A Review on Gas-Liquid Reactions in Light Oil Sweetening: Kinetics and Reactor Design Aspects

Estimation of Gas Holdup Using the Gassed to Ungassed Power Ratio of an Oxygen-Water System in a Stirred and Sparged Tank Contactor

Gas holdup (ε_g) and power correlations in gas-liquid (G-L) systems, apart from the physicochemical properties of the liquid phase, are dependent on impeller-sparger-vessel geometry. To date, reported correlations do not specifically address this issue, and it must be investigated with a unified approach. Here, we propose a correlation via the use of a normalized ε_g that involves the impeller-sparger system geometry for a vessel of standard geometry expressed as a function of an easily measurable and independent operational parameter, that is, (1 - P _g/P _l), where P _g/P _l is the gassed to ungassed power ratio. Furthermore, our work demonstrates that P _g/P _l can be used as a tool for the identification of hydrodynamic regimes. Radial and axial impellers with ring spargers were used in a stirred and sparged contactor (SSTC) of 0.25 m diameter containing 1 × 10^-2 m³ water. The oxygen flowrate (Q _g) was varied from 2.5 to 40 LPM or (4.17 to 66.7) × 10^-5 m³ s^-1, and the agitation intensity (N ₀) was varied from 1.67 to 50 rps at the temperature (θ) = 313 K under atmospheric pressure. This novel correlation is easy to use, offers reasonable precision, and can serve as a valuable alternative to more complex correlation models.