Mathematical modeling and simulation for bubble column reactors using mixing cell concept

Bubble column reactors are widely used in many industrial processes. The paper reviews comprehensive model for the reactors using the mixing cell approach which consists of two parts: film model and reactor model. It incorporates heat and mass transfer effects in the film and uses non-linear finite difference method to solve the film model equations. The fluxes obtained in the interface are then directly used as the link to the reactor model. Mixing cell concept or tanks-in-series model is applicable to full spectrum of degree of mixing and simple numerical techniques are sufficient to obtain the solution for the model. Application to an industrially important case study, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) removal by the Lo-Cat process [reaction with iron (3+) chelates] which consists of two steps: the removal reaction and catalyst regeneration is illustrated. The model was found to show essentially similar trends with the experimental data. Besides the numerical method implied above is described here in detail

Keywords:

Finite difference method , Mass transfer , Lo-Cat process , Mixing cell model