Analysis and Flow Regime Identification of Bubble Column Dynamics

M.A. Bennett, S. P. Luke, X. Jia, R.M. West and R.A. Williams

Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter, Redruth, Cornwall, TR15 3SE,UK, email : mabennet@csm.ex.ac.uk

The authors are members of The Virtual Centre for Industrial Process Tomography

Abstract - Bubble columns are widely used across a range of industries. The work described in this paper, although applied to minerals separation flotation columns, is equally applicable in the wider context of bubble columns. In flotation columns a number of flow regimes may be obtained and are difficult to visualise and detect. An Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) sensor has been applied to investigate the potential of ECT for flotation column visualisation and control. Different methods of flow regime analysis are reported including a repeatable and robust analytical procedure that has been designed to quantify heterogeneity.

Keywords: bubble columns, ECT, multi-phase flow.