Dispersion and hold‐up in bubble columns — comparison of rigid and flexible spargers

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The performance of a new type of bubble generating device, the rubber sheet sparger, is contrasted and compared with rigid spargers. Impulse response tests were analyzed using the weighted‐moments method to determine voidage and dispersion coefficients in counter‐current bubble columns of nominal diameters two, four, six and twelve inches. The flexible rubber sheet sparger produced more uniform emulsions, smaller bubbles and larger voidages than perforated plates, while dispersion coefficients were reduced for a range of superficial gas velocities. The dispersion data seem to fit the isotropic turbulence model, with slight modifications. It is demonstrated that the rubber sheet sparger is self‐regulating, with hole size increasing in direct proportion to pressure drop across the sparger.

This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit: