Effects of solid mass and size on gas holdup and oxygen mass transfer coefficient of a three‐phase air‐lift reactor

Abstract

We investigated the effects of sand mass and size on gas holdups and oxygen mass transfer coefficients of a pilot‐scale three‐phase air‐lift reactor. Both gas holdups and the mass transfer coefficients decreased with the increase in sand concentration, but increased with the superficial gas velocity. Previous empirical correlations for three‐phase bubble column reactors either over‐ or under‐ predicted the actual gas holdups and the mass transfer coefficients of our air‐lift reactor. The sizes of sand ranging from 0.2 to 1.4 mm did not affect the mass transfer coefficients.

Key words:

• Air‐Lift Reactor
• Gas Holdup
• Oxygen Mass Transfer Coefficient