Interaction between partitioning porous plate and rising bubbles in a trayed bubble column

Abstract

In a trayed bubble column, the structure of the partitioning plate plays an important role on the bubble behavior. This study examined the effect of the opening ratio and pore size of the plate on the bubble break-up frequency and bubble size distribution. The sieve tray was used as the partitioning plate. The opening ratio was closely related to gas cap development. The stagnation of bubble flow and a gas cap were observed with an opening ratio less than 48.5%. The gas cap increased with decreasing opening ratio and increasing superficial gas velocity. The main effect of the sieve tray could be categorized into the additional drag force and bubble break-up depending on the sieve pore size. When the sieve pore size was smaller than the Sauter diameter of the bubble swarm, the movement of rising bubbles was interrupted by the drag force applied by the surrounding mesh lines. On the other hand, when the sieve pore size was larger than the Sauter diameter, the bubbles were affected by the additional bubble break-up. After the bubbles penetrated the sieve tray, the bubble size distribution shifted to a smaller one and the Sauter diameter decreased. (c) 2012 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.