Airlift Pump Research Articles

The performance of airlift pump for the solid particles lifting during the transportation of gas-liquid-solid three-phase flow: A comprehensive research review

Research about the enhancement of the airlift pump performance by changing the geometry and operational parameters has drawn considerable attention in recent years. This paper presents a comprehensive review of some published research articles on the enhancement performance of the airlift pump and the future direction of the research. In the introductory section, the description, the application, and the performance of the airlift pump are described. The influencing parameters of the airlift pump performance are classified in the geometry and operational. The geometry parameters are including submergence ratio, pipe diameter, pipe length, design, and position of the injector. The operational parameters are including the testing fluid, diameter and density particles, and the superficial velocity of injected air. All of the involved parameters are detail explained in the experimental study section. The detailed derivation of equations of the airlift pump performance and also the modified equation was shown in the theoretical study section. The numerical study of airlift pump operating on two and three phases was also discussed. In the last section, the future directions of the airlift pump are noted, and some conclusions were summarized. It was found that only limited literature about flow patterns in terms of the dynamic interface of each phase and development bubble jet generator airlift pump. Therefore, experimental data are needed to support this effort. Additional work, both theoretical and experimental, needs to be conducted on the effects of type and position bubble jet generators on the flow characteristic and the airlift pump performance, with the hope that the better performance will be obtained.

Modeling the release and spreading of permanganate from aerated slow-release oxidants in a laboratory flow tank

Aerated, slow-release oxidants are a relatively new technology for treating contaminated aquifers. A critical need for advancing this technology is developing a reliable method for predicting the radius of influence (ROI) around each drive point. In this work, we report a series of laboratory flow tank experiments and numerical modeling efforts designed to predict the release and spreading of permanganate from aerated oxidant candles (oxidant-wax composites). To mimic the design of the oxidant delivery system used in the field, a double screen was used in a series of flow tank experiments where the oxidant was placed inside the inner screen and air was bubbled upward in the gap between the screens. This airflow pattern creates an airlift pump that causes water and oxidant to be dispersed from the top of the outer screen and drawn in at the bottom. Using this design, we observed that permanganate spreading and ROI increased with aeration and decreased with advection. A coupled bubble flow and transport model was able to successfully reproduce observed results by mimicking the upward shape and spreading of permanganate under various aeration and advection rates.

PENERAPAN UNDERGRAVEL AIRLIFT PUMP PADA AKUAKULTUR IKAN NILA (Oreochromis Sp)

Undergravel airlift pump is a simple filter system that uses air. The purpose of this study was to analyze the efficiency of using Undergravel Airlift Pump in Aquaculture Oreochromis sp. The approach used is an experimental approach with 2 treatments and 1 control. Analysis of the data used is the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that the application of undergravel airlift pump had an impact on water quality. The treatment of middle airlift position is more effective compared to the bottom airlift and control. The temperature and pH parameters were not significantly different; dissolved oxygen and total dissolved solid were significantly different.

Investigation of the inner structure of gas–liquid flow in airlift pumps by laser‐high speed visualization technology

AbstractExperiments were conducted to investigate the inner structure of gas–liquid flow in airlift pumps by a laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) system and a laser‐high speed photography. The measured central plane of the riser pipe was illustrated by a laser device, and the corresponding gas–liquid flow in this plane was recorded by a high speed camera. The results showed it was the wispy annular flow, rather than the annular flow, dominated the pump performance under a high gas flow rate. This wispy annular had a thick film with a maximal value 0.2 times of pipe diameter, and it kept pump working with a high output liquid flow rate at large gas flow rates. Moreover, new flow regime maps were presented with a function of accurately estimating the flow regime transition and presenting the airlift pump performance.

Application of videogrammetry in the mechanics of multi-phase systems

This paper is a description of the evolution of long-term research work on two-phase flows using parallel studies of dynamic image analysis and stochastic processes analysis. The state of current knowledge on the research of gas-solid and gas-liquid systems as well as a review of research relating to these issues are also presented. The work grants the principles of videogrammetric surveys based on stochastic analysis for a series of photographs taken with video techniques. The method applies the analysis of changes in selected features and parameters in the time domain. Especially in application to multiphase gas-liquid and solid-gas mixture flows, which are characterized by strong variabilities. Parameters such as flow patterns of the mixture were determined as time-space distributions of phase concentration, displacement velocities of separated two-phase structures, volume partitions of phases, and velocity field distributions are evaluated. The changes of certain parameters characterizing the flow in the time domain often hide more useful information. The subject of this study covers the basics of videogrammetry with a description of two-phase mixture motion for co-current flow in channels, mapping of the phase velocity field, also across the tube bundle in shell-and-tube apparatus, phase motion at the flow of a two-phase gas-liquid mixture in mini-channels, transport of liquids in air-lift pump and fluidization of solid particles.

