Triboelectrostatic separation of covering plastics in chopped waste electric wire

To develop a triboelectrostatic separation technique for covering plastics in waste electric wire, process variables such as charger material, relative humidity, air velocity, electrode potential, and splitter position have been studied. Polypropylene was found to be the most effective material for a tribo‐charger in the separation of cross‐linked polyethylene (XLPE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The charge density of XLPE and PVC was increased with deceasing relative humidity and increasing air velocity in the tribo‐charger. The charge density of a 1:1 mixture of XLPE and PVC was determined to be higher than that of individual XLPE and PVC. A dominant charging mechanism in the tribo‐charger with a 1:1 mixture of XLPE and PVC seems to be the charging of a combination of particle‐particle and particle‐charger surface. However, in case of individual plastics, the charging of particle‐particle occurred. Over 98.05% PVC recovery with 99.50% grade was successfully obtained under the conditions of a splitter position of +2 cm from the center, 25 kV electrode potential and over 13 nC/g PVC charge density for the optimum triboelectrostatic separation. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 47:1975–1982, 2007. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Flue gas desulfurization in an internally circulating fluidized bed reactor

An internally circulating fluidized bed reactor (ICFBR) was used as a desulfurization apparatus in this study. The height of the bed was 2.5 m, and the inner diameter was 9 cm. The bed materials were calcium sorbent and silica sand. The effects of the operating parameters of the flue gas desulfurization including relative humidity, particle size of the calcium sorbent, inlet concentration of SO₂, difference between the superficial gas velocities in the draft tube and the annulus, and superficial gas velocity in the draft tube on SO₂ removal efficiency (RE) were investigated. It was found that when the relative humidity (RH) was varied from 40% to 80%, the steady state RE had a largest value of approximately 15% when the relative humidity was 60%. When RH = 50%, 60% and 70%, RE decreased initially and then increased. After that RE decreased again until a steady state was reached. In addition, RE decreased with increasing calcium particle size or inlet SO₂ concentration. A larger difference between the superficial gas velocities in the draft tube and the annulus had a higher RE resulting from increasing reactivity of the calcium sorbent caused by a higher attrition rate. Moreover, a higher attrition rate had a higher total volume of the flue gas treated. Finally, a model to predict the steady state RE in ICFBR was proposed. It assumed that the draft tube section was a bubbling fluidized bed while the annulus section was a moving bed. In addition, the effects of the calcium sorbent conversion, attrition rate and gas-bypassing fractions on RE were also taken into account in this model. It was found that the values of RE predicted by this model agreed with the experimental results.     

转炉粉尘静电除尘器数值模拟

基于计算流体力学,采用ANSYS软件的FLUENT模块,应用DPM离散相模型模拟了烟气和粉尘特性对静电除尘器除尘效率的影响规律,设计正交模拟优化模拟条件,并与生产现场情况对比. 结果表明,静电除尘器除尘效率随烟气流速增加而降低,随烟气湿度和粉尘真密度增加而增加,随烟气含尘浓度和粉尘粒径增加先增加后降低. 根据此规律,通过设计L16(45)正交模拟,得出烟气和粉尘特性对静电除尘器除尘效率的影响程度为粉尘粒径?烟气流速?粉尘真密度?烟气含尘浓度?烟气湿度;放电电极电压35 kV条件下,使静电除尘器处于最优状态的条件为烟气流速0.5 m/s、粉尘粒径40 ?m、烟气含尘浓度40 g/m3、烟气湿度25%、粉尘真密度4000 kg/m3,此工况下除尘率达99.9%.     

A Simple Approach to Measuring the Gas Phase Heat and Mass Transfer Coefficients in a Bubble Column

A simple experimental approach was developed to measure the gas phase volumetric heat and mass transfer coefficients in a bubble column and a slurry bubble column employing a single gas nozzle. The experimental technique was based on a transfer model that simulates humidification and direct contact evaporation models in the case of a gas bubble rising in a liquid of uniform temperature. The temperature and relative humidity of the inlet and outlet gas in the column are the only measurements required in this technique. Experiments were carried out in a 0.15 m inner diameter column using water as the liquid phase, air as the gas phase, and cation resins of 0.1 mm diameter and a specific gravity of 1.2, as the solid phase. The results showed that, when using solid concentrations in the range of 7–10 wt %, both the volumetric gas‐phase heat and mass transfer coefficients increased with an increase in the gas superficial velocity and were further enhanced by increasing the solid load after a certain minimum superficial velocity had been reached in the column (0.044 m/s in the system used). Increasing the solid load beyond 10 wt %, did not contribute to a further increase in these coefficients. Furthermore, the gas holdup in the column increased with the superficial gas velocity and was further enhanced when the solid‐phase load was in the range of 7–10 wt %. These observations agree well with previously reported findings by other investigators.     

