Experimental determination of gas holdup and volumetric mass transfer coefficient in a jet bubbling reactor

Abstract

The hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics of a lab-scale jet bubbling reactor (JBR) including the gas holdup, volumetric mass transfer coefficient and specific interfacial area were assessed experimentally investigating the influence of temperature, pH and superficial gas velocity. The reactor diameter and height were 11 and 30 cm, respectively. It was equipped with a single sparger, operating at atmospheric pressure, 20 and 40 °C, and two pH values of 3 and 6. The height of the liquid was 23 cm, while the superficial gas velocity changed within 0.010–0.040 m·s −1 range. Experiments were conducted with pure oxygen as the gas phase and saturated lime solution as the liquid phase. The liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficient was determined under unsteady-state oxygen absorption in a saturated lime solution. The gas holdup was calculated based on the liquid height change, while the specific interfacial area was obtained by a physical method based on the bubble size distribution (BSD) in different superficial gas velocities. The results indicated that at the same temperature but different pH, the gas holdup variation was negligible, while the liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficient at the pH value of 6 was higher than that at the pH = 3. At a constant pH but different temperatures, the gas holdup and the liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficients at 40 °C were higher than that of the same at 20 °C. A reasonable and appropriate estimation of the liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficient ( k l a ) in a pilot-scale JBR was provided which can be applied to the design and scale-up of JBRs. • k l a is determined experimentally for O 2 absorption into Ca(OH) 2 solution in the JBR. • k l a is calculated for SO 2 absorption into Ca(OH) 2 solution in the JBR. • Specific surface area, is experimentally obtained by a physical method based on BSD. • Effects of temperature, solution pH, and superficial gas velocity are studied on k L a . • Gas holdup as a hydrodynamic parameter is investigated for the JBR.