Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

1 Publication

Tomography measurements of gas-holdup in rotating foam reactors with Newtonian non-Newtonian and foaming liquids

Tschentscher, R.; Schubert, M.; Bieberle, A.; Nijhuis, T. A.; van der Schaaf, J.; Hampel, U.; Schouten, J. C.

Rotating solid foam reactors have already proven to show high mass transfer rates and to be a potential alternative to slurry reactors. The rotation of a foam block stirrer results in a high mass transfer and in the development of different reactor sections showing specific hydrodynamics and gas holdup distributions. In order to optimize the reactor system the hydrodynamics in a lab scale reactor are studied using gamma-ray tomography, a powerful method to measure the gas holdup in three-phase reactors. The influence of liquid properties, such as viscosity and surface tension, and the rotational speed on the gas/liquid distribution in the different reactor sections is investigated. Especially the viscosity has a strong effect on the entrapment of gas bubbles in the foam block structure, while the surface tension is the dominant parameter in the outer reactor section. The influence of these paramters on the inset of foaming and the collapse of the gas/liquid dispersion is investigated. Conclusions on the mass transfer performance are drawn and recommendations for further optimizations of the reactor design and the operational conditions depending on the liquid properties are developed.

Keywords: multiphase reactors; gas holdup; tomography; solid foam

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-14961
Publ.-Id: 14961