Determining the Effective Mass Transfer Area in Three-Phase Fluidized Bed with Low Density Inert Solids

Abstract

The absorption process is strongly influenced by the effective mass transfer area. In this study the effective mass transfer area in gas-solid-liquid three-phase fluidized bed was determined, in a fluidizing column having an internal diameter of 0.14 m and a height of 1.10 m. The solid packing is made of plastic hollow spheres of 0.01 m diameter, with 415 m2/m3 geometric area and a density of 170 Kg/m3. The absorption of carbon dioxide from the air-carbon dioxide mixture with molar concentration of 0.05M, 0.08M and 0.1M CO2 into sodium hydroxide aqueous solutions of 0.5N and 1.0 N has been employed as test reaction. The experiments were conducted with liquid load changing from 6.49 to 16.24 m³/(m² h) and gas velocity of 1.1 m/s and 2.1 m/s. It was found that the effective mass transfer area increased both with the increase of the gas velocity and the increase of the liquid spray density. It has been observed that the effective mass transfer area in gas-solid-liquid three-phase fluidized bed absorber is from three to eight times higher than the geometric area of the solid packing. A mathematical correlation has been established in order to predict the effective mass transfer area,under the specified conditions, with a deviation of less than 5%. Keywords: Effective mass transfer area, three-phase fluidized bed with low density inert solid packing, mass transfer model, chemical method, reaction regime