Uticaj sistema za ubrizgavanje vazduha na performanse vazdušne pumpe

In the current study, a novel design of an air injection system for an airlift pump was designed and tested. The pump has a circular cross-section and composed of three parts; suction pipe, injection system, and riser pipe. The riser pipe has a diameter of 31.7 mm and a length of 2 m. The performance of the pump was tested using different submergence ratios, ranging from 0.15 to 0.3, and the injected airflow rate was ranging from 1.65 kg/h to 13.32 kg/h. The results showed that both the airflow rate and the submergence ratio have a significant effect on the capacity and performance of the pump. Besides, it was found that the best range of pump efficiency was in the slug and slug-churn flow regimes. Moreover, the highest efficiency was at the most significant submergence ratio of 0.3. A reasonable enhancement in water flow rate was achieved using the current air injection design when compared with the conventional airlift pump injections system.

In situ and low-cost monitoring of particles falling from freshwater animals: from microplastics to parasites.

A simple and low-cost method of monitoring and collecting particulate matter detaching from (or interacting with) aquatic animals is described using a novel device based on an airlift pump principle applied to floating cages. The efficiency of the technique in particle collection is demonstrated using polyethylene microspheres interacting with a cyprinid fish (Carassius carassius) and a temporarily parasitic stage (glochidia) of an endangered freshwater mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) dropping from experimentally infested host fish (Salmo trutta). The technique enables the monitoring of temporal dynamics of particle detachment and their continuous collection both in the laboratory and in situ, allowing the experimental animals to be kept under natural water quality regimes and reducing the need for handling and transport. The technique can improve the representativeness of current experimental methods used in the fields of environmental parasitology, animal feeding ecology and microplastic pathway studies in aquatic environments. In particular, it makes it accessible to study the physiological compatibility of glochidia and their hosts, which is an essential but understudied autecological feature in mussel conservation programs worldwide. Field placement of the technique can also aid in outreach programs with pay-offs in the increase of scientific literacy of citizens concerning neglected issues such as the importance of fish hosts for the conservation of freshwater mussels.

Theoretical Prediction of the Mass Flow Rates in the Bubble Pump

The bubble pump is an essential part of diffusion absorption cooling systems where heating, pumping of the binary solution, and the separation occur. The existing theoretical models of the bubble pump were initially developed for air lift pumps where neither heating nor separation occurs. Thus, the experimental results for a bubble pump did not correlate well with the theoretical models. Empirical values were suggested in some of the models; however, their values varied from one system to another and could not be predicted analytically. In this work a modified model based on mass, energy, momentum, and heat balances is presented with the utilization of the drift flux model with laminar flow assumption. In addition, for the first time the applied heat is expressed in the model. The suggested model fits better with the experimental results than the previous models.

Experimentally investigating the flow characteristics of airlift pumps operating in gas-liquid-solid flow

Experiment were conducted to investigated the flow characteristics of airlift pumps operating in gas-liquid-solid three phase flow by employing a high-speed camera. The results showed that an intermittent flow consisted of film and liquid slug appeared in airlift pumps with a flow frequency of 1.5–2.6 Hz. The portion of slug body directly determined the performance of airlift pumps due to a large particle concentration. In practical engineering, some methods for increasing the portion of slug body could be used for better pump performance.

Engineered-airlift pumps for aquaculture applications using multiphase flow analysis

Currently, very few aquaculture operations are employing airlift pump technology for water recirculation, aeration, and waste removal. This is likely due to the poor design and lower efficiency of traditional airlift design, the limited amount of research effort that has been invested in improving performance capabilities of air lift pumps and the general lack of awareness of the industry about the inherent advantages of airlift systems. A new efficient airlift pump is hydrodynamically designed by incorporating the Volume of Fluid (VOF) multi-phase model along with the K-ε turbulence model utilizing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools. The pump is designed to offer a substantial reduction in total energy usage as well as an improved quality of the culture products in order to make it attractive to aquaculture industry. In this study, both numerical and experimental investigations were carried out for airlift systems operating under two different submergence ratios of 50% and 90% in a lab setting using 2.54 cm diameter pumps. Also, the performance of a large-scale pumps of 10.16 cm diameters were also tested in an aquaculture raceway to determine its effect on the operation. The numerical results were found to be in agreement with the experiments within ±20% which is considered very reasonable for multiphase flow analysis. The present study was found to present a great tool for modelling the airlift pump performance, and potentially proposing new designs.

