A Hydrodynamic Experimental Study of Slurry Bubble Column

Slurry bubble column are used for a wide range of catalytic reactions in chemical industry for natural gas conversion to useful fuels with Fischer Tropsch Synthesis. In slurry bubble-column reactors are two principal flow regime: homogeneous and heterogeneous. Gas liquid mixture have different behavior in the homogeneous and heterogeneous regime, since the rate of heat and mass transfer depends on the hydrodynamic conditions. The relation between superficial gas velocity, concentration of solid suspension, liquid height and gas sparger type with gas hold-up are important designing parameters to predict the hydrodynamic behavior of slurry bubble-column reactors. According to different reported correlations, distinguishing the best correlation is the most important factor for scaling up the slurry bubble-column reactors. Our experimental reactor is a cylindrical bubble-column made of glass. With an inside diameter of 0.15(m) and a height of 2.8(m). the column are equipped two sparger, a porous plat and a perforated with the same porosity Gas hold up can be determine with differential pressure then to estimate the transition velocity in slurry bubble column reactors. To study the influence of particle concentration on the hydrodynamics of slurry bubble column reactors, the results show that increasing the solid concentration (silica powder) decrease the total gas hold up. Also the diameter of bubbles are changed with sparger type at constant porosity and to make important effect on gas hold up. The other important parameter on gas hold up in slurry bubble column is height. That increasing the liquid height in crease the resident time in the reactor there for increase the gas hold up but the are some limitations for increasing column height and determining the best height is important factor for scaling up and predicting hydrodynamic behavior.

Keywords:

slurry bubble column , gas hold up , sparger