With the aid of nonuniform DC electric fields, an improved bubble disruption and dispersion technique has been developed for dielectric fluid bubble column reactors. The basic mechanisms which lead to bubble disruption and dispersion in the system have been studied both experimentally and theoretically. The influence of operating variables, liquid properties and electrode geometry on the present applied electric field method has been conducted. The efficiency of power consumption by using the present technique has also been revealed.
SCOPEIt is well known that bubble column reactors have a wide range of applications in many components of chemical industrial process such as absorption, catalytic slurry reactions, bioreactions, coal liquefaction, etc. These reactors are preferred because of simplicity of operation and low operating costs. Bubble column reactors have recently been reviewed by Mashelkan (1970) and Shah et al. (1982). Main objectives of designing better mass transfer bubble column reactors, other than energy efficiency, are to have better insight of the residence time, the uniformity, and the gas-liquid interfacial area.S. Ogata was a visiting r-her