Gas–liquid mass transfer and axial dispersion in solid foam packings

Abstract

The mass transfer coefficient and other hydrodynamic parameters are presented for a gas and liquid (air–water system) moving in a co-current upflow configuration through solid foam packings in the range of 10–40 pores per linear inch (ppi). Axial dispersion in the liquid has been excluded by observing that the liquid was in plug flow in the range of superficial liquid and gas velocities studied ( 0.02 < u L < 0.1 m s - 1 and 0.1 < u G < 1 m s - 1 ). Also entrance and exit effects have been taken into account by evaluating the gas–liquid mass transfer for two different lengths of foam packing. The average pore size of the solid foam (ppi number) does not influence the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient. Increasing the gas and liquid velocities increases the gas–liquid mass transfer and the maximum mass transfer coefficient was found to be approximately 1.3 s - 1 . The results are correlated with the energy dissipation rate and compared with spherical particles.