Study on flow characteristics and phase holdup in a slurry bubble column coupled with mild agitation--颗粒学报PARTICUOLOGY

An, Q., Li, J., Zhang, L., Wang, N., Zhang, P., Luo, Z., & Lu, C. (2024). Study on flow characteristics and phase holdup in a slurry bubble column coupled with mild agitation. Particuology, 91, 226-234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2024.03.006

Study on flow characteristics and phase holdup in a slurry bubble column coupled with mild agitation

Qingyuan An^a, Jiantao Li^a *, Lei Zhang^c, Nailiang Wang^a, Pengfei Zhang^a, Zhenghong Luo^a, Chunxi Lu^b

a State Key Laboratory of High-Efficiency Coal Utilization and Green Chemical Engineering, Ningxia University, Yinchuan, 750021, China
b State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum Beijing, Beijing, 102249, China
c Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Monash University, Victoria, 3800, Australia

10.1016/j.partic.2024.03.006

Volume 91, August 2024, Pages 226-234

Received 21 January 2024, Revised 16 March 2024, Accepted 21 March 2024, Available online 1 April 2024, Version of Record 6 April 2024.

E-mail: jtli@nxu.edu.cn

Highlights

• Effect of mild agitation on flow characteristics in a slurry bubble column was studied.

• Mild agitation can affect coalescence and breakup of bubbles.

• Bubble motion trajectory was altered with mild agitation.

• Impact of mild agitation on gas holdup is linked to bubbles characteristics.

• A correlation included effect of mild agitation was proposed to predict gas holdup.

Abstract

A pilot-scale experimental setup was constructed to investigate the effect of mild agitation on the bubble characteristics and phase holdup in a slurry bubble column. Mild agitation positively impacts the axial uniform distribution of solid holdup, though it shows insignificant influence on the radial distribution. In homogenous regime, mild agitation promotes the coalescence of bubbles, and the effect becomes stronger with increasing agitator speed. The mild agitation contributes to a decrease in bubble size in heterogeneous flow regime. Mild agitation presents a significant effect on the gas holdup by adjusting the bubble size and bubble motion trajectory. The modification was introduced to predict the gas holdup considering the effects of mild agitation, a necessary consideration for applications requiring mild agitation. This adapted model predicts gas holdup with a maximum error of 12.9%.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Slurry bubble column; Mild agitation; Phase holdup; Bubble characteristics

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