Gas-liquid mass transfer in a rotating liquid redistributor

Abstract

The mass transfer characterization of a novel design rotating liquid redistributor is presented, where the redistributor has three concentric, perforated rings which act as liquid redistribution rings. Oxygen stripping from water is used to obtain values for the overall mass transfer coefficient of the redistributor. It was found that the main contribution to the overall mass transfer is the impingement of droplets on the redistribution rings, while the mass transfer of suspended droplets in the gas phase was almost negligible. Furthermore, it was shown that the experimentally determined contribution to mass transfer of the droplet impingement correlated strongly to the mean momentum flux of the droplets. Lastly, the energy dissipation rate was compared to a rotating zig-zag bed, where at lower liquid flow rates and rotational speed the energy dissipation rate in the redistributor was lower, while at higher liquid flow rates and rotational speeds it was lower in the rotating zig-zag bed.