Gas‐Liquid Mass Transfer in Fibrous Bed Reactor with Counter‐Current Liquid Recycle

In this work, the gas‐liquid mass transfer in a lab‐scale fibrous bed reactor with liquid recycle was studied. The volumetric gas‐liquid mass transfer coefficient, k_La, is determined over a range of the superficial liquid velocity (0.0042–0.0126 m.s^–1), gas velocity (0.006–0.021 m.s^–1), surface tension (35–72 mN/m), and viscosity (1–6 mPa.s). Increasing fluid velocities and viscosity, and decreasing interfacial tension, the volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient increased. In contrast to the case of co‐current flow, the effect of gas superficial velocity was found to be more significant than the liquid superficial velocity. This behavior is explained by variation of the coalescing gas fraction and the reduction in bubble size. A correlation for k_La is proposed. The predicted values deviate within ± 15 % from the experimental values, thus, implying that the equation can be used to predict gas‐liquid mass transfer rates in fibrous bed recycle bioreactors.     

竖直上升气液泡状流数学模型封闭的研究

竖直上升管气液两相流广泛应用于相变传热、核反应堆等工业过程。本文以竖直上升气液两相流为研究对象,运用欧拉双流体模型,针对表观液速为0.45m/s、表观气速分别为0.015m/s和0.1m/s的泡状流数值模拟过程中的升力、壁面润滑力、湍流扩散力、气泡诱导湍流（BIT）等封闭模型,开展数值模拟比较研究。模拟发现：①低气速泡状流中,升力和壁面润滑力的同时加入能够改善壁面附近的气含率,气泡在这两个力作用下在径向上达到一个相对平衡,得到与实验气含率类似的壁面峰,模拟的液相速度较合理;低气速时,BIT的影响可以忽略。②高气速泡状流中,BIT对气-液两相流的模拟结果影响比较明显,湍动耗散源项的加入能使液速分布的模拟结果得到改善,Troshko模型相对Sato模型更能反映气泡诱导湍流对液相湍流的作用。③高气速时升力的引入使气含率产生壁面峰,加入湍流扩散力能使峰值略微降低,但仍没有解决高气速时引入升力出现的气含率壁面峰问题,说明在径向上湍流扩散力还不足以抵抗升力。     

Mass transfer and hydrodynamic characteristics in a co‐current downflow contacting column

Hydrodynamic and mass transfer characteristics of water–air system in a co‐current downflow contacting column (CDCC) were studied for various nozzle diameters at different superficial gas velocities and liquid re‐circulation rates. Gas hold‐up and liquid‐side mass transfer coefficient increased with increasing superficial gas velocity and liquid flow rate but decreased with increasing nozzle diameter. It is shown that correlations developed, which are based on liquid kinetic power per liquid volume present in the column, and superficial gas velocity explains gas hold‐up and the mass transfer coefficient within an error 20% for all gas and liquid flow rates and nozzle diameters used. The constants of correlations for gas hold‐up and mass transfer coefficient were found to be considerably different from other gas–liquid contacting systems. © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

Characteristics of a Pressurized Gas‐Solid Magnetically Fluidized Bed

The hydrodynamic, heat and mass transfer characteristics of a pressurized co‐current gas‐solid magnetically fluidized bed (MFB) were systematically investigated considering major influence factors, such as magnetic field strength, superficial gas velocity, and operating pressure. It was shown that this pressurized gas‐solid MFB has the advantages of a wider operation range of the superficial gas velocity under bubble‐free particulate fluidization, a larger bed voidage with smaller pressure drop across the bed, and larger heat transfer efficiency, compared with a conventional fluidized bed. Moreover, the minimum bubbling velocity, gas‐solid mass, and heat transfer coefficients were correlated at high accuracy within the investigated range of operating conditions.     

