Dynamic and local gas holdup studies in external loop recirculating airlift reactor with two rolls of fiberglass packing using electrical resistance tomography

BACKGROUND: Airlift bioreactors have been used extensively in biotechnology industries in recent years in a variety of arrangements and applications. The insertion of packing inside the bioreactors has the potential to provide high productivity within a compact size through utilizing immobilized species. RESULTS: A novel recirculating external loop airlift bioreactor that has two rolls of fiberglass packing and a gas distributor in between was designed and built. Electrical resistance tomography (ERT) images showed that the gas holdup increased after installing the packing and the gas distributor. Gas holdup in the riser increased with decreasing static liquid height in the bioreactor. This decreased the liquid superficial velocity, which contributed to a higher gas holdup in the bioreactor. Results also showed that riser gas holdup varied slightly with different sparger configurations. Higher gas holdup increases the oxygen mass transfer rate by increasing the residence time and interfacial mass transfer area. CONCLUSION: ERT results showed that fiberglass packing with an installed gas distributor in bioreactors can achieve higher gas holdup at higher superficial gas velocity. This can contribute to improved conversion in bioreactors with packing through utilizing higher biomass concentrations and higher oxygen concentration. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Mixing parameters for an airlift bioreactor considering constant cross sectional area of riser to downcomer: Effect of sparging gas location

The effect of mode of sparging gas on the mixing parameters of an internal loop airlift bioreactor was investigated. Two bioreactors of identical volume of 14×10³ cm³ and the optimum riser to downcomer cross sectional area ratio of 0.6 were studied. In one bioreactor a gas sparger was located in the draft tube and in the annulus in another. Liquid mixing characteristics, i.e., mixing time and circulation time, were employed to describe the performance of the bioreactors. The tracer injection method was used to determine the mixing parameters. A mathematical modeling based on the tanks-in-series model was employed to characterize the hydrodynamics behavior of the bioreactors. Matlab 7.1 software was used to solve the model equations in the Laplace domain and determine the model parameter, the number of stages. A comparison between the simulation results and experimental data showed that the applied model can accurately describe the behavior of the bioreactors. The results showed that when the gas sparger was located in the draft tube, the liquid mixing time, circulation time, and the number of stage were less than while the gas sparger was located in annulus. This is due to more wall effects, more energy losses and pressure drop in the case of gas injection in the annulus.     

Influence of impeller type on hydrodynamics and gas‐liquid mass‐transfer in stirred airlift bioreactor

The influence of impeller type in a mechanically stirred airlift bioreactor was analyzed in relation to the non‐Newtonian viscous fluids. The agitation was carried out through a marine impeller (axial impeller) and a paddle impeller (radial impeller) located along with the gas sparger in the region comprised by the riser. The bioreactor was sparged with air under different velocities (0.036–0.060 m s^?1). Carboxymethylcellulose 1.94% and xanthan 1.80% were used as a fluid model. The gas holdup and volumetric mass‐transfer coefficient increased in up to five and three times, respectively, when compared to a conventional airlift bioreactor; however, better results were obtained when the straight paddle impeller type was used. The results suggest that the studied bioreactor can be used successfully in viscous fluid, and it can be more efficient than conventional airlift bioreactors. The results obtained suggest the use of radial impellers. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 3159–3171, 2015     

Gas‐Liquid Mass Transfer Characteristics in a Rotating‐Drum Bioreactor

The oxygen volumetric mass transfer coefficient is a key parameter to characterize the performance of aerobic bioreactors. A novel rotating‐drum bioreactor (RDB) fitted with a sparger as proposed in a previous work has demonstrated its excellent gas‐liquid mass transfer performance. To provide primary information on the design and scale‐up of the novel RDB, effects of reactor configuration including the number and width of lifters and operation conditions such as rotational speed, aeration rate, and solid volume fraction on mass transfer performance were systematically investigated in a new medium‐sized RDB. Compared with the stirred bioreactor and traditional RDBs, this new RDB exhibits better mass transfer performance. Taking both operational and reactor configuration parameters into consideration, an empirical correlation to predict the volumetric mass transfer coefficient in this type of RDBs was proposed which is valuable for its design and scale‐up.     

