Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

This article deals with flow regime (FR) identification and gas holdup prediction in a bubble column (BC) of 0.1 m inner diameter operated with aqueous solutions of 2-pentanol at ambient conditions. The hydrodynamic behavior of mixtures of deionized water (DW) and 2-pentanol with different volume concentrations (0.5-2.0 vol. %) was examined. A new identification method based on an error analysis was proposed. By means of the local well-pronounced minima in the new dimensionless error ratio, three transition velocities (at 0.044, 0.055 and 0.077 m/s) were reliably identified. The first critical velocity was fully predictable by an empirical correlation. Overall gas holdups were also successfully predicted in both homogeneous and transition FRs of BC operation. One of the main empirical correlations was modified in order to predict the overall gas holdups recorded in different aqueous solutions of 2-pentanol. Only one parameter was fitted for every mixture investigated. The average relative error was very low.