Hydrodynamics and mass transfer of gas–liquid flow in a falling film microreactor

In this article, flow pattern of liquid film and flooding phenomena of a falling film microreactor (FFMR) were investigated using high‐speed CCD camera. Three flow regimes were identified as “corner rivulet flow,” “falling film flow with dry patches,” and “complete falling film flow” when liquid flow rate increased gradually. Besides liquid film flow in microchannels, a flooding presented as the flow of liquid along the side wall of gas chamber in FFMR was found at high liquid flow rate. Moreover, the flooding could be initiated at lower flow rate with the reduction of the depth of the gas chamber. CO₂ absorption was then investigated under the complete falling flow regime in FFMR, where the effects of liquid viscosity and surface tension on mass transfer were demonstrated. The experimental results indicate that k_L is in the range of 5.83 to 13.4 × 10^?5 m s^?1 and an empirical correlation was proposed to predict k_L in FFMR. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009     

Effects of surfactants on hydrodynamics and mass transfer in a split‐cylinder airlift reactor

Effects of various concentrations (0–5 ppm) of anionic (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS) and non‐ionic (Tween‐80 and Triton X‐405) surfactants on gas hold‐up and gas–liquid mass transfer in a split‐cylinder airlift reactor are reported for air–water. Surfactants were found to strongly enhance gas hold‐up. Non‐ionic surfactants were more effective in enhancing gas hold‐up compared to the anionic surfactant SDS. An enhanced gas hold‐up and a visually reduced bubble size in the presence of surfactants implied an enhanced gas–liquid interfacial area for mass transfer. Nevertheless, the overall gas–liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient was reduced in the presence of surfactants, suggesting that surfactants greatly reduced the true liquid film mass transfer coefficient and this reduction outweighed the interfacial area enhancing effect. Presence of surfactants did not substantially affect the induced liquid circulation rate in the airlift vessel.     

三维菱形结构微通道内气液传质与强化

研究了具有三维交错菱形结构的微通道对离子液体1-丁基-3-甲基咪唑四氟硼酸盐([Bmim][BF₄])水溶液吸收CO₂过程的传质增强作用。实验主要聚焦于弹状流和破碎弹状流。考察了弹状流型下气液流量、离子液体浓度对体积传质系数k_La、增强因子E、CO₂吸收率X及压力降ΔP的影响。结果表明,较之于直通道,三维菱形通道可以显著提高体积传质系数和CO₂吸收率,其增强因子可达2.1,压力降仅增加 0.9 kPa。提出了一个新的体积传质系数k_La预测式,预测效果良好。采用VOF法模拟了微通道内气液两相流动过程,获得了连续相的速度矢量场。三维菱形通道能诱导涡流,强化传质过程。     

High‐throughput microporous tube‐in‐tube microreactor as novel gas–liquid contactor: Mass transfer study

High‐throughput microporous tube‐in‐tube microchannel reactor (MTMCR) was first designed and developed as a novel gas–liquid contactor. Experimentally measured k_Lα in MTMCR is at least one or two orders of magnitude higher than those in the conventional gas–liquid contactors. A high throughput of 500 L/h for gas and 43.31 L/h for liquid is over 60 times higher than that of T‐type microchannel. An increase of the gas or liquid flow rate, as well as a reduction of the micropore size and annular channel width of MTMCR, could greatly intensify the gas–liquid mass transfer. The interfacial area, α, in MTMCR was measured to be as high as 2.2 × 10⁵ m²/m³, which is much higher than those of microchannels (3400–9000 m²/m³) and traditional contactors (50–2050 m²/m³). The artificial neural network model was proposed for predicting α, revealing only an average absolute relative error of <5%. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011     

