Hydrodynamics and Mass Transfer of Oily Micro-emulsions in An External Loop Airlift Reactor

doi:10.1016/S1004-9541(14)60050-1

Abstract

Abstract: This study reports an experimental investigation on hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics in a 15.6×10^-3 m³ external loop airlift reactor for oil-in-water micro-emulsions with oil to water volume ratio (φ) ranging from 3% to 7% (by volume). For comparative purposes, experiments were also carried out with water. Increase in φ of micro-emulsion systems results in an increment in the gas holdup and a decrease in the volumetric gas-liquid oxygen transfer coefficient and liquid circulation velocity, attributed to the escalation in the viscosity of micro-emulsions. The gas holdup and volumetric mass transfer coefficient for micro-emulsion systems are significantly higher than that of water system. Two correlations are developed to predict the gas holdup and oxygen transfer coefficient.

Key words: external loop airlift reactor, hydrodynamics, micro-emulsions, oxygen transfer

摘要： This study reports an experimental investigation on hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics in a 15.6×10^-3 m³ external loop airlift reactor for oil-in-water micro-emulsions with oil to water volume ratio (φ) ranging from 3% to 7% (by volume). For comparative purposes, experiments were also carried out with water. Increase in φ of micro-emulsion systems results in an increment in the gas holdup and a decrease in the volumetric gas-liquid oxygen transfer coefficient and liquid circulation velocity, attributed to the escalation in the viscosity of micro-emulsions. The gas holdup and volumetric mass transfer coefficient for micro-emulsion systems are significantly higher than that of water system. Two correlations are developed to predict the gas holdup and oxygen transfer coefficient.

关键词: external loop airlift reactor, hydrodynamics, micro-emulsions, oxygen transfer

Mona Ebrahimi Fakhari, Mostafa Keshavarz Moraveji, Reza Davarnejad. Hydrodynamics and Mass Transfer of Oily Micro-emulsions in An External Loop Airlift Reactor[J]. Chin.J.Chem.Eng., 2014, 22(3): 267-273.

Mona Ebrahimi Fakhari, Mostafa Keshavarz Moraveji, Reza Davarnejad. Hydrodynamics and Mass Transfer of Oily Micro-emulsions in An External Loop Airlift Reactor[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2014, 22(3): 267-273.

References

1 Merchuk, J.C., Stein, Y., "Local hold-up and liquid velocity in airlift reactors", AIChE J., 27, 377-388 (1981).

2 Choi, K.H., Lee, W.K., "Circulation liquid velocity, gas hold-up and volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient in external-loop airlift reactors", J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., 56, 51-58 (1993).

3 Bentifraouine, C., Xuereb, C., Riba, J.P., "An experimental study of the hydrodynamic characteristics of external loop airlift contactors", J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., 69, 345-349 (1997).

4 Ferreira, A., Ferreira, C., Teixeira, J.A., Rocha, F., "Temperature and solid properties effects on gas-liquid mass transfer", Chem. Eng. J., 162, 743-752 (2010).

5 Yang, J.H., Yang, J., Kim, H.J., Chun, D.H., Lee, H., Jung, H., "Two regime transitions to pseudo-homogeneous and heterogeneous bubble flow for various liquid viscosities", Chem. Eng. Process., 49, 1044-1050 (2010).

6 Luo, L.J., Liu, F.N., Xu, Y.Y., Yuan, J.Q., "Hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics in an internal loop airlift reactor with different spargers", Chem. Eng. J., 175, 494-504 (2011).

7 Boltes, K., Caro, A., Leton, P., Rodriguez, A., Garcia-Calvo, E., "Gas-liquid mass transfer in oil-water emulsions with an airlift bio-reactor", Chem. Eng. Process., 47, 2408-2412 (2008).

8 Mehrnia, M.R., Towfighi, J., Bonakdarpour, B., Akbarnejad, M.M., "Gas holdup and oxygen transfer in a draft-tube airlift bioreactor with petroleum based liquids", Biochem. Eng. J., 22, 105-110 (2005).

9 Moraveji, M.K., Sajjadi, B., Davarnejad, R., "The influence of oil-water ratio on the operation of an airlift reactor containing petroleum-based micro-emulsion", Pet. Sci. Technol., 32 (5), 514-520 (2014).

