Hydrodynamics and mass transfer in an internal airlift slurry reactor for process intensification

Abstract

By combining the prominent advantage of directional fluid flow in an internal airlift loop reactor with the cheap cost of liquid-solid separation in a hydrocyclone, a new slurry reactor for process intensification integrating solid catalytic reactions with liquid-solid separation for clear liquid products is proposed and designed to cut down the capital and operating costs. The reactor can be operated properly when the superficial gas velocity is above 0.0108 m/s, and the solid particles of aluminum oxide are all retained in the slurry reactor if the particle diameter is larger than 57.9 μm. The influences of superficial gas velocity and top clearance on the performance of hydrodynamics and mass transfer in the gas-liquid two-phase and the gas-liquid-solid three-phase systems are measured and discussed systematically, and some data base for the rational design, optimization and scaling-up of this type of promising reactor is provided.