Investigation into Bubble Size Distribution and Transient Evolution in the Sparger Region of Gas−Liquid External Loop Airlift Reactors

Abstract

It is well-known that the gas sparger can play an important role on the transient evolution of bubbles and bubble size distribution (BSD) in gas−liquid external loop airlift reactors (EL-ALRs). Therefore, the main subject of the present work was to study the influence of sparger design and process parameters on the transient evolution of bubbles and bubble size distribution (BSD) in the sparger region of the considered EL-ALRs. For this purpose, both detailed measurements and prediction of the size of bubbles produced at the sparger were carried out in EL-ALRs with different size and sparger structure parameters. The unique set of BSD curves were obtained by analyzing a large amount of bubbles with a measurement based on an image analysis technique. Additionally, Colella’s model of BSD evolution in bubble columns was further developed by implementing a detailed physical model for predicting the initial BSD at the sparger applied to gas−liquid EL-ALRs where the model input is only based on design/process p...