Determination of Interfacial Area and Overall Volumetric Mass-Transfer Coefficient in a Novel Type of Two Impinging Streams Reactor by Chemical Method

Abstract

The theory of mass transfer accompanied by chemical reaction for gas−liquid systems was used to measure the effective interfacial area (a) and the overall volumetric mass-transfer coefficient (kLa) in a new two impinging streams reactor (TISR), which is characterized by a high-intensity mixing chamber equipped with two two-phase nozzles directed toward each other. As a result of both the impinging process and high rate shear forces exerted on the gas and liquid phases, the overall volumetric mass-transfer coefficients of up to 0.41 s−1, and the mass-transfer coefficients (kL) of up to 15 × 10−4 m/s have been obtained. In addition, the influences of gas and liquid flow rates on the kLa and a values obtained in the TISR have been investigated. These experimental results verify the capability of the proposed TISR in gas−liquid operations. Furthermore, on the basis of the experimental results obtained, two correlations for both the Sherwood number for the liquid phase (ShL) and the specific interfacial area (a) in terms of Froude, Reynolds, Schmidt, and Morton numbers have been derived.