Pressure gradients,voidage and gas flow in the annulus of spouted beds

Parallel measurements of pressure gradients with a differential pressure probe and voidage profiles with a fibre optic system have been carried out to study gas flow distributions in the annulus of spouted beds. The observation of Grbavcic et al. (1976) that for a given fluid‐solid combination and column geometry the annulus pressure gradient at any bed level is independent of bed depth was corroborated again. Calibration curves of pressure drops versus superficial gas velocities for beds of voidage higher than the loose‐packed voidage were obtained by applying the Ergun (1952) equation, making it possible to estimate superficial gas velocities in the annulus using the static pressure gradient method. The local superficial gas velocity in the annulus was found to be higher in a deep bed than in a shallow bed of the same material, contrary to the conclusion (Grbavcic et al., 1976) that, for a given fluid‐solid combination and column geometry, the annulus fluid velocity at any level is independent of bed depth. Theoretical models and equations which do not account for the conical geometry near the bottom were found to underpredict superficial gas velocities in the annulus. Increasing the spouting gas flow was found to increase the net gas flow through the annulus.     

Experimental Study on Flow Behavior in a Gas‐Solid Fluidized Bed for the Methanol‐to‐Olefins Process

A cold model experimental system is established to investigate the flow behavior in a gas‐solid fluidized bed for the methanol‐to‐olefins process catalyzed by SAPO‐34. The system comprises a gas distributor in a F 300 × 5000 mm acrylic column, double fiber optic probe system and a series of cyclones. The experiments are carried out under conditions of atmospheric pressure and room temperature with different superficial velocities (0.3930–0.7860 m s^–1) and different initial bed heights (600–1200 mm). The effects of radial distance, axial distance, superficial gas velocity, and initial bed height on the solid concentration and particle velocity in the bed are discussed. The time‐averaged solid concentration and rising particle velocity profiles under different conditions are obtained. The results show that an increase in the value of r/R or initial bed height results in an increase in the solid concentration but a decrease in the rising particle velocity in the dense phase area, while improvement of the superficial gas velocity has a negative influence on the solid concentration but results in an increase in the rising particle velocity.     

Experimental Study of Electrostatic Aerosol Filtration at Moderate Filter Face Velocity

Aerosol collection efficiency was studied for electrostatically charged fibrous filters (3M Filtrete?, BMF-20F). In this study, collection efficiencies at moderate filter face velocities (0.5–2.5 m/s) representative of some high volume sampling applications was characterized. Experimental data and analytical theories of filter performance are less common in this flow regime since the viscous flow field assumption may not be representative of actual flow through the filter mat. Additionally, electrostatic fiber charge density is difficult to quantify, and measurements of aerosol collection efficiency are often used to calculate this fundamental parameter. The purpose of this study was to assess the relative influence of diffusion, inertial impaction, interception, and electrostatic filtration on overall filter performance. The effects of fiber charge density were quantified by comparing efficiency data for charged and uncharged filter media, where an isopropanol bath was used to eliminate electrostatic charge. The effects of particle charge were also quantified by test aerosols brought into the equilibrium Boltzmann charge distribution, and then using an electrostatic precipitator to separate out only those test particles with a charge of zero. Electrostatically charged filter media had collection efficiencies as high as 70–85% at 30 nm. Filter performance was reduced significantly (40–50% collection efficiency) when the electrostatic filtration component was eliminated. Experiments performed with zero charged NaCl particles showed that a significant increase in filter performance is attributable to an induction effect, where electrostatic fiber charge polarizes aerosol particles without charge. As filter face velocity increased the electrostatic filtration efficiency decreased since aerosol particles had less time to drift toward electrostatically charged fibers. Finally, experimental data at 0.5 m/s were compared to theoretical predictions and good agreement was found for both electrostatic and nonelectrostatic effects.

© 2013 American Association for Aerosol Research     

Improved gas holdup in novel bubble column

This investigation reports the experimental and theoretical results carried out to evaluate the gas holdup for air–water system in a novel hybrid rotating and reciprocating perforated plate bubble column under countercurrent condition. The response of this hybrid column is found to be similar to that of reciprocating plate column (RPC) showing mixer‐settler, transition, and emulsion regions. The effect of agitation level, superficial gas velocity, superficial liquid velocity, perforation diameter, and plate spacing on gas holdup is studied and found to be significant. The gas holdup is found to be least in the range of agitation level of 1.3–1.5 cm/s. For all the superficial gas and liquid velocities considered in this present investigation, the critical agitation level at minimum gas holdup remains nearly same. The gas holdup in this hybrid column is 1.2–1.7 times higher in mixer‐settler region and 2.1–2.7 times higher in emulsion region than that of RPC. Correlations have been developed and found to concur with the experimental values. It can be used with 95% accuracy. © 2011 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering     

Diluted alcohol solutions in bubble columns and draft tube airlift reactors with a single orifice sparger: experiments and simple correlations

