Engineers; Experimental Investigations; Gas-Liquid Distribution; Gas-Liquid Distributor; Monolith; Optical Fibre Probes; Three Different Distributors; Probes; Bubble Hydrodynamics; Optical Probes

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0001-1541; 1547-5905

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2017

Link to Full Text

Share

 
COinS