10 Young, M.A., Carbonell, R.G., Ollis, D.F., "Airlift bioreactors: Analysis of local two-phase hydrodynamics", AIChE J., 37, 403-428 (1991).

11 Russell, A.B., Thomas, C.R., Lilly, M.D., "The influence of vessel height and top-section size on the hydrodynamic characteristics of airlift fermentors", Biotechnol. Bioeng., 43, 69-76 (1994).

12 Siegel, M.H., Merchuk, J.C., "Hydrodynamics in rectangular airlift reactors: scale-up and the influence of gas-liquid separator design", Can. J. Chem. Eng., 69, 465-473 (1991).

13 Becker, S., Sokolichin, A., Eigenberger, G., "Gas-liquid flow in bubble column and loop reactors. Part II. Comparison of detailed experiments and flow simulations", Chem. Eng. Sci., 49, 5747-5762 (1994).

14 Kawase, Y., Omori, N., Tsujimura, M., "Liquid-phase mixing in external-loop airlift bioreactor ", J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., 61, 49-55 (1994).

15 Choi, K.H., "Hydrodynamic and mass transfer characteristics of external-loop airlift reactors without an extension tube above the downcomer", Korean J. Chem. Eng., 18, 240-246 (2001).

16 Yazdian, F., Shojaosadati, S.A., Nosrati, M., Pesaran Hajiabbas, M., Vasheghani-Farahani, E., "Investigation of gas properties, design, and operational parameters on hydrodynamic characteristics, mass transfer, and biomass production from natural gas in an external airlift loop bioreactor", Chem. Eng. Sci., 64, 2455-2465 (2009).

17 Rujiruttanakul, Y., Pavasant, P., "Influence of configuration on the performance of external loop airlift contactors", Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 89, 2254-2261 (2011).

18 Hamood-ur-Rehman, M., Dahman, Y., Ein-Mozaffari, F., "Investigation of mixing characteristics in a packed-bed external loop airlift bioreactor using tomography images", Chem. Eng. J., 213, 50-61 (2012).

19 Gharib, J., Moraveji, M.K., Davarnejad, R., Malool, M.E., "Hydrodynamics and mass transfer study of aliphatic alcohols in airlift reactors", Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 91,925-932 (2013).

20 Chisti, M.Y., "New investigation of gas properties, design, and operational parameters on hydrodynamic characteristics, mass transfer, and biomass production from natural gas in an external airlift loop bioreactor", Airlift Bioreactors, Elsevier Science Publishers, New York (1989).

21 Kalekar, M.S., Bhagwat, S.S., "Dynamic behavior of surfactants in solution", J. Dispersion Sci. Technol., 27, 1027-1034 (2006).

22 Garcia-Ochoa, F., Gomez, E., "Bioreactor scale-up and oxygen transfer rate in microbial processes: An overview", Biotechnol. Adv., 27, 153-176 (2009).

23 Shariati, F.P., Bonakdarpour, B., Mehrnia, M.R., "Hydrodynamics and oxygen transfer behavior of water and diesel microemulsions in a draft tube airlift bioreactor", Chem. Eng. Process., 46, 334-342 (2007).

24 McManamey, W.J., Wase, D.A.J., "The relationship between the volumetric mass transfer coefficient and gas holdup in airlift fermentors", Biotechnol. Bioeng., 28, 1446-1448 (1986).

25 Sajjadi, B., Moraveji, M.K., Davarnejad, R., "Investigation of surfactant effect on the operational characteristics of a packed bed internal loop airlift reactor", World Applied Sciences J., 11, 1004-1014 (2010).

26 Akita, K., Yoshida, F., "Bubble size interfacial area and liquid-phase mass transfer coefficient in bubble columns", Ind. Eng. Chem. Proc. Des. Dev., 13, 84-91 (1974).

27 Gavrilescu, M., Tudose, R.Z., "Mixing studies in external-loop reactors", Chem. Eng. J., 66, 97-104 (1997).

28 Wilke, C.R., Chang, P., "Correlation of diffusion coefficients in dilute solutions", AIChE J., 1, 264-270 (1955.).

29 Kilonzo, P.M., Margaritis, A., "The effects of non-Newtonian fermentation broth viscosity and small bubble segregation on oxygen mass transfer in gas-lift bioreactors: A critical review", Biochem. Eng. J., 17, 27-40 (2004).