旋转式微通道内液液萃取的流型及传质

利用高速摄影仪观测了2-乙基己基磷酸单2-乙基己基酯（油相）与硝酸铬水溶液（水相）在旋转式微通道（RME）内部的液-液两相流流型,主要观察到了滴状流型（上油下水片状流、滴状片状流、滴状带状流）、带状流型（带状流、紊乱流）、上水下油流型（上水下油滴状流、上水下油片状环状流、上水下油带状流、上水下油丝状流）,共3类,9种。考察了微通道设备的尺寸、内筒转速以及进料流速对流型的影响。发现了随着流速和转速的增加,RME内部的流型从滴状流型到带状流型再到上水下油流型的一个转变。进一步利用水油两相的韦伯数将微通道内部的惯性力和黏性力相关联,绘制了流型图,发现了RME内部惯性、黏性力的线性变化关系。最后在9种不同的流型下进行铬的萃取实验,找到了可实现较高萃取级效率的流型。该旋转式微通道内部流型的研究可以为后期的实验和设备的应用奠定基础。     

阵列凸起微通道内气液两相传质特性研究

研究了阵列凸起微通道内N-甲基二乙醇胺（MDEA）吸收CO₂过程的气液两相传质特性。在弹状流型下,考察了气液两相流量、MDEA浓度对体积传质系数、CO₂吸收效率、压力降以及能量损耗的影响。弹状气泡受到阵列凸起的挤压作用发生形变,促进了气液两相间的传质。与平滑通道相比,阵列凸起微通道在实验条件下具有更好CO₂吸收效率。在相同的能量损耗时,阵列凸起微通道具有更大的体积传质系数。     

Trajectory modeling of gas–liquid flow in microchannels with stochastic differential equation and optical measurement

The numbering‐up of microchannel reactors definitely faces great challenge in uniformly distributing fluid flow in every channel, especially for multiphase systems. A model of stochastic differential equations (SDEs) is proposed based on the experimental data recorded by a long‐term optical measurement to well quantify the stochastic trajectories of gas bubbles and liquid slugs in parallel microchannels interconnected with two dichotomic distributors. The expectation and variance of each subflow rate are derived explicitly from the SDEs associated with the Fokker–Planck equation and solved numerically. A bifurcation in the trajectory is found using the original model, then a modification on interactions of feedback and crosstalk is introduced, the evolutions of subflow rates calculated by the modified model match well with experimental results. The established methodology is helpful for characterizing the flow uniformity and numbering‐up the microchannel reactors of multiphase system. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 4028–4034, 2015     

仿蜂巢分形微管道网络中的流动与换热

受自然界中蜂巢结构分形特征的启发,设计和加工了仿蜂巢分形微管道网络,并进行了参数优化.在微管道截面参数、对流传热系数、传热温差均相同的条件下,对流动与换热特性的理论分析表明：加热底面积相同时,仿蜂巢分形微管道网络所能带走的热量可达平行阵列微管道网络的5倍以上;不计分流、合流效应,总换热量一定时,仿蜂巢分形微管道网络所需的泵送功率约为传统平行阵列微管道网络的1/10.恒定热流条件下的去离子水层流对流换热实验也证明：仿蜂巢分形微管道网络比传统的平行阵列微管道网络具有更高的Nusselt数和更低的流动压降.这种分形微管道网络除用于电子器件冷却,还可用于微燃料电池极板、微混合器、微生化反应器等微化工系统结构设计.     

微通道反应器的一维放大及气液传质特性

微通道反应器能有效增强气液间传质,但处理能力受限。为了提高微通道的处理量,对微通道反应器的一维放大及气-液传质特性进行了研究。以乙醇胺（MEA）和甲基二乙醇胺（MDEA）混合水溶液吸收CO₂为研究物系,在通道深度恒定时,考察了微通道宽度、气液流速对传质特性的影响。结果表明,传质系数和体积传质系数均随通道宽度先增大后缓慢减小,在通道宽度为1000 μm时达到最大值。比表面积随通道宽度的增大而降低。因此,合理增大微通道宽度,可在提高处理能力的同时,仍然保持良好的传质特性。     

