Void fraction, bubble size and interfacial area measurements in co-current downflow bubble column reactor with microbubble dispersion

Contemporary application of microbubble technology in water treatment

Microbubble (MB) technology constitutes a suite of promising low-cost technologies with potential applications in various sectors. Microbubbles (MBs) are tiny gas bubbles with diameters in the micrometre range of 10-100 μm. Along with their small size, they share special characteristics like slow buoyancy, large gas-liquid interfacial area and high mass-transfer efficiency. Initially, the review examines the key dissimilarities among the different types of microbubble generators (MBG) towards economic large-scale production of MBs. The applications of MBs to explore their effectiveness at different stages of wastewater treatment extending from aeration, separation/ flotation, ozonation, disinfection and other processes are investigated. A summary