30 Asgharpour, M., Mehrnia, M.R., Mostoufi, N., "Effect of surface contaminants on oxygen transfer in bubble column reactors", Biochem. Eng. J., 49, 351-360 (2010).

[1]	Tian Zhang, Qingshan Huang, Shujun Geng, Aqiang Chen, Yan Liu, Haidong Zhang. Impacts of solid physical properties on the performances of a slurry external airlift loop reactor integrating mixing and separation [J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2023, 55(3): 1-12.
[2]	Shenglin Yan, Yan Zhang, Chong Peng, Xiaoyong Yang, Yuan Huang, Zhishan Bai, Xiao Xu. Oil droplet movement and micro-flow characteristics during interaction process between gas bubble and oil droplet in flotation [J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2022, 45(5): 229-237.
[3]	Wen-Cong Chen, Ya-Wei Fan, Liang-Liang Zhang, Bao-Chang Sun, Yong Luo, Hai-Kui Zou, Guang-Wen Chu, Jian-Feng Chen. Computational fluid dynamic simulation of gas-liquid flow in rotating packed bed: A review [J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2022, 41(1): 85-108.
[4]	Le Li, Yansheng Zhao, Wenhao Lian, Chun Han, Qian Zhang, Wei Huang. Review on the effect of heat exchanger tubes on flow behavior and heat/mass transfer of the bubble/slurry reactors [J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2021, 35(7): 44-61.
[5]	Shivanand M. Teli, Channamallikarjun S. Mathpati. Experimental and Numerical Study of Gas-Liquid Flow in a Sectionalized External-Loop Airlift Reactor [J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2021, 32(4): 39-60.
[6]	Yangjun Wei, Leming Cheng, Erdong Wu, Liyao Li. Experimental research on steady-state operation characteristics of gas-solid flow in a 15.5 m dual circulating fluidized bed system [J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2021, 32(4): 70-76.
[7]	Shuo Yang, Jilong Zhang, Jiaxing Xue, Qingpeng Wu, Qunsheng Li, Hongkang Zhao, Liqun Zhang. Hydrodynamics and mass transfer performance analysis of flow-guided trapezoid spray packing tray [J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2021, 39(11): 59-67.
[8]	Hongyan Liu, Zhuo Li, Shujun Geng, Fei Gao, Taobo He, Qingshan Huang. Influences of top clearance and liquid throughput on the performances of an external loop airlift slurry reactor integrated mixing and separation [J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2020, 28(6): 1514-1521.
[9]	Chenghui Zheng, Jiashun Guo, Chengkai Wang, Yuanfeng Chen, Huidong Zheng, Zuoyi Yan, Qinggen Chen. Experimental study and simulation of a three-phase flow stirred bioreactor [J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2019, 27(3): 649-659.
[10]	Kang Yu, Weijie Wang, Tao Zhang, Yumei Yong, Chao Yang. Effects of internals on phase holdup and backmixing in a slightlyexpanded-bed reactor with gas-liquid concurrent upflow [J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2019, 27(10): 2273-2283.
[11]	Yongzheng Li, Xiaolai Zhang, Guangwei Zhai, Haitao Zhang, Tao Li, Qiwen Sun, Weiyong Ying. LDV measurements of particle velocity distribution in an annular stripper [J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2019, 27(10): 2293-2303.
[12]	Dan Li, Kai Guo, Jingnan Li, Yiping Huang, Junchao Zhou, Hui Liu, Chunjiang Liu. Hydrodynamics and bubble behaviour in a three-phase two-stage internal loop airlift reactor [J]. Chin.J.Chem.Eng., 2018, 26(6): 1359-1369.
[13]	Zhineng Wang, Yong Kang, Xiaochuan Wang, Shijing Wu, Xiaoyong Li. Investigation of the hydrodynamics of slug flow in airlift pumps [J]. Chin.J.Chem.Eng., 2018, 26(12): 2391-2402.
[14]	Hongkang Zhao, Lun Li, Baohua Wang, Dan Yu, Qunsheng Li. Hydrodynamics performance and tray efficiency analysis of the novel vertical spray packing tray [J]. Chin.J.Chem.Eng., 2018, 26(12): 2448-2454.
[15]	Peining Yu, Yi Li, Jing Wei, Ying Xu, Tao Zhang. Modeling the pressure drop of wet gas in horizontal pipe [J]. , 2017, 25(7): 829-837.