壁面润湿性对微通道内二氧化碳-水两相流流动及传质性能的影响

在1 mm×1 mm矩形截面下微通道内,以二氧化碳-水为工作流体,研究壁面润湿性和气液表观流速对气-液两相流型和气液传质的影响,并研究了气、液表观流速对弹状流流体力学性质的影响。在亲水微通道中观测到了泡状流、泡状-弹状流、弹状流;在疏水微通道中观测到了非对称弹状流、拉长的非对称弹状流、分层流。实验表明亲水微通道中弹状流区域下气泡长度大体上随气相表观流速的增大而增大,随液相表观流速的增大而减小;液弹长度大体上随气相表观流速的增大而减小,随液相表观流速的增大先增大后减小;液侧体积传质系数k_La均随气、液相表观流速的增大而增大,随通道壁面润湿性的增强而增大。     

Gas–liquid mass transfer studies for biomass support materials in a bioreactor

BACKGROUND: Oxygen mass transfer can be described and analyzed by means of the mass transfer coefficient k_La, which is the most important parameter involved in the design and operation of mixing–sparging equipment for bioreactors. In the present study, the effect of biomass support materials on the gas–liquid mass transfer coefficient was studied in a bioreactor under variable process conditions. The biomass support materials used were activated carbon, pumice and loofa sponge. RESULTS: Compared with the case with distilled water only, the presence of the biomass support materials negatively influenced mass transfer. On the other hand, the mass transfer coefficient increased with increased impeller speed, air flow rate and temperature; and decreased with the increase of liquid viscosity and biomass support material concentration for all cases. CONCLUSIONS: Evaluation of the experimental data showed that k_La values were affected by process variables. Besides the major exponential correlations used in the literature, satisfactory linear correlations for the relationship between the k_La and process variables were obtained. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Drop size distribution in a graesser contactor

An investigation was conducted of drop size distribution in a Graesser contactor, employing five liquid – liquid systems, viz., kerosene/water, benzene/water, xylene/water, hexane/water and n–butyl acetate/water. A 100 mm (4 inch) diameter Graesser contactor was used for this purpose It was found that the drop size distribution in a Graesser contactor obeys the upper – limit distribution expressed as: where A correlation was developed relating the Sauter mean diameter (d₃₂) to other effective groups      

Bubble shape,gas flow and gas–liquid mass transfer in pulp fibre suspensions

Gas–liquid mass transfer in pulp fibre suspensions in a batch‐operated bubble column is explained by observations of bubble size and shape made in a 2D column. Two pulp fibre suspensions (hardwood and softwood kraft) were studied over a range of suspension mass concentrations and gas flow rates. For a given gas flow rate, bubble size was found to increase as suspension concentration increased, moving from smaller spherical/elliptical bubbles to larger spherical‐capped/dimpled‐elliptical bubbles. At relatively low mass concentrations (C_m = 2–3% for the softwood and C_m ? 7% for the hardwood pulp) distinct bubbles were no longer observed in the suspension. Instead, a network of channels formed through which gas flowed. In the bubble column, the volumetric gas–liquid mass transfer rate, k_La, decreased with increasing suspension concentration. From the 2D studies, this occurred as bubble size and rise velocity increased, which would decrease overall bubble surface area and gas holdup in the column. A minimum in k_La occurred between C_m = 2% and 4% which depended on pulp type and was reached near the mass concentration where the flow channels first formed.     

Numerical simulation of the mass transfer process of CO2 absorption by different solutions in a microchannel

The flow and mass transfer characteristics of CO₂ absorption in different liquid phases in a microchannel were studied by numerical simulation. The mixture gas phase contained 5 vol% CO₂ and 95 vol% N₂ , and the different liquid phases were water, ethanol solution, 0.2 M monoethanolamine solution, and 0.2 M NaOH solution, respectively. Based on the permeation theory, the distribution of velocity and concentration in the slug flow was obtained by local simulation of flow and mass transfer coupling and was described in depth. The influence of contact time and bubble velocity on the mass transfer of the whole bubble was highlighted. The volumetric mass transfer coefficient on the bubble cap and liquid film, CO₂ absorption rate, and enhancement factor were calculated and analyzed. The results showed that the volumetric mass transfer coefficients of chemical absorption were ~3 to 10 times that of physical absorption and the CO₂ was absorbed more completely in chemical absorption. The new empirical correlations for predicting the mass transfer coefficient of the liquid phase were proposed respectively in physical absorption and chemical absorption, which were compared with the empirical formulas in the literature. The volumetric mass transfer coefficients obtained by predictive correlations are in good agreement with those obtained by simulation in this paper. This work made a basic prediction for CO₂ absorption in microchannel and provides a foundation for later experimental research.     

