Name
Address
Professor Waheed A. Al-Masry.
Office: 2B 41
Tel: 00966-1-467-6853
Email: walmasry@ksu.edu.sa
PO Box 800, King Saud University
Riyadh 11421 , Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Title
Effect of liquid volume in the gas-separator on the hydrodynamics of airlift reactors
Author-s
Al-Masry, W.
Department
Major
citation
Year of
Publication
Publisher
Sponsor
Type of
Publication
ISSN
Chemical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology: Volume 74, Issue 10, Pages 931-936
1999
John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Article
02682575
URI/DOI
Full Text
(Yes,No)
Key words
Abstract
Yes
Airlift reactor; Gas-separator; Hydrodynamics; Newtonian systems
Gas hold-up and liquid circulation velocity measurements were made using a 167 dm3
external loop airlift reactor. The gas-separator was of the open channel configuration. The
reactor height was 2.5 m with riser and downcomer diameters of 0.19 m and 0.14 m
respectively. The systems investigated were Newtonian air-water and air-glycerol with the
superficial air velocity varying between 0.02 and 0.12 ms-1. The ratio of the liquid volume
in the gas-separator to the liquid volume in the reactor (volume-ratio) was varied from
0.0% to 37%, to find its minimum critical value for optimum operation of the airlift reactor.
For the air-water system, discernible effects of the volume-ratio on riser and, downcomer
gas hold-ups and liquid circulation velocity were observed at volume ratios < 7%. Beyond
this value, the volume-ratio had no effect. For a viscous and foaming air-glycerol system
the critical volume-ratio was increased to 19%. New and simple correlations for predicting
gas hold-up in the riser, gas hold-up in the downcomer, and liquid circulation velocity were
developed with reasonable accuracy.
Gas hold-up and liquid circulation velocity measurements were made using a 167 dm3
external loop airlift reactor. The gas-separator was of the open channel configuration. The
reactor height was 2.5 m with riser and downcomer diameters of 0.19 m and 0.14 m
respectively. The systems investigated were Newtonian air-water and air-glycerol with the
superficial air velocity varying between 0.02 and 0.12 m s-1. The ratio of the liquid volume
in the gas-separator to the liquid volume in the reactor (volume-ratio) was varied from
0.0% to 37%, to find its minimum critical value for optimum operation of the airlift reactor.
For the air-water system, discernible effects of the volume-ratio on riser and, downcomer
gas hold-ups and liquid circulation velocity were observed at volume ratios ≤7%. Beyond
this value, the volume-ratio had no effect. For a viscous and foaming air-glycerol system
the critical volume-ratio was increased to 19%. New and simple correlations for predicting
gas hold-up in the riser, gas hold-up in the downcomer, and liquid circulation velocity were
developed with reasonable accuracy.