Non-invasive imaging of shallow bubble columns using electrical capacitance tomography

Abstract

This paper deals with application of non-invasive electrical capacitance tomography to study the hydrodynamics of shallow bed bubble columns. Two bubble columns with different height to diameter ratio were used. Air–kerosene system that represents dielectric two-phase mixture was investigated. The ECT provided good measurement of the gas holdup at different gas velocities compared to the classical pressure measurements. The ECT was able to provide the gas hold up and the bubble velocities distribution across the column diameter at different gas velocities. The study revealed that spatial gas holdup and bubble velocity distributions are sharp with parabolic shape in the small bubble column (HD/DC=5). However, in the large bubble column (HD/DC=4) the gas holdup and bubble velocity profiles were flatter indicating improvement in the mixing homogeneity and leading to well-mixed reactor. 3D graphical visualization of the flow regimes and transition points were also examined using the ECT. In the small bubble column flow regimes were heterogeneous to slugs flow especially at high flow rate, resulted in downward flow near the walls and imperfect mixing.