Gas hold-up, pressure drop and flow regime study in semi-batch PSRBC bubble column

Abstract

The present investigation is aimed to give a new dimension to the bubble column hydrodynamic study such as gas hold-up, flow regime and total pressure-drop. Pressure swing rotating bubble cap (PSRBC) sparger is used for this purpose, which has a unique feature of self-rotating ability. Compressed air is supplied through the PSRBC sparger into the column of stationary water. Flow regime and gas hold-up of bubble column have been studied with various superficial air flow rates. Empirical and semi-empirical models have been developed for predicting gas hold-up, pressure drop and RPM for the PSRBC sparger bubble column in the present range of investigation. The calculated values from predicted models have been compared with the experimental values and the coefficients of correlations are found to be more than 0.97. The present hydrodynamic study on gas hold-up, pressure drop, flow regime and RPM may be found useful for the gas-liquid systems, where the gas phase is dispersed in liquid through bubbling manner.