Measurement and simulation of mass transfer and backmixing behavior in a gas-liquid helically coiled tubular reactor

Abstract

Volumetric mass transfer coefficients (kLa) and Bodenstein numbers (Bo) for the elongated bubble flow regime in horizontal helically-coiled tube reactors are reported using two different measurement techniques (oxygen optodes, and optical observation of an oxygen-sensitive dye). Additionally, the gas-liquid mass transfer and the residence time behavior of the two-phase flow were described with a 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model, and also with a one-dimensional two-phase model. For this study, 16 cases involving different gas and liquid volumetric flow rates were employed to generate air-water flows through two helically coiled tubes with curvature ratios of δ1=0.093 and δ2=0.3, respectively. The superficial gas and liquid Reynolds numbers (Res,G and Res,L) and the gas hold-up (∊G) are varied from 494 to 2483, from 1456 to 2713, and from 0.46 to 0.81, respectively. The mass transfer measurements show an increasing gas-liquid mass transfer rate with increasing superficial velocity of the liquid-phase and Res,G. The Bodenstein number decreases with increasing gas-phase Reynolds number and increases with increasing superficial velocity of the liquid-phase. Correlations describing the mass transfer and backmixing behavior are proposed. The CFD results are in excellent agreement with the experimental data. With the 1D two-phase model it is possible to describe the residence time behavior of the two-phase flow through the helically coiled tube.