浆态床鼓泡反应器中气含率的分布

为了解浆态床鼓泡反应器中气含率的分布规律,在浆态床鼓泡反应器冷模试验装置中,以空气-液体石蜡-氧化铝微球为试验介质对装置内部的气含率进行研究。利用压差法研究了表观气速、浆液固含量等操作条件对反应器床层总体气含率的影响,利用光纤探针法研究了浆态床反应器不同操作条件对局部气含率的影响,总结了反应器内部气含率的分布规律,并由此对工业浆态床鼓泡反应器的设计进行了研究。结果表明:浆态床反应器的总体气含率随表观气速的增大而增大,固体细颗粒的加入能适当降低总体气含率;在反应器底部,分布器对气体的均布作用明显,但表观气速的增大能够弱化分布器的作用;在反应器的中上部气含率不受分布器的影响,沿反应器径向呈现"中间高,边缘低"的分布趋势;在工业费托浆态床中,表观气速不宜低于0.12 m/s,内过滤系统适宜设置于反应器中上部靠近器壁的位置。     

On the development of flow pattern in a bubble column reactor: Experiments and CFD

A comprehensive analysis of the development of flow pattern in a bubble column reactor is presented here through extensive LDA measurements and CFD predictions. In the LDA measurements, the simultaneous measurements of 2D velocity-time data were carried out at several radial locations and many axial cross-sections of the column for two different spargers. The profiles of mean axial liquid velocity, fractional gas hold-up and bubble slip velocity showed excellent agreement between the predictions and the experimentally measured values. The experimental results showed that the mean tangential velocity varies systematically in the radial as well as along the axial co-ordinates. The turbulence parameters viz. turbulent kinetic energy, energy dissipation rate and eddy diffusivity were also analysed. The estimated values of local energy dissipation rate obtained using eddy isolation model were used for establishing the energy balance in the column. The experimental data were used for the estimation of normal and shear stress profiles. For the case of single point sparger, just above the sparger region, the bubble plume was seen to have a strong tangential component of motion thereby yielding higher gas hold-up slightly away from the centre. This visual observation was well captured in profiles of all the hydrodynamic parameters obtained from the experimental data. CFD simulations of the mean velocities, gas hold-up and turbulent kinetic energy compared well with the experimental results.     

单孔及微孔曝气低气速鼓泡床内气泡行为比较

引言鼓泡床反应器被广泛应用于吸收、液相氧化、好氧生化等气液反应过程,气体在液相中的分散情况对鼓泡床的反应和传质特性都有很大影响.为了提高气液传质效率,增加生产强度,工业反应器很多都是在高气速下操作(Ug>0·05m·s-1),很多研究都集中在高气速湍动鼓泡区[1~3].但对有机     

A study of the bubble properties in the column flotation system

The bubble properties in the column flotation system are deeply affected by the bubble-generator type, frother dosage, and superficial gas velocity. This study is to determine the bubble-generator type, which effectively produces micro-bubbles to affect the flotation efficiency. Characteristics for two types of bubble generators like the in-line mixer and sparger are examined by bubble properties such as bubble diameter, holdup and bubble velocity. Micro bubbles generated from an in-line mixer result in the increase of the bubble rising velocity and gas holdup. Bubbles produced at the in-line mixer were more effective for operating the flotation system than that of the sparger. It means that the in-line mixer bubble generator is more effective than a sparger in designing or operating the column flotation system.     

Time-dependent gas holdup variation in an air-water bubble column

Time-dependent gas holdup variation in a two-phase bubble column is reported with air and tap water as the working fluids. The results indicate that time-dependent gas holdup is closely related to the water, whose quality is unsteady and changes, not only during the two-phase flow, but also during idle periods. The significance and characteristics of the time-dependent gas holdup variation are influenced by the bubble column operation mode (cocurrent or semi-batch), the sparger orientation, the superficial gas velocity, and the superficial liquid velocity. It is proposed that a volatile substance (VS), which exists in the water in very small concentrations and inhibits bubble coalescence, evaporates during column operation and results in a time-dependent gas holdup. The influence of bubble column operation mode, sparger orientation, superficial gas velocity, and superficial liquid velocity on the time-dependent gas holdup variation are explained based on their effects on bubble size, bubble contacting frequency and mixing intensity. This work reveals that regular tap water may cause significant reproducibility problems in experimental studies of air-water two-phase flows.     

曳力模型对模拟鼓泡塔气含率的影响

引言 鼓泡塔由于其良好的传热、传质特性而被广泛用于化工、生物制药、冶金等领域.近年来,计算流体力学(CFD)越来越多地被应用于研究鼓泡塔内部复杂的流体力学状态.然而,如何合理地描述气液相间作用及湍流模型是CFD模拟能够准确复现鼓泡塔内复杂流动状态的关键和难点.     