A multi‐scale theoretical model for gas–Liquid interface mass transfer based on the wide spectrum eddy contact concept

On the basis of the wide spectrum eddy contact concept and the isotropic turbulence theory, a multi‐scale theoretical model for the prediction of liquid‐side mass transfer coefficient in gas–liquid system was developed. The model was derived from an unsteady‐state convection and diffusion equation and considered the contributions of eddies with different sizes to the overall mass transfer coefficient. The proper contact time distribution at the surface is need to be determined to obtain satisfactory results with this model. Moreover, a simplified model was also proposed based on the assumption of steady‐state mass transfer mechanism for single eddy. The results predicted by this model showed a very good agreement with the available experimental data in a comparatively wide range of turbulence intensities. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011     

Mass transfer and deodorization efficiency in a countercurrent spray tower for low superficial gas velocities

The aim of this study was to characterize mass transfer and deodorization efficiency in a countercurrent spray tower for low superficial gas velocities. The influence of operating parameters (U_G = 0.005 to 0.025 m s^?1, U_L = 6.1 × 10^?5 to 2.4 × 10^?4 m s^?1) on the liquid retention (ε_L), the drop diameter (d_g), the interfacial area (a) and the overall liquid and gas phase mass transfer coefficients (K_La, K_Ga) were estimated. The spray efficiency of some malodorous compounds was also estimated. A negative influence of the superficial gas velocity was demonstrated, during the spraying of water or chemical neutralizing scrubbing solutions. There was also an increase with the liquid flow rate. Abatements obtained were very good with respect to ammonia (>90%), and acceptable for the other compounds.     

顺流型溶液与空气热质交换性能

在顺流型平板降膜热质交换测试装置上对氯化锂水溶液与湿空气除湿、再生性能进行了实验研究,结合NTU-Le模型,着眼于湿空气与溶液耦合热质交换特性,获取了顺流条件下不同空气流量、溶液流量、溶液温度工况的耦合传热传质系数随运行参数的变化情况。研究结果为相关过程模型验证提供可靠数据,同时也为相关设备性能分析与计算提供重要基础数据。     

Simulation of the hydrodynamics and mass transfer in a falling film wavy microchannel

The flow in a liquid falling film is predominantly laminar, and the liquid-side mass transfer is limited by molecular diffusion. The effective way to enhance the mass transfer is to improve the liquid film flow behavior. The falling film behaviors of water, ethanol and ethylene glycol in nine different wavy microchannels were simulated by Computational Fluid Dynamics. The simulation results show that the falling film thickness exhibits a waveform distribution resulting in a resonance phenomenon along the wavy microchannel. The fluctuation of liquid film surface increases the gas–liquid interface area, and the internal eddy flow inside the liquid film also improves the turbulence of liquid film, the gas–liquid mass transfer in falling film microchannels is intensified. Compared with flat microchannel, the CO_2 absorption efficiency in water in the wavy microchannel is improved over 41%. Prediction models of liquid film amplitude and average liquid film thickness were established respectively.     

Correlation between hysteresis of gas-liquid mass transfer and liquid distribution in a trickle bed

The hysteresis of gas-liquid mass transfer rate and the corresponding radial liquiddistribution in a trickle bed reactor are measured to provide evidence for the correlation between thesetwo behaviors.Experimental results indicate that the hysteresis of gas-liquid mass transfer originatesfrom the nonuniformity of the hydrodynamic state of gas-liquid flow and the radial maldistributionof local k_(gia) corresponds very well to the radial maldistribution of liquid flow in the bed.The localliquid flow rate is also found to be nonuniform in the azimuthal direction.In view of maldistributedliquid flow even in the pulsing flow regime,the conventional plug flow model seems oversimplifiedfor describing the behavior of a trickle bed.