A New Method of Selecting the Airlift Pump Optimum Efficiency at Low Submergence Ratios with the Use of Image Analysis

This paper presents experimental studies on the optimization of two-phase fluid flow in an airlift pump. Airlift pumps, also known as mammoth pumps, are devices applied for vertical transport of liquids with the use of gas. Their operating principle involves the existence of a density gradient. This paper reports the results of experimental studies into the hydrodynamic effects of the airlift pump. The studies involved optical imaging of two-phase gas-liquid flow in a riser pipe. The visualization was performed with high-speed visualization techniques. The studies used a transparent model of airlift pump with a rectangular cross-section of the riser. The assessment of the airlift pump operation is based on the image grey-level analysis to provide the identification of two-phase flow regimes. The scope of the study also involved the determination of void fraction and pressure drops. The tests were carried out in a channel with dimensions 35 × 20 × 2045 mm with the gas flux range 0.2–15.0 m3/h. For the assessment of the two-phase flow pattern Probability Density Function (PDF) was applied. On the basis of the obtained results, a new method for selecting the optimum operating regime of airlift pump was derived. This method provides the finding of stability and efficiency of liquid transport. It can also be applied to determine the correlation between the total lifting efficiency and the required gas flux for proper operation of the airlift pump.

Experimental investigation on the flow behavior during the solid particles lifting in a micro-bubble generator type airlift pump system

The airlift pump system includes the both air and liquid inlet sections, and the vertical pipe as the transporting medium. The low performance of the concurrent airlift pump systems has promoted efforts to further improve performance in implementation of these devices in various conditions of real sediment transport on sea and lakebeds. In the present experimental study, we have modified the conventional airlift pump system by equipped our developed micro-bubble generators in the system. Here the three-phase flow behavior during the solid particle lifting of the micro-bubble generator type airlift pump system during the transient conditions is reported. The inner diameter of the vertical pipe of this airlift pump system was 50 mm. Several inclination angles of micro-bubble injection were used: 15°, 30°, and 45° from the horizontal. The working fluids were air and water. The tested solid particles were solid and coal with the averaged of particle diameters were 0.33 mm, 0.52 mm, and 0.81 mm. The ranges of supplied flow rates of liquid and air, QL and QG, were 7.0 m3/h–9.0 m3/h., 0.3 l/min–0.8 l/min, respectively. The obtained visualization images were analyzed by using the developed image processing technique.As a result, it was obtained that (1) the optimum solid lifting performance was found under the slug flow pattern due to their buoyancy force, (2) main parameters such as the injected inclination angle of the micro-bubble generator, the liquid and gas volumetric flow rates, the averaged particle diameters, and the density of the lifted particles affect the ability of the micro-bubble generator type of the airlift pump system, (3) The used of micro-bubble generators in the air lift pump system will increase their capability to bring the solid particles upward at least 17% compared to conventional airlift pump systems.

Mixing Efficiency of Compost Tea Brewing Machines with Various Airlift Pump Air Jacket Structures and Air Injection Pressures

Compost tea is an organic agriculture product that is used as a bio-fertilizer and biopesticide in modern agriculture. It is produced from compost using various brewing machines. The compost must be well mixed with water to support optimal extraction of nutrients and microorganisms. Therefore, in this study, the mixing efficiencies of brewing machines equipped with six different structured airlift pumps operating at six different air injection pressures (8, 9, 10, 12, 14, and 16 kPa) were investigated via comparative trials of the compost liquid circulation and the electrical conductivity and data analysis. Designs with total hole areas of 0.09 cm2 achieved the highest compost liquid mass flow rates and good mixing efficiencies. In addition, air mass flow rates increased with the number of air injection holes at fixed pressures. Together, these data indicated that the best air jacket footpiece design in this study was A2, which contained eight holes with diameters of 1.2 mm. This design achieved the highest pump efficiency, mixing time, and liquid compost mass flow at most air pressures. This paper will help designers and manufacturers of this type of machinery.

