ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Process characteristics for a gas—liquid system agitated in a vessel equipped with a turbine impeller and tubular baffles

Marta Major-Godlewska and Joanna Karcz

Department of Chemical Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, al. Piastów 42, PL-71 065 Szczecin, Poland

E-mail: Joanna.Karcz@zut.edu.pl

Abstract: Results of the experimental research on gas hold-up, power consumption for liquid phase and gas—liquid systems, and on residence time of the gas bubbles are presented in the paper for an agitated vessel with a turbine impeller. Distilled water or aqueous solutions of NaCl were used as the liquid phase. Air was dispersed into liquid as the gas phase. The studies were carried out in an agitated vessel of the inner diameter D = 0.634 m. Tubular baffles of the diameter of 0.7D, consisting of 24 vertical tubes of the diameter of 0.016D, were located inside a flat-bottomed tank. Turbines with six blades and the pitch of 90°, 60°, or 45°, respectively, were used for agitation. Measurements were carried out in the range of good dispersion of gas bubbles in the liquid within the turbulent regime of the liquid flow. Effects of the gas bubbles capability to coalesce on the gas hold-up, residence time of the gas bubbles, and power consumption were analyzed. Results of the power consumption (P _G-L /P _o = f ₁(Kg, Fr)) and gas hold-up (φ= f ₂(Kg, We, Y)) were approximated mathematically, using Eqs. (5) and (6), respectively. In Eq. (6), parameter Y was introduced in order to describe the influence of the bubbles capability to coalesce on the gas hold-up. The results of the study show that power consumption does not depend on the capability of bubbles to coalesce, but the pitch of the turbine impeller affects the power characteristics in such a physical system significantly. However, the residence time of the gas phase in agitated liquid depends on the pitch of the impeller blade and on the capability of bubbles to coalesce.

Keywords: agitated vessel – turbine impeller – gas hold-up – power consumption – residence time

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-010-0080-0

Chemical Papers 65 (2) 132–138 (2011)