Effect of gas sparger design on bubble column hydrodynamics using pure and binary liquid phases

It is known that the fluid dynamics and transport phenomena in bubble columns depend mainly on the bubble column design (i.e., the column diameter, aspect ratio, and gas sparger openings) and the liquid phase properties. In this communication, we contribute to present-day discussion through an experimental study concerning the combined effects of the gas sparger design and liquid phase properties on both the gas holdup and the main flow regime transition. The experimental study concerning gas holdup measurements was conducted in a large-diameter and large-scale bubble column (with a height of 5.3 m and inner diameter of 0.24 m) operated in the batch mode. Air was used as the dispersed phase (using gas superficial velocities in the range 0.004–0.20 m/s), and various water–monoethylene glycol (MEG) solutions were employed as binary liquid phases. The water–MEG solutions tested have viscosities between 0.9 mPa·s and 7.97 mPa·s, densities between 997.086 kg/m3 and 1094.801 kg/m3, and surface tension between 0.0715 N/m and 0.0502 N/m. Two gas spargers were tested: (a) a spider sparger (“coarse gas sparger”) and (b) a needle sparger (“fine gas sparger”). The former produced a poly-dispersed homogeneous flow regime resulting in a concave gas holdup curve, whereas the latter produced a mono-dispersed homogeneous flow regime resulting in an S-shaped gas holdup curve. It was observed that the mono-dispersed bubble size distribution stabilized the homogeneous flow regime. The addition of MEG produced different effects depending on the gas sparger design. The addition of MEG in the “coarse gas sparger” configuration produced what is usually referred to as “dual effect of viscosity”: depending on the MEG concentration, the homogeneous flow regime was stabilized/destabilized, and thus, the gas holdup increased/decreased. Conversely, the addition of MEG in the “fine gas sparger” changed the shape of the gas holdup curve from an S-shape to concave, thus rendering it similar to the ones produced by “coarse gas sparger”. We speculate that viscous solutions reduce the influence of the inlet conditions in large-diameter and large-scale bubble columns; this is a matter of future research. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd