An investigation of liquid maldistribution in trickle beds

The influence of liquid maldistribution at the top of the packing on flow characteristics in packed beds of gas and liquid cocurrent downflow (trickle beds) is experimentally investigated. Particular attention is paid to the effect of gas and liquid flow rates on flow development. Tests are made in the trickling and pulsing flow regimes. A uniform, a half-blocked and a quarter-blocked liquid distributor is tested. Packings of various sizes and shapes are employed. Data are presented on pressure drop and liquid holdup as well as trickling to pulsing flow transition. Diagnosis of radial and axial liquid distribution is made by means of conductance probes. The effects of liquid foaming, bed pre-wetting, top-bed material, and blockage midway the bed on liquid distribution are also examined. Overall, liquid waves in the pulsing flow regime have a beneficial effect, promoting uniform liquid distribution in the bed cross section.     

EFFECT OF VISCOSITY ON HYDRODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF PULSING FLOW IN TRICKLE BEDS

New data on pulsing flow onset, properties of pulses (frequency, celerity, length), liquid holdup and pressure drop are presented for aqueous glycerol solutions of viscosity 6.7 and 20.2 mPa s and compared with similar measurements from an air-water (1.0 mPas) system. With the exception of viscosity, all other physical properties of the liquid phase are kept constant and fairly close to those of water, thus allowing a direct assessment of the effect of viscosity. Pulse formation and propagation with viscous liquids is examined on the basis of time records from a conductance type technique. A striking effect due to increased liquid viscosity is the reduction of the pulsing flow regime; in particular, the pulsing-to-bubbling transition boundary is shifted towards higher gas flow rates. Pulse frequency and celerity appear to decrease only slightly with increasing liquid viscosity, whereas the two-phase pressure gradient increases significantly. Liquid holdup also tends to increase with viscosity. Moreover, holdup with viscous liquids tends to increase significantly with the liquid flow rate, whereas an insignificant effect is found for water. A new correlation for estimating liquid holdup is proposed, and a simple model for predicting pulsing flow characteristics is modified in order to take account of the aforementioned effects.     

Gas hold-up and liquid mixing at low and intermediate gas velocities I. Air-water system

Gas hold-up and liquid phase dispersion experiments have been carried out in a 0.06 m bubble column at varying liquid and gas velocities. The results obtained show that the coefficient of liquid mixing varies with the flow regime. The isotropic turbulence theory of Baird and Rice (Chem. Eng. J., 9 (1975) 171) was used to provide dimensionally consistent correlations for the chain bubbling, bubbly and churn turbulent flow regimes. The gas hold-up was determined to increase with gas velocity in the chain bubbling and bubbly flow regimes. The results obtained from this study also show that the Froude number represents a useful criterion for mapping flow regimes in vertical bubble columns.     

上升管中严重段塞流的流型和压力波动特性

During the exploitation of offshore oil and gas, it is easy to form severe slugging which can cause great harm in the riser connecting wellheads and offshore platform preprocessing system. The flow pattern and pressure fluctuation of severe slugging were studied in an experimental simulation system with inner diameter of 0.051 m. It is found that severe slugging can be divided into three severe slugging regimes: regime I at low gas and liquid flow rates with large pressure fluctuation, intermittent flow of liquid and gas in the riser, and apparent cutoff of liquid phase, regime II at high gas flow rate with non-periodic fluctuation and discontinuous liquid outflow and no gas cutoff, regime III at high liquid flow rate with degenerative pressure fluctuation in form of relatively stable bubbly or plug flow. The results indicate that severe slugging still occurs when the declination angle of pipeline is 0˚, and there are mainly two kinds of regimes: regime I and regime II. As the angle increases, the formation ranges of regime I and regime III increase slightly while that of regime II is not affected. With the increase of gas superficial velocity and liquid superficial velocity, the pressure fluctuation at the bottom of riser increases initially and then decreases. The maximum value of pressure fluctuation occurs at the transition boundary of regimes I and II.     

Flow Characteristics and Shannon Entropy Analysis of Dense‐Phase Pneumatic Conveying of Pulverized Coal with Variable Moisture Content at High Pressure

Experiments consisting of dense‐phase pneumatic conveying of pulverized coal using nitrogen were carried out in an experimental test facility, with a conveying pressure of up to 4 MPa. The influences of the conveying differential pressure, the coal moisture content, the gas volume flow rate and the superficial velocity, on the solid‐gas ratios, were investigated. The Shannon entropy analysis of the pressure fluctuation time series was developed to reveal the flow characteristics. By investigation of the distribution of the Shannon entropy at different conditions, the flow stability and the evolutional tendency of Shannon entropy, in different regimes and regime transition processes, were revealed, and the relationship between Shannon entropy and the flow regime was also established. The results indicate that the solid‐gas ratio and the Shannon entropy rise with increases in conveying differential pressure. The solid‐gas ratio and the Shannon entropy reveal preferable correlation with the superficial gas velocity. Shannon entropy is different for different flow regimes, and can be used to identify the flow regimes. Both the mass flow rate and the Shannon entropy, decrease with increases in moisture content. Shannon entropy analysis is a feasible approach to researching the characteristics of the flow regime, the flow stability and the flow regime transitions in dense‐phase pneumatic conveying systems, at high pressure.     

