Impact of Dense Internals on Fluid Dynamic Parameters in Bubble Column

Dinesh V. Kalaga; Vishal Bhusare; H.J. Pant; Jyeshtharaj B. Joshi; Shantanu Roy

doi:10.1515/ijcre-2018-0012

Article

Impact of Dense Internals on Fluid Dynamic Parameters in Bubble Column

Dinesh V. Kalaga , Vishal Bhusare , H.J. Pant , Jyeshtharaj B. Joshi and Shantanu Roy

Published/Copyright: September 25, 2018

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From the journal International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering Volume 16 Issue 12

Abstract

Industrial gas-liquid processes such as oxidation, hydrogenation, Fischer-Trospch synthesis, liquid-phase methanol synthesis, and nuclear fission are exothermic in nature; the reactor of choice for such processes is, therefore, a bubble column equipped with heat exchanging internals. In addition to maintaining the desired process temperature, the heat exchanging vertical tube internals are used to control flow structures and liquid back mixing. The present work reports the experimentally measured gas hold-up, mean liquid velocity and liquid phase turbulent kinetic energy, using the Radioactive Particle Tracking (RPT) technique, in a 120 mm diameter bubble column equipped with dense vertical tube internals covering 23 % of the total cross-sectional area of the column. The effect of superficial gas velocity (44–265 mm/s) on gas hold-up, mean liquid velocity and turbulent kinetic energy is presented and discussed. It has been inferred from the experimental results that the vertical tube internal located at the center of the column plays a vital role in affecting the hydrodynamics when compared to the conventional internal configurations reported in the literature. For the chosen dense internal configuration, the cross-sectional distribution of the gas holdup, mean liquid velocity and turbulent kinetic energy show asymmetry for all the superficial gas velocities investigated. The overall gas holdup and the liquid turbulence increases with an increase in the superficial gas velocity. The strong liquid circulation velocities have been seen upon the insertion of the dense internals.

Keywords: bubble column with internals; vertical tube internals; gas hold-up; liquid phase turbulence

Nomenclature

VG: Gas hold-up
HD: Dispersed liquid height
HS: Static liquid height
VZ: Axial mean liquid velocity
VZm′: Instantaneous mean liquid velocity in m^th compartment
N: Number of occurrences of tracer particle
m: Hypothetical cell/compartment
H: Column height
D: Column Diameter
KE: Turbulent kinetic energy
Vr′: Instantaneous radial liquid velocity
Vθ′: Instantaneous azimuthal liquid velocity
VZ′: Instantaneous axial liquid velocity

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Received: 2018-01-18

Revised: 2018-05-29

Accepted: 2018-09-16

Published Online: 2018-09-25

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/ijcre-2018-0012

Keywords for this article

bubble column with internals; vertical tube internals; gas hold-up; liquid phase turbulence