MASS TRANSFER AND HYDRODYNAMICS IN AN AIRLIFT REACTOR WITH VISCOUS NON-NEWTONIAN FLUID

In an internal loop airlift reactor of 55L working volume,the gas-liquid volumetric oxygenmass transfer coefficient k_Lα,gas holdup ε_G and liquid circulation time t_c were measured with the sol-ution of carboxymethyl cellulose(CMC)to simulate the performance of a reactor with highly viscousbroth.Electric conductivity and oxygen probes were used to measure the local gas holdup,liquidcirculation time and oxygen mass transfer coefficient in the individual sections of the reactor(riser,downcomer and the gas-liquid separating section at the top of the reactor)and the total reactor,respectively.The values of k_Lα for the riser,downcomer and separation sections of the reactor were alsoestimated and compared with that for the total reactor.The results show that,both k_Lα and ε_G in-crease but t_c decreases with increasing gas velocity.Correlations and comparisons with works reportedin the literature are also presented.Data show that the methods developed for k_Lα measurements inthe individual section and

MASS TRANSFER AND HYDRODYNAMICS IN AN AIRLIFT REACTOR WITH VISCOUS NON-NEWTONIAN FLUID

In an internal loop airlift reactor of 55L working volume, the gas-liquid volumetric oxygen mass transfer coefficient kLa, gas holdup eG and liquid circulation time tc were measured with the solution of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) to simulate the performance of a reactor with highly viscous broth. Electric conductivity and oxygen probes were used to measure the local gas holdup, liquid circulation time and oxygen mass transfer coefficient in the individual sections of the reactor (riser, downcomer and the gas-liquid separating section at the top of the reactor) and the total reactor, respectively. The values of kLa for the riser, downcomer and separation sections of the reactor were also estimated and compared with that for the total reactor. The results show that, both kLa and eEG increase but tc decreases with increasing gas velocity. Correlations and comparisons with works reported in the literature are also presented. Data show that the methods developed for kLa measurements in the individual section and total reactor are applicable to the studies of internal loop airlift reactors.