Local liquid saturation measurements inside a trickle bed reactor operating near the transition between pulsing and trickling flow

A wire-mesh tomography device was used to study the liquid saturation at 78 points covering the cross-sectional area of a 0.30 m diameter trickle bed reactor. Measurements in the pulsing flow near the transition were done for glass beads and alumina cylinders using air and water as fluids. Local liquid saturation measurements allow identification of flow regime and pulse frequency for each of the 78 points considered. To the best of the authors’ knowledge this is the first time that such local measurements are done for the complete sectional area of a trickle bed reactor. Flow rate conditions at which different flow regimes coexist at the same horizontal plane of the column were identified. A remarkable influence of the initial liquid distribution on the observed flow regime was also observed.     

Trickle Flow Multiplicity: The Influence of the Prewetting Procedure on Flow Hysteresis

The existence of multiple hydrodynamic studies (MHS) in trickle flow is a well-known phenomenon. It is also known that different prewetting procedures result in major differences in MHS when the hydrodynamic variables pressure drop, liquid holdup and gas–liquid mass transfer are considered. Given a certain prewetting procedure one still has the option to perform flow hysteresis cycles to achieve an even wider variety of MHS. Although numerous studies have been performed on trickle flow hysteresis, none have attempted to decouple the hysteresis behaviour from the prewetting procedure followed. Accordingly there are numerous hysteresis possibilities that have not been investigated. In this work a single liquid and gas cycle were performed for four distinct prewetting procedures described here as a dry bed, a Levec type prewetted bed, Kan prewetted bed (achieved by increasing either the liquid or the gas flow rate until the pulsing flow regime is reached) and a Super prewetted bed. Pressure drop, liquid holdup and gas–liquid mass transfer are the hydrodynamic parameters studied to quantify the various MHS. It is shown that the shape and extent of the hysteresis cycle are strongly dependant on the prewetting procedure. In terms of flow structure, similar hysteresis trends on the Kan Liquid and Super prewetting modes indicate that these modes are hydrodynamically similar. The additional measurement of the hysteresis behaviour of gas–liquid mass transfer proofs that neither holdup nor pressure drop can be used as an indicator of the distribution uniformity.     

涓流床反应器中流区过渡的气相渗透率表征

由于Ergun方程可适用于气液间无相互作用的两相流动压降计算,并且由气相单相和气液两相并流下的气相压降比值可计算气相相对渗透率,因此,Ergun方程可用于涓流床中不同流区过渡和气液相互作用程度的表征。为检验这一方法的有效性,实验测定了空气-水体系在内径140mm有机玻璃塔中不同粒径玻璃珠(1.9、3.6、5.2、9.3mm)组成的床层压降和持液量。由于采用了压力传感器和电容层析成像仪,因此可测定脉冲流状态下的瞬态数据。通过压降的实验值与理论值比较,发现Ergun方程的适用范围有限,在没有进入脉冲流前先已失效,说明此时气液间作用已经相当显著。鉴于此,改用气液两相压降实验值代替理论值进行了气体渗透率的计算,发现不同气液流速和颗粒直径下出现脉冲流时的气体渗透率均低于0.08。     

高压浓相粉煤气力输送特性及信息熵分析

在输送压力可达4.0MPa,固气比高达450kg/m3的高压气力输送试验台上,用氮气进行粉煤高压浓相气力输送试验研究。分别在不同的输送差压、浓度和速度等条件下进行了输送试验,考察操作参数对煤粉固气比等气力输送特征参数的影响,用信息熵分析试验过程中采集到的压力波动时间序列,探讨流动稳定性和流型变迁过程中信息化趋势,建立信息熵和流型之间的关系。结果表明在输送差压增大的过程中,固气比和Shannon信息熵均增大;气体流量与Shannon信息熵和固气比之间呈现较好的规律性;不同流动形态的Shannon熵差异较大,不同流型之间的Shannon熵区分度较好。Shannon信息熵分析为研究高压浓相气力输送流型及其转变特性提供了一种行之有效的方法。     

Numerical simulation of reactive pulsing flow for the catalytic wet oxidation in TBR using a VOF technique

