Profiles of Gas Holdup in a Gas Liquid Countercurrent Bubble Column Using Electrical Resistance Tomography

H. Jin1, Z. Tong1, S. Yang1, M. Wang2 and R. A. Williams2

1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China, Email: jinhaibo@bipt.edu.cn

2 Institute of Particle Science and Engineering, School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

ABSTRACT

In order to improve the performance of a countercurrent bubble column, radial variations of the gas holdup and mean holdups were investigated in a 0.160m i.d. bubble column using electrical resistance tomography with two axial locations (Plane 1 and Plane 2). In all the experiments tap water was the liquid phase and air was the gas phase. The superficial gas velocity was varied from 0.02 to 0.25 m/s, and the liquid velocity varied from 0 to 0.01 m/s. The effect of liquid velocity on the mean holdup and radial gas holdup distribution is discussed. The experimental results show that the liquid velocity slightly influences the mean holdup and radial holdup distribution under the operating condition. An empirical correlation for the centreline gas holdup is obtained based on the effects of gas velocity, liquid velocity, and ratio of axial height to column diameter.

Keywords gas liquid countercurrent bubble column, ERT, radial gas holdup profile