Gas and solids behavior in a baffled and unbaffled slurry bubble column

Abstract

Abstract New data and analyses are presented for describing gas and solids behavior in a slurry bubble column. Axial solids concentration and bubble size distributions were measured in a 0.108 m ID slurry bubble column apparatus operated at steady state conditions. The column was operated with and without internal baffles. The slurry and gas superficial velocities ranged from 0.0077 to 0.009 m/s and from 0.031 to 0.24 m/s, respectively. The solid phase consisted of glass spheres in a narrow size range with a mean diameter of 96.5 μm; the liquid phase consisted of tap water. With a one‐dimensional sedimentation‐dispersion model, the data have been used to predict average solids loadings and axial distributions of the solids for specified operating conditions. Local bubble size and concentration measurements indicate that the slurry bubble column was operated in the churn‐turbulent flow regime throughout the entire range of operating conditions used in this study. The impact of internal baffles and solids concentration on the gas and solids behavior is discussed.