Hydrodynamic characteristics of the microbubble dissolution in liquid using orifice type microbubble generator

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate the characteristics of oxygen dissolution into water in aeration using an orifice type microbubble generator (MBG). The analysis was conducted using dimensional analysis by taking into account bubble diameter distribution and oxygen mass transfer rate. The characteristics of microbubbles produced by MBG were affected by the combination of air and water flow rates through the MBG. In this study, the ranges of air and water flow rates were set at 0.1–1.0l/min and 30.0–80.0l/min, respectively. The microbubbles were captured by a high-speed camera using shadow photographic technique to obtain the bubbles size distribution as well as the average diameter of the bubbles. The volumetric mass transfer coefficient of oxygen was measured using dynamic physical absorption model.The results verified that the size of microbubble depend on air and water flow rates. The increase of the gas flow rate increased the average bubble diameter. On the other hand, the increase of the water flow rate decreased the average bubble diameter. Furthermore, the increase of water flow rate increased the oxygen volumetric mass transfer coefficient. Finally, by using dimensional analysis, the empirical correlation of volumetric mass transfer coefficient, average bubble diameter, and bubble diameter distribution, was proposed. The correlation showed that liquid Reynolds number played most important role in average bubble diameter and oxygen mass transfer rate obtained in MBG aeration.