外环流反应器的气含率及循环液速

研究了气体分布器的形式、体系的聚并特性及静液面高度对外环流反应器的气含率和环流液速的影响。实验结果显示,对于空气－１％乙醇体系（非聚并体系）,气体分布器的形式对外环流反应器的气含率及环流液速有显著的影响;在相同的操作条件下,空气－１％乙醇体系（非聚并体系）的气含率及环流液速明显高于空气－水体系（聚并体系）。静液面高度对下降区的气含率有较大影响。     

Effect of Dual Impeller‐Sparger Geometry on the Hydrodynamics and Mass Transfer in Stirred Vessels

The understanding of the effect of impeller‐sparger configurations on gas dispersion and mass transfer is very important to improve the performance of gas/liquid contactor systems. The influence of the impeller positions, the upper turbine diameter, the sparger ring diameter and its location in regard to the lower impeller on the power consumption, the volumetric mass‐transfer coefficient and the overall oxygen transfer efficiency were studied in a nonstandard curved bottomed reactor with an agitated system with dual disk style turbines. In the range of the gas flow rates studied, the most efficient impeller‐sparger arrangement for the oxygen transfer is the impeller system with turbines of different diameters located at C = 0.25 and IC = 0.5, and with the sparger of smaller diameter than the lower impeller settled below the impeller. A new model to estimate the k_La with an average relative error of 8 %, which takes the reactor operation conditions and the influence of the impeller‐sparger geometry into account, was also proposed.     

内溢流式工业环流反应器的流体力学和传递性能

对具有溢流窗及二次气体分布器的工业生产用 ４０ ｍ ３ 内溢流式工业环流反应器的流体力学和传递性能作了研究,据此得到了表观气速、装液量和二次气体分布器对反应器的主要设计参数：气含率、循环液速、传氧系数等性质的影响,并给出了各性质的关联式。同时建立了描述混合特性的模型。经生产实践检验可用于设计放大。     

Pressure fluctuations and bubble size in viscous three-phase circulation fluidized bed bioreactors

Characteristics of pressure fluctuations and bubble size were investigated in the riser of a three-phase circulation fluidized bed bioreactor with viscous liquid medium, whose diameter is 0.102 m (ID) and 3.5 m in height. Effects of gas (0.01–0.07 m/s) and liquid (0.17–0.23 m/s) velocities and liquid viscosity (0.96–38 mPa·s) on the bubble size in the riser were examined. The bubbling phenomena in the bioreactor with viscous liquid medium were interpreted effectively by measuring and analyzing the pressure fluctuations by adopting chaos theory. The bubble size increased with increasing gas velocity or liquid viscosity, but decreased with increasing liquid velocity. The bubbling phenomena became more complicated and bubble size distribution tended to broad, with increasing gas velocity or liquid viscosity. The bubble size was well correlated in terms of correlation dimension of pressure fluctuations as well as dimensionless groups within these experimental conditions.     

Development of support vector regression (SVR)-based correlation for prediction of overall gas hold-up in bubble column reactors for various gas-liquid systems

The objective of this study was to develop a unified data-driven correlation for the overall gas hold-up for various gas-liquid systems using support vector regression (SVR)-based modeling technique. Over the years, researchers have amply quantified the hydrodynamics of bubble column reactors in terms of the overall gas hold-up. In this work, about 1810 experimental points were collected from 40 open sources spanning the years 1965-2007. The model for overall gas hold-up was established as a function of several parameters which include superficial gas velocity, superficial liquid velocity, gas density, molecular weight of gas, sparger type, sparger hole diameter, number of sparger holes, liquid viscosity, liquid density, liquid surface tension, operating temperature, operating pressure and column diameter of the gas-liquid system. For understanding the hold-up behavior, the data used for training the model was grouped into various gas-liquid systems viz., air-water, gas-aqueous viscous liquids, gas-organic liquids, gas-aqueous electrolyte solutions and gas-liquid systems operated over a wide range of pressure. A generalized model established using SVR was evaluated for its performance for various gas-liquid systems. Statistical analysis showed that the proposed generalized SVR-based correlation for overall gas hold-up has prediction accuracy of 97% with average absolute relative error (% AARE) of 12.11%. A comparison of this correlation with the selected system specific correlations in the literature showed that the developed SVR-based correlation significantly gives enhanced prediction of overall gas hold-up.     