Guided by the intrinsic advantages of the dynamic nature of mass/heat transfer fluctuations in pulsing flow, here we performed volume‐of‐fluid (VOF) numerical simulations to evaluate how liquid flow modulations can improve the detoxification of liquid effluents by catalytic wet oxidation. First, prominent numerical parameters were optimized in terms of mesh aperture and time step. Second, the effect of oxidation temperature and the influence of gas and liquid flow rates have been investigated comparatively under different flow regimes. The VOF computations have correctly handled the experimental observations both in terms of the axial conversion and temperature. The increase of oxidation temperature was found to move the trickling and pulsing intersection point on the conversion toward the top of the trickle bed. Finally, in comparison with trickling flow regimes, these computed and experimental findings revealed a considerable improvement on the detoxification of organic matter highlighting the benefits of process intensification covered by the periodic liquid flow modulations. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012     

气—液鼓泡塔中流动域和气含率的分布

利用压力传感器测定了气、液两相鼓泡塔内不同轴、径向位置上压强的脉动信号,分析了压强的脉动特征,计算了各种操作条件下塔内不同轴向位置截面上的平均气含率,发现在不同操作条件下,塔内可能出现不同的流动域分布,即全塔均匀鼓泡域、全塔过渡域、全塔湍动鼓泡域以及均匀鼓泡域,过渡域和湍动鼓泡域中的相邻2种或3种流域同时出现在塔内不同高度上。提出了不同轴向位置流域转变的判据。并发现,同一截面的不同径向位置基本处于同一流域内。同时研究了鼓泡塔内气含率在轴向上的分布规律,给出了不同流动域内气含率的关系式。     

CFD Simulations of a Bubble Column Operating in the Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Flow Regimes

Bubble columns are operated either in the homogeneous or heterogeneous flow regime. In the homogeneous flow regime, the bubbles are nearly uniform in size and shape. In the heterogeneous flow regime, a distribution of bubble sizes exists. In this paper, a CFD model is developed to describe the hydrodynamics of bubble columns operating in either of the two flow regimes. The heterogeneous flow regime is assumed to consist of two bubble classes: “small” and “large” bubbles. For the air‐water system, appropriate drag relations are suggested for these two bubble classes. Interactions between both bubble populations and the liquid are taken into account in terms of momentum exchange, or drag‐, coefficients, which differ for the “small” and “large” bubbles. Direct interactions between the large and small bubble phases are ignored. The turbulence in the liquid phase is described using the k‐ϵ model. For a 0.1 m diameter column operating with the air‐water system, CFD simulations have been carried out for superficial gas velocities, U, in the range 0.006–0.08 m/s, spanning both regimes. These simulations reveal some of the characteristic features of homogeneous and heterogeneous flow regimes, and of regime transition.     

Gas flow regime changes in a bubble column filled with a fibre suspension

Gas flow characteristics in opaque fibre suspensions have been captured on film using a stop‐motion X‐ray imaging technique called flash X‐ray radiography (FXR). Gas flows in a bubble column filled with various cellulose fibre suspensions from 0% (an air–water system) to 5% by mass have been observed. The gas flow regime changes from vortical to churn‐turbulent as the fibre concentration increases for a fixed superficial gas velocity. Two new gas flow regimes, identified as surge churn‐turbulent and discrete channel flow, have also been recorded at high fibre concentrations.     

Investigation of bubble diameter and flow regime between water and dilute aqueous ethanol solutions in an airlift reactor

In this study, the effect of ethanol addition into pure water and its concentration on bubble diameter, gas hold-up and flow regimes were investigated in an airlift reactor. Air and water with ethanol (concentration ranging from 0%–1%, v/v) were as dispersed and continuous phases, respectively. Superficial gas velocity was considered as an effective parameter. Bubble size distribution was measured by photography and picture analysis at various concentrations of ethanol and various velocities of gas. Alcohol concentration enhancement caused bubble diameter to decrease. Furthermore, the bubbles diameter in pure water was nearly 4 times higher than that of ethanol with concentration of 1% (v/v) and also was 3.4 times higher than that of ethanol with concentration of 0.25% (v/v) at the highest aeration gas velocity inlet. For ethanol solutions in lower superficial gas velocity, a homogenous flow regime was observed. This trend continued to inlet gas velocity of about 0.4 cm/s. The transition flow regime occurred after this datum although in pure water, a homogenous flow regime was observed up to a superficial gas velocity of 0.7 cm/s. The gas hold-up in dilute ethanol solutions were more than (around 2 times) that of pure water and increased with increasing concentration of ethanol in those solutions.     

