GAS HOLDUP AND AXIAL DISPERSION IN GAS-LIQUID CONCURRENT BUBBLE COLUMN

An experimental investigation was carried out to determine the effect of liquid flow on gas holdup and axial dispersion coefficient in a gas-liquid concurrent bubble column 20 cm in diameter, in the ranges of gas and liquid superficial velocities of 0.21-0.87 and 0-1.16ms-1, respectively. Theoretical expressions of the turbulent recirculation flow were developed to account for the effect of liquid flow rate. With increasing liquid upflovv rate, the value of axial dispersion coefficient decreases at relatively small liquid flow rate and turns to increase at large flow rate, whereas the value of gas holdup decreases simply. These phenomena were quantitatively explained by the developed theory, including the effect of column diameter.