Population balance modeling of bubble size distributions in a direct-contact evaporator using a sparger model

The study of bubble size distributions in direct-contact evaporators was addressed both theoretically and experimentally. Recently developed models for calculating bubble coalescence and breakage frequencies in isothermal bubble columns were adapted to the population balance equation using the bubble mass as the internal coordinate which was discretized using an expansion of the number density function by impulse functions. A sparger model was developed based on experimental data for a non-coalescing system and using bubble formation models for isothermal and non-isothermal conditions. Bubble size distributions in a direct-contact evaporator operating in the quasi-steady-state regime for four different gas superficial velocities, including the homogeneous and heterogeneous regimes, together with the sparger model, were used for estimating the three empirical parameters from the population balance model, which were observed to be functions of the gas superficial velocity. In all cases considered, the population balance model fitted the experimental data rather well and the regressed parameters exhibit the physically expected behavior with changes in the gas superficial velocity.     

Effects of sparger height and orifice orientation on solids dispersion in a slurry bubble column

The effects of gas distributor height and the orientation of its orifices are investigated on solids dispersion and gas holdup profiles in a three-phase slurry bubble column. The height of the distributor was varied to cover locations from near column bottom to above the settled solids bed height. The orifice orientations were changed from upward facing to downwards facing directions. The measurements were conducted in a Plexiglas column of 0.15 m ID and 2.5 m height. The gas phase was oil-free compressed air while tap water was used as liquid phase. Glass beads with an average particle diameter of 35 μm and density of 2450 kg/m³ constituted the solid phase. The settled bed height was about 0.4 m which provided an average slurry concentration of about 15% (v/v) when all solids were dispersed. Both axial and column average phase holdups were measured. Effects of sparger location, gas jets formation and liquid circulation patterns on gas holdups and solids dispersion are analyzed. Empirical correlations are developed to relate sparger location to solids dispersion as a function of gas velocity. Optimum sparger height and orifice orientation is proposed based on the measurement of this study.     

The Effect of Sparger Geometry on Gas Bubble Flow Behaviors Using Electrical Resistance Tomography

By electrical resistance tomography （ERT） the cross sectional profiles of gas hold-up in a φ56mm bubble column are obtained with four designs of gas sparger. The effect of sparger geometry on the bubble distribution is revealed by applying a sensitivity conjugated gradients reconstruction method （SCG）. Experimental results show that overall hold-up obtained by ERT is generally in good agreement with those measured with the pressure transducer and the ERT system produces informative evidence that the radial profiles of hold-up is very similar to the sparger design in the lower section of bubble column. Meanwhile, the rise velocity of bubble swarm and the Sauter mean bubble size are evaluated using ERT based on dynamic gas disengagement theory. The experimental results are in good agreement with correlations and conventional estimation obtained using pressure transmitter methods.     

Measurement of Local Phase Holdups in a Two‐ and Three‐Phase Bubble Column

A new invasive sensing probe for the measurement of local phase holdups in two‐ and three‐phase reactors is described. The local gas and solids holdups in a bubble column with a volume of V = 2 m³ at varying operating conditions (gas velocity, sparger design, solids content and density) are measured by means of differential pressure measurement in combination with either time domain reflectometry or electrical conductivity measurement. The phase distribution profiles at two‐ and three‐phase operating conditions are described. The influence of the sparger design on the shape of these profiles, the influence of the solid phase on the gas distribution, the solids distribution and the gas‐stow effect above the sparger because of a dense particle layer are capable of experimental proof for the first time.     

双层组合桨搅拌槽内气液微观分散特性

采用双电导电极探针法对双层组合桨搅拌槽内气液相界面积特性进行了实验研究,考察了通气量、搅拌转速和桨组合对槽内相界面积的影响。结果表明:对于上层桨为上翻斜叶桨和下层桨为凹叶桨的组合,随着通气量的增加,搅拌槽内大部分区域的相界面积增大,但在槽底区域减小。随着搅拌转速的增加,在叶轮区域的相界面积增加明显,而在槽底和液面区域基本不变化。上下层桨的分散能力和气体分布器结构和操作条件密切相关。对于近壁管式气体分布器搅拌槽,在较低通气量下,上层桨对气液分散起着主要作用,而在高通气量下,下层桨的作用增强,起主要作用。带圆盘的搅拌桨对气体具有良好的阻缓作用,不同气速下均具有优异的气液分散能力。