气水流动中气泡生成体积计算模型的改进

In order to address the bubble formation and movement in air-water two-phase flow,single bubble rising in stagnant water is experimentally studied by digital image processing.Bubbles are released individually from the submerged orifices with different diameters(1.81 mm,2.07 mm,2.98 mm,3.92 mm)at different detachment frequency.Images are recorded by a high-speed video camera and processed by digital image processing technique. The factors impacting the formed volume of bubble are discussed.The experimental results showed that a threshold of gas flow rate(400 mm 3 ·s- 1)divides the bubble formation into two regimes:the constant volume regime and the growing volume regime.Especially for the growing volume regime,the surface tension is taken into account.The bubble volume is consisted of two parts:the surface tension impacting part and the gas volume flow rate impacting part.An improved correlation for bubble volume prediction is developed for the two regimes and better coincidence with the experiment data than the previous models is obtained.     

Effect of pulsing on reaction outcome in a gas–liquid catalytic packed-bed reactor

A novel experiment is described for studying the effect of flow regime on reaction outcome for a consecutive-parallel reaction. By taking advantage of the convective nature of disturbances that grow into pulses in gas–liquid packed-bed reactors, it is shown that it is possible to compare reaction behavior for pulsing and trickling at the same flow rates. This contrasts previous studies where effects of regime were found, but at different flow rates. This experiment is accomplished by packing the column with mostly inert particles and confining the catalytically active region either near the inlet, where pulses have not yet formed, or near the end where they have developed. It is found that for the reaction of phenylacetylene to styrene and ethylbenzene over a platinum/alumina catalyst, where pulses are present in the bottom of the reactor but not at the top, about a 15% increase in styrene concentration, as an intermediate, occurs under pulsing conditions.     

Regime Transition and Holdup in Pulsed Sieve-Plate and Pulsed Disc-and-Doughnut Columns: A Comparative Study

This study reports a detailed comparison of dispersed-phase holdup and onset of different operating regimes in PSPC (pulsed sieve-plate column) and PDDC (pulsed disc-and-doughnut column) for 3 N nitric acid–30% tributyl phosphate (TBP) in dodecane system. Experiments are performed in a 3-inch glass column with SS internals for aqueous-continuous mode of operation keeping O/A ratio at 1:3. The effects of column throughput (0.0097–0.0219 m/s) and pulsing velocity (0.011–0.039 m/s) on holdup and onset of operating regimes are studied and compared. Holdup in PDDC is found to be consistently more than that in PSPC. Onset of dispersion regime is found to be delayed in PDDC in comparison to PSPC. Insights into the movement of a typical dispersed-phase drop under pulsatile flow in PSPC have been provided. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis of the effect of pulsing velocity on holdup in PDDC and PSPC is reported. For the phase system and O/A ratio used in the experiments, holdup in PSPC is observed to be more sensitive to variation in pulsing velocity as compared to PDDC. Efficacy of several previously reported correlations to predict dispersed-phase holdup in PSPC and PDDC is evaluated using the experimental data generated in this study.     

Study air–water system in horizontal loop geometry

To enhance the understanding of hydrodynamic of air–water multi-phase flow inside a toroidal geometry, experiments were carried out in horizontal torus reactor. Compared with vertical flow, the flow in horizontal milli torus reactor was characterized by one additional flow pattern. In vertical position two flow regimes are considered: not-dispersed and dispersed flow while in horizontal position three flow regimes have been distinguished: stratified flow, dispersed flow and mixed flow regimes. The mixing time is measured by a conductimetric method as described by (Benkhelifa et al., 2000). The effect of both superficial gas velocities and impeller rotation speeds has been studied. The mixing time has been decreased by increasing both the superficial gas velocity and the impeller rotation speed and has been shorter than the one given for the horizontal configuration. The axial dispersion inside the reactor was modelled by the Zhang's model. The obtained results are in a good agreement with Zhang's model.     

Studies of Gas Holdup in Bubble Column Reactors

Gas holdup in bubble columns has been investigated over a wide range of operational and geometrical parameters. A criterion has been developed for the prediction of the transitional velocity from the homogeneous to heterogeneous flow regime. Correlations for gas holdup in both regimes are developed and verified against experimental data.     

Local bubble behavior in three-phase fluidized beds

Bubble behavior, including bubble Sauter diameter, bubble rise velocity, bubble frequency and local gas holdup in different radial and axial positions, was measured using a dual electro-conductivity probe in air-water-glass beads fluidization systems. It has been found that the bubble characteristics differ significantly in various flow regimes, depending on the operating conditions; the radial distribution of bubble parameters also changes from one flow regime to another. Thus, it is necessary to employ local bubble behavior in the modeling of three-phase fluidized beds.