Study of Bubble Size and Velocity in a Vibrating Bubble Column

Abstract

Bubble columns are two-phase and three-phase reactors in which a gas flow drives a liquid flow and allows transport phenomena’s to take place. With a broad application from aeration of organic organisms in bio-rectors to hydrogenation of coal slurries in the Fischer-Tropsch process and production of synthetic fuel, bubble column reactors are cheap and easy to operate. In this work bubble size was studied in a bubble column and effect of injector size and gas superficial velocity was investigated. Results showed larger bubble size as gas superficial velocity was increased. It was previously shown that vibration increases the mass transfer between phases, which one active mechanism is that vibration increases the void fraction and with more gas in contact with liquid mass transfer rate increases. To check that a shaker table setup capable of generating vibration in the range of 5–15 Hz of frequency at 5 mm of amplitude using an eccentric drive mechanism was refurbished to study the bubble velocity and void fraction under vibration. The experimental setup was first verified to check if tests are repeatable and also the results are in agreement with literature. Void fraction, bubble size and velocity was measured and comparison with previously published data showed good agreement. Bubble size measurements in a stationary column showed that over the range tested bubble size increases with increasing gas superficial velocity. Bubble velocity decreases when gas superficial velocity was increased. Vibration showed a gradual reduction in bubble velocity as vibration frequency was increased.