Bubble Column Reactors: the Variables Influencing the Mono-Dispersed Homogeneous Flow Regime

The fluid dynamics of large-diameter bubble columns explicates in six flow regimes emergin upon an increase in the gas flow rate and can be described and predicted via correct modelling of the flow regime transition coordinates. This study focuses on the transition between the mono-dispersed and poly-dispersed homogeneous flow regime and defines a statistical approach to determine the significative variables influencing the transition. The analysis is performed by coupling: (a) the Ordinary Least Squares method (OLS), to determine the relationship between the variables, (b) the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF), to check for multicollinearity issues, and (c) the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO), to select suitable variables. Subsequently, the Classification and Regression Tree (CART) approach has been applied to generate homogenous clusters of bubble columns in terms of flow regime transition.