Mass Transfer Models for Oxygen-Water Co-Current Flow in Vertical Bubble Columns

Abstract

The present work reports a theoretical and experimental study of mass transfer for oxygen-water co-current flow in vertical bubble columns. The axial dispersion of liquid phase was also studied. Experiments were carried out in a 32 mm internal diameter and 5.35 and 5.37 m height columns. The superficial liquid velocity ranged from 0.3 to 0.8 m/s and volumetric flow rate ratio of gas to liquid ranged from 0.015 to 0.25. Mathematical models were developed to predict concentration of gas dissolved in the liquid as function of different physical and dynamic variables for two-phase cocurrent downflow and upflow. We obtained for the ratio of the liquid side mass transfer coefficient to initial bubbles radius, k_L/r₀=0.12 s^-1.

Keywords: Vertical bubble columns, gas-liquid bubble flow, oxygen-water flow, oxygen-water mass transfer, mass transfer models, gas-liquid co-current downflow, gas-liquid co-current upflow, mass transfer coefficient, axial dispersion, liquid axial dispersion coefficient, U tube.