BACKGROUND: Bubble columns (BCs) and airlift reactors (ALRs) have important applications as bioreactors, chemical reactors and as contactors in waste‐water treatment. The liquid phase properties in these reactors significantly influence the main hydrodynamic and mass transfer characteristics. Dilute alcohol solutions can be used to simulate real industrial systems in bioreactors. However, only a few research studies have considered such systems. The aim of this paper is to broaden the existing experimental data related to the influence of alcohol addition on the main characteristics of draft tube airlift reactors (DT‐ALRs), and to propose simple correlations for their prediction. RESULTS: New experiments were conducted in a DT‐ALR with a single orifice sparger, and with dilute aliphatic alcohol solutions from methanol to n‐octanol. Also, simple correlations were developed to predict the gas hold‐up and volumetric mass transfer coefficients in BCs and DT‐ALRs, but also the downcomer liquid velocity and liquid circulation time DT‐ALRs with single orifice sparger and dilute alcohol solutions. The proposed correlations included, in addition to the superficial gas velocity, the surface tension gradient as the only factor to characterize the liquid phase. CONCLUSIONS: General conclusion can be made that the gas holdup increased, but the downcomer liquid velocity decreased in a DT‐ALR, with increase in surface tension gradient of the alcohol solutions. Also, very good agreement was achieved between experimental and calculated data, by applying the developed correlations, with relative average errors less than 5%, except for gas hold‐up, where it was in the range 8–32%. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

The Effect of Superficial Gas Velocity on Wavy Films and its Use in Enhancing the Performance of Falling Film Reactors

Mass transfer in co‐current downward annular flow depends on the amount of liquid carried by the waves. The thickness of this portion of the liquid film increases with the superficial gas velocity up to about 20–25 m s^–1 for two‐phase air/water flow. The maximum apparent friction factors observed in air‐water annular flow also appear at superficial air velocities about 20–25 m s^–1. Organic compounds, like fatty alcohols and alkylbenzenes, show a maximum apparent friction factor at lower superficial gas velocities. The gas velocity at which a maximum friction factor occurs is dependent on the surface tension, appearing at lower gas velocities for liquids with lower surface tensions. Progressive increases of the superficial gas velocity can be used to graduate the mass transfer along a falling film device.     

Determination of Minimum Spouting Velocities in Conical Spouted Beds

Minimum spouting velocities in conical spouted beds have been obtained from pressure drops versus the superficial gas velocity curves, based on both increasing and decreasing the superficial gas velocity. It has been shown that the minimum spouting velocity from decreasing the superficial gas velocity is lower than from increasing the superficial gas velocity in most cases. This phenomenon is similar to that in conventional spouted beds and different from the early works. The experimental results also showed that there isn't significant difference in the pressure drop and U_ms under identical operating conditions between semi‐circular and circular conical spouted beds, and the same U_ms can be obtained from absolute pressure drops at any position above the gas inlet. The U_ms is found to increase with increasing the cone angle and static bed height, as well as the gas inlet diameter to a less extent.     

Local hydrodynamic parameters of bubble column reactors operating with non‐Newtonian liquids: Experiments and models development

The effects of liquid phase rheology on the local hydrodynamics of bubble column reactors operating with non‐Newtonian liquids are investigated. Local bubble properties, including bubble frequency, bubble chord length, and bubble rise velocity, are measured by placing two in‐house made optical fiber probes at various locations within a bubble column reactor operating with different non‐Newtonian liquids. It was found that the presence of elasticity can noticeably increase the bubble frequency but decreases the bubble chord length and its rise velocity. The radial profiles of bubble frequency, bubble chord length, and bubble rise velocity are shown to be relatively flat at low superficial gas velocity while they become parabolic at high superficial gas velocity. Moreover, the bubble size and gas holdup are correlated with respect to dimensionless groups by considering the ratio between dynamic moduli of viscoelastic liquids. The novel proposed correlations are capable of predicting the experimental data of bubble size and gas holdup within a mean absolute percentage error of 9.3% and 10%, respectively. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 1382–1396, 2016     

