Hydrodynamic investigation of bubble-column reactors: effect of column configuration
Bubble-column reactors are quite popular in the chemical, biochemical and petrochemical industries due to their relatively simple construction, favourable heat and mass transfer properties and low operating cost. Among the various design parameters, column geometry (configuration) has a significant...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
2010
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17918 |
| _version_ | 1848749596816179200 |
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| author | Akhtar, Abid Tade, Moses Pareek, Vishnu |
| author_facet | Akhtar, Abid Tade, Moses Pareek, Vishnu |
| author_sort | Akhtar, Abid |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Bubble-column reactors are quite popular in the chemical, biochemical and petrochemical industries due to their relatively simple construction, favourable heat and mass transfer properties and low operating cost. Among the various design parameters, column geometry (configuration) has a significant impact on the overall throughput. In this study, an experimental investigation of the bubble-column configuration on its hydrodynamics has been conducted with three different sizes of the column (ID = 10–45 cm). A comparison in terms of the overall gas holdup as well as localised bubble properties is performed using the four-point optical technique and hydrodynamic similarities/dissimilarities are discussed. The study showed that the overall gas holdup was a function of the gas flow rate. For the range of gas velocity investigated (9.5–22.3 cm3/ min), the smaller column had 50–60% more holdup than the bigger column. Localised bubble properties exhibited similar behaviour (i.e. higher values for the smaller column). A comparative study of L/D illustrated an invariant behaviour at a high value of L/D (>5.5). A low L/D (≤1.5), however, showed a prominent influence on hydrodynamics. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:23:27Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-17918 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:23:27Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-179182017-09-13T15:42:22Z Hydrodynamic investigation of bubble-column reactors: effect of column configuration Akhtar, Abid Tade, Moses Pareek, Vishnu Bubble-column reactors are quite popular in the chemical, biochemical and petrochemical industries due to their relatively simple construction, favourable heat and mass transfer properties and low operating cost. Among the various design parameters, column geometry (configuration) has a significant impact on the overall throughput. In this study, an experimental investigation of the bubble-column configuration on its hydrodynamics has been conducted with three different sizes of the column (ID = 10–45 cm). A comparison in terms of the overall gas holdup as well as localised bubble properties is performed using the four-point optical technique and hydrodynamic similarities/dissimilarities are discussed. The study showed that the overall gas holdup was a function of the gas flow rate. For the range of gas velocity investigated (9.5–22.3 cm3/ min), the smaller column had 50–60% more holdup than the bigger column. Localised bubble properties exhibited similar behaviour (i.e. higher values for the smaller column). A comparative study of L/D illustrated an invariant behaviour at a high value of L/D (>5.5). A low L/D (≤1.5), however, showed a prominent influence on hydrodynamics. 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17918 10.1002/apj.458 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd restricted |
| spellingShingle | Akhtar, Abid Tade, Moses Pareek, Vishnu Hydrodynamic investigation of bubble-column reactors: effect of column configuration |
| title | Hydrodynamic investigation of bubble-column reactors: effect of column configuration |
| title_full | Hydrodynamic investigation of bubble-column reactors: effect of column configuration |
| title_fullStr | Hydrodynamic investigation of bubble-column reactors: effect of column configuration |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hydrodynamic investigation of bubble-column reactors: effect of column configuration |
| title_short | Hydrodynamic investigation of bubble-column reactors: effect of column configuration |
| title_sort | hydrodynamic investigation of bubble-column reactors: effect of column configuration |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17918 |