Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Bubble column reactors are widespread in the chemical industry [1]. Hydrodynamics and mass transfer processes in bubble column reactors are difficult to predict, as they occur at different length and time scales. Thus, numerous parameters affect the performance of bubble column reactors in terms of yield and selectivity. These are the gas holdup, bubble size, bubble interfacial area, liquid-phase velocity, and mass transfer coefficients. In addition, the kinetics of the chemical reactions in a bubble column and the mixing of the reactants play a significant role and may even feedback on mass transfer and hydrodynamics. Within a German DFG Priority Programme we investigate the coupling between hydrodynamics, mass transfer and reaction in bubbly flows across the scales and with real chemical reaction systems [2]. Within this framework, our group studies the macroscale processes in laboratory bubble columns with selected experimental techniques. In our presentation, we will introduce two different ways for time-resolved local chemical species concentration measurement, i.e. the analysis of OH- consumption during chemisorption of CO2 in alkaline solution by electrochemical analysis using a wire-mesh sensor as well as chemical conversion of NO in Fe(II) (EDTA) solution with a fiber optical photospectrometry technique.