Pressure Drop Studies in Bubble Columns

Abstract

The effect of sparger design on dry and wet plate pressure drop was investigated in 0.2 and 0.385 m i.d. bubble columns. Perforated plates were used as spargers. The effect of the gas chamber volume on the plate performance was also studied. The experimental results of dry and wet plate pressure drop were analyzed with the help of a newly developed Ergun-type equation. The Ergun equation constants AW and BW were shown to display a particular trend with respect to the clear liquid height on the plate and the plate parameters such as the percent of free area, hole diameter, pitch to hole diameter ratio, and plate thickness to hole diameter ratio. All of the findings were coherently put together using simple correlation for bubble columns.