High liquid holdup airlift tower loop reactor: I. Riser hydrodynamic characteristics

✍ Scribed by Juan C García; Antonio G Lavín; Mario Díaz

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 180 KB
• Volume: 75
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0268-2575
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4660(200005)75:5<369::aid-jctb211>3.0.co;2-q

✦ Synopsis

The hydrodynamics of high liquid holdup airlift reactors have not been widely studied. In this work we study the riser of a reactor of this type, focussing on the in¯uence of the gas ¯ow rate and the submergence ratio on various hydrodynamic parameters: liquid circulation velocity, gas holdup, and gas residence time in the liquid. A notable difference in reactor behavior is observed with a submergence ratio equal to unity and with a ratio lower than unity. Correlations for the parameters studied in different conditions, as several submergence ratios, are proposed, these are extrapolations of other equations proposed in the literature for airlift reactors. The reactor studied in this work can be thought of as an element of a great pool formed by multiple elements of similar ¯ux type. The studied parameters are shown to be very important for subsequent hydrodynamic and mass transfer modeling of the reactor.