Development of Hybrid Airlift-Jet Pump with Its Performance Analysis

A new pump, called the hybrid airlift-jet pump, is developed by reinforcing the advantages and minimizing the demerits of airlift and jet pumps. First, a basic design of the hybrid airlift-jet pump is schematically presented. Subsequently, its performance characteristics are numerically investigated by varying the operating conditions of the airlift and jet parts in the hybrid pump. The compressible unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, combined with the homogeneous mixture model for multiphase flow, are used as the governing equations for the two-phase flow in the hybrid pump. The pressure-based methods combined with the Pressure-Implicit with Splitting of Operators (PISO) algorithm are used as the computational fluid dynamics techniques. The validity of the present numerical methods is confirmed by comparing the predicted mass flow rate with the measured ones. In total, 18 simulation cases that are designed to represent the various operating conditions of the hybrid pump are investigated: eight of these cases belong to the operating conditions of only the jet part with different air and water inlet boundary conditions, and the remaining ten cases belong to the operating conditions of both the airlift and jet parts with different air and water inlet boundary conditions. The mass flow rate and the efficiency are compared for each case. For further investigation into the detailed flow characteristics, the pressure and velocity distributions of the mixture in a primary pipe are compared. Furthermore, a periodic fluctuation of the water flow in the mass flow rate is found and analyzed. Our results show that the performance of the jet or airlift pump can be enhanced by combining the operating principles of two pumps into the hybrid airlift-jet pump, newly proposed in the present study.

Impact of fish feeds, fish oils, and amino acids on the performance of airlift pumps

The impact of the addition of a wide variety of commercial, experimental, and larval feeds as well as fish oils, specific lipid products, amino acids, and surfactants on airlift pumping rates were documented. At 250 min after addition, the airlift flow rate varied from 12% to 102% of baseflow for diffuser injection but only 77 to 85% of base flow for direct injection. As a group, the fish and algal-based oils had the greatest impact on airlift flow rate. It is hypothesized that the impact of feed addition is due to lipids and surface-active compounds leaching out of the feed and increasing bubble size. There was a significant correlation between gas holdup and airlift pumping rate. Higher gas holdup was positively correlated with higher water flows. There was also a wide range in speed and range of flow rate recovery; flow recovery may depend on adsorption of lipids on the tank walls or chemical reactions. There was a positive correlation between lipid content and flow reduction, but the physical characteristics of the feed and specific fatty acid profiles of the feed may be important. The use of performance information based on clean water tests may significantly over-estimate pumping rates of airlift pumps. For critical applications, on-site evaluation using actual airlift pumps and feeds may be needed. While feed addition had much more impact on the performance of airlift pumps using diffuser injection compared to direct injection, the significantly higher efficiency of diffuser injection makes this injector type a better choice for many applications.

Effects of operating parameters and injection method on the performance of an artificial upwelling by using airlift pump

Artificial upwelling by using airlift pump is considered a sustainable way in actualizing ocean fertilization, which could potentially alleviate the pressures on the fish stocks and human-driven climate change. However, few experimental data about the effects of operating parameters and injection method on the performance of the airlift artificial upwelling were found in the literature. In this paper, an airlift pump for artificial upwelling was investigated through three field experiments, in which airlift pumps of pipe length ranges from 20 to 28.3 m and pipe diameter ranges from 0.4 to 2 m, were designed and tested. Pumped water flow rate and injected air flow rate were measured to study the effects of different factors on the performance of airlift pump. The experiment results show that airlift pump efficiency is closely related to pipe diameter, submerged depth, submergence ratio and nozzle designs. There is no best nozzle for all the range of air flow rate, and the recommended nozzles are double-ring-shaped or star-shaped nozzles when the air flow rate is less or more than 220 L/min, respectively. Moreover, the lift effectiveness increases when the hole size of nozzle is enlarged, which indicates a relatively large bubble size will enhance the lift effectiveness.

Investigation of the hydrodynamics of slug flow in airlift pumps

Abstract A slug flow model considering the dispersed bubbles entrained from the tail of Taylor bubble (TB) and re-coalesced with the successive TB was proposed. Experiment was conducted to test the validity of this model by using a high-speed camcorder and particle image velocimetry (PIV). It was found that the model was valid for predicting the characteristics of slug flow in airlift pump within average error of 14%. Moreover, large pipe diameter was found to accelerate the rise velocity of TB and decreases void fraction in liquid slug by a small margin.

