Contact

Dr. Markus Schubert

m.schubertAthzdr.de
Phone: +49 351 260 2627

Transport processes in bubble column reactors

Bubble columns are the working horses of the chemical, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industry with large environmental footprints. A proper optimization of such reactors can contribute to gross savings in energy consumption and catalyst materials and to reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.

The understanding and optimization of the multiphase flow in bubble column reactors is known to be a very intricate problem, which requires analysis of fluid dynamics and mass transfer. Bubble columns involve characteristic swarms with complex interactions, clustering and coherent structures. The instantaneous flow patterns consist of large circulation cells and small eddies of various energy spectra.

Although bubble columns are simple in construction, the understanding of flow pattern formation and characteristic swarming is still an important hurdle to predictively relate reactor parameters and performance objectives. Moreover, the experimental characterization of gas-liquid patterns, bubble swarm dynamics and interactions within the collective, e.g. bubble coalescence and breakage, is still challenging and requires new approaches and advanced measurement techniques. This is even more challenging for columns with internals (heat exchangers), catalyst particle-laden liquids (slurry bubble columns) and reactive systems.

The current research activities include:

Foto: Grundlegende fluiddynamische Untersuchungen - refpic ©Copyright: Dr. Markus Schubert

Fundamental fluid dynamics analysis

Experimental analyses in bubble columns using advanced noninvasive imaging techniques, namely Ultrafast X-ray Computed Tomography and Radioactive Particle Tracking, in a time-resolved manner were performed, where each data set provides complimentary ­information to the other.
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Foto: Reactive two-phase flows - refpic ©Copyright: Dr. Markus Schubert

Reactive bubbly flows

The aim of this sub-project is the experimental investigation of hydrodynamics in bubbly flows and their influence on the chemical absorption in a lab-scale bubble column (100 mm).
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Foto: Bubble columns with internals - refpic ©Copyright: Dr. Markus Schubert

Bubble columns with internals

The aim of this study is to reveal the influence of various tube layouts and sizes in bubble columns on the hydrodynamics, i.e. bubble size distribution, interfacial area, velocity profiles and gas phase holdup.
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Foto: Slurry bubble columns - refpic ©Copyright: Dr. Markus Schubert

Suspension bubble columns

The optimization of energy-intensive processes requires the best possible utilization of the compression energy in terms of gas-liquid interfacial area and phase interactions considering the impact of suspended catalyst particles.
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