Hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics of a loop-venturi reactor with a downflow liquid jet ejector

Abstract

The hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics of a loop-venturi reactor have been investigated using a downflow liquid jet ejector. The specific interfacial area of the ejector and the main holding vessel were determined separately. The cobalt catalyzed sulfite oxidation was used as a model system. The measured values of the interfacial area were in the range of 40,000 to 70,000 m 2/m 3 in the ejector and 500 to 2500 in the total system. From this it can be concluded that the Loop-venturi reactor is particularly suitable for very fast reactions, in which the liquid phase mass transfer is the reaction limiting step of the process. Further it was demonstrated that the flow regime in the ejector has a huge influence on the mass transfer characteristics of the total system. From the results it is concluded that for a proper design of a loop-venturi reactor, the ejector and the main holding vessel should be considered as two reactors in series, which require individual modeling.