Response of Tisochrysis lutea [Prymnesiophycidae] to aeration conditions in a bench-scale photobioreactor

The effects of superficial gas velocity (Ugr), gas entrance velocity (ν), and bubble size on the growth of Tisochrysis lutea was investigated in 600-mL photobioreactors operated with airlift pumps. Superficial gas velocities, calculated from measured air flow rates, ranging from 7 to 93 mm s−1 were created using a 1.6-mm diameter syringe. We tested the effects of sparger velocity over a range of 2.48 to 73.4 m s−1 and the effects of bubble size by using two styles of air stones and an open glass pipette, which created a bubble sizes in the range of 0.5 to 5 mm. We calculated oxygen mass transfer coefficient, kLa, values for all experimental conditions. Cell growth increased linearly with increased superficial gas velocity and decreased with increased sparger velocity. Results indicated that smaller bubble size leads to some initial cell damage, but after time, the increased gas transfer as reflected by the kLa value produced higher growth than larger bubbles. Two mechanisms were observed to correlate with cell damage in T. lutea: increasing velocity at the sparger tip and bubble bursting at the surface. These results demonstrate a method to test sensitivity of T. lutea to aeration, which is important for the design of airlift systems.

Intracerebrovascular enzyme replacement therapy for CLN2 disease: A collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach

This chapter briefly reviews the different applications of natural circulation systems (NCSs) in various industries. Closed-loop NCSs are extensively used in solar water heaters, geothermal, fossil-fueled, and nuclear power plants. In addition, these systems are used in component-cooling applications such as transformers, electronic devices such as computer chips, and gas turbines. Although NCSs are mainly employed as heat transport devices, they can be engineered for noncooling applications such as passive controls, liquid fins, and study of low-velocity corrosion and deterministic chaos. Examples of open-loop natural circulation applications include solar chimneys, buoyancy pumps, air lift pumps, and building ventilation. The largest applications of NCSs are possibly in the chemical process industries. However, the highest power operating NCSs can be found in fossil-fueled power plants. The ESBWR (Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor) is the highest power (4500 MW) NCS designed so far. Mini loops with heat transport capability of the order of a few tens of Watts also can be found in the electronics industry.Some of the emerging applications of NCSs are in passive cooling of aircraft, vehicles, building ventilation, and solar thermal power plants. Due to the energy-saving potential of natural circulation, its application is increasing in various industry sectors. Natural circulation applications in electronics device cooling, solar thermal power plants, and residential buildings are expected to increase in the near future. In addition, its passive functioning without operator action or signal is important for enhanced safety and reliability of nuclear reactors, increasing their applications in the nuclear field.

Effects of insertion of blunt body on bubble pattern and pumping performance in air-lift pump

The working principle of air-lift pumps can be applied to Direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) systems, which can handle high-temperature molten coal-laden carbonate fuels. In this study, the pumping performance and essential hydrodynamic features of an air-lift pump with high submergence ratio are studied experimentally. Liquid anode media composed of a mixture of carbonaceous fuels and molten carbonates that surround solid-oxide electrolyte tubular cells in DCFC systems are considered. In this system, a certain amount of CO2 is injected into the liquid fuel media not only to prevent carbonate decomposition, but also to recirculate or transport fuel media. CO2 injection is essential to stabilize the system and enhance reaction. Water and air are selected as simulants of molten fuel and CO2, respectively. Then, a blunt body is inserted into the single hollow tube (Model system), which is then shaped as a tubular cell. Air, which is supplied from the bottom of the tube, flows up in the shape of a bubble and entrains water inside the tube. Then, water is discharged. The flow rate of the water discharged from the top of the tube is measured using the following parameters: Tube diameter, blunt-body diameter, and submergence ratio. Bubble pattern formations in the tube are also observed by varying parameter combinations. Four to five distinct bubble patterns can be observed depending on air flow rate comparisons. The discharge flow rates from the blunt-body-insertion tube are correlated with those from the hollow tube. Finally, two tube parameters, namely, the same cross-sectional flow areas and the same hydraulic diameters, are considered. Good correlations were established for the flow area parameter.