Experimental Study of Impulse Resuspension with Laser Doppler Vibrometry

Particle resuspension due to mechanical impulse was studied for spherical polymethylmethacrylate (pmma) particles ranging from 1.7 to 14.4 μm in diameter on titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and silicon dioxide (SiO₂) wafers. Dry powders were dispersed, electrostatically neutralized, and allowed to deposit under the influence of gravity. Contaminated surfaces were then mechanically excited with a 5 MHz piezoelectric transducer where surface accelerations (～10⁶ m/s²) and resuspension ratios were quantified with laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) and digital microscopy, respectively. For TiO₂, experiments were performed over a broad range of relative humidity (25 to 95%) to assess the effects of capillary condensation. Resuspension was a monotonically decreasing function of relative humidity. Existing theories were used to separate data into two adhesion regimes based on capillary bridge formation: van der Waals (vdW) and capillary dominated adhesion. For relative humidity above 60%, resuspension forces were nondimensionalized by the theoretical capillary force. Resuspension data for all particle sizes and relative humidity were described by a single sigmoid function dependent on the dimensionless resuspension force. Below 60% relative humidity, resuspension forces were nondimensionalized by the vdW force calculated with Johnson–Kendall–Roberts adhesion theory. The experimental work of adhesion (pmma-TiO₂) was optimized such that the dimensionless resuspension curves, for capillary and vdW forces, had equivalent dimensionless resuspension forces at 50% resuspension. The calculated value, 0.047 J/m², was within the range of values expected from other published works. Resuspension was not observed for particles on SiO₂ substrates. This result was attributed to electrostatic surface charge patches where particle charge and surface resistivities were measured to analyze the relative influence of electrostatic adhesion forces.

Copyright 2012 American Association for Aerosol Research     

HHT analysis of electrostatic fluctuation signals in dense-phase pneumatic conveying of pulverized coal at high pressure

Particle charging generated by particle-wall, particle–particle and particle–gas contacts in pneumatic transport pipelines contain rich information on gas–solid flow hydrodynamics. In this paper, experiments were performed in a dense phase pneumatic conveying system, and electrostatic fluctuation signals were detected by a ring-shape electrostatic sensor that is based on electrostatic induction theory. Power spectrum analysis and Hilbert–Huang transform (HHT) were applied to the electrostatic fluctuations, namely outputs of the electrostatic sensor, to extract and characterize the intrinsic features of dense-phase gas–solid flow. Results show that the dominant peak of the power spectrum of the electrostatic fluctuations moves toward higher frequency with the increasing gas superficial velocity. The Hilbert–Huang transform reveals the non-linear and non-stationary intrinsic nature of the electrostatic fluctuations. By using the non-linear and non-stationary signal processing method (HHT), non-linear inter-modulation characteristics in the dense phase gas–solid flow were analyzed, and the relations between the energy distribution transmissions in intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) with different orders and the flow characterization of the dense phase gas–solid flow, was investigated as well, which can represent the behavior, stability and regime transitions of the gas–solid flow in the dense-phase pneumatic conveying system at high pressure.     

Photocatalytic degradation of gaseous trichloroethene using immobilized ZnO/SnO2 coupled oxide in a flow‐through photocatalytic reactor

The photocatalytic degradation of gaseous trichloroethene (TCE) was investigated on immobilized ZnO/SnO₂ coupled oxide in a flow‐through photocatalytic reactor. It was found that gaseous photocatalysis is an efficient method for volatile organic compounds' abatement and air purification. Degradation of ～100% was found for TCE at the concentrations examined, up to 400 ppmv, in a flow‐through dry synthetic gas stream. In our tested conditions, the flow rate had little influence on the photocatalytic degradation efficiencies of TCE, while the relative humidity had a significant influence on the photocatalytic degradation of TCE. The photocatalytic degradation efficiencies of TCE increased slowly below 20% relative humidity and then decreased as the relative humidity increased further. The deactivation of used immobilized photocatalyst was not observed within the 200 h testing period in the present experiment, although the surface of the photocatalyst changed greatly during the use of the photocatalyst. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Gas Holdup and Volumetric Mass Transfer Coefficient in a Slurry Bubble Column

The gas holdup, ?, and volumetric mass transfer coefficient, k_La, were measured in a 0.051 m diameter glass column with ethanol as the liquid phase and cobalt catalyst as the solid phase in concentrations of 1.0 and 3.8 vol.‐%. The superficial gas velocity U was varied in the range from 0 to 0.11 m/s, spanning both the homogeneous and heterogeneous flow regimes. Experimental results show that increasing catalyst concentration decreases the gas holdup to a significant extent. The volumetric mass transfer coefficient, k_La, closely follows the trend in gas holdup. Above a superficial gas velocity of 0.04 m/s the value of k_La/? was found to be practically independent of slurry concentration and the gas velocity U; the value of this parameter is found to be about 0.45 s^–1. Our studies provide a simple method for the estimation of k_La in industrial‐size bubble column slurry reactors.