Abstract

Gas holdup characteristics were explored experimentally in a tapered bubble column of 3.00m height. The internal diameter increased from 0.10 m at the bottom to 0.20 m at the top. Two gas holdup characteristic parameters investigated were local gas holdup and overall gas holdup. Local gas holdup was measured by pressure drop method whilst overall gas holdup was measured by both pressure drop and bed expansion techniques. Axial gas holdup profile decreased from the bottom to the top in the range of the experiments. Overall gas holdup reached a maximum in transitional regime for either the gas-liquid system or the gas-liquid-solid system with low slurry concentration, but increased monotonically for gas-liquid-solid system with high slurry concentration. Overall gas holdup decreased with increasing static slurry height or solid concentration. The effect of particle diameter on gas holdup was too insignificant to be considered. Experiments were carried out in a cylindrical column to compare the difference between cylindrical and tapered bubble columns. Moreover, an empirical correlation was presented to estimate overall gas holdup in the tapered slurry bubble column (TSBC).

Recommended Citation

Zhang, Kai; Zhao, Yulong; and Zhang, Bijiang (2003) "Gas Holdup Characteristics in a Tapered Bubble Column," International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering: Vol. 1: S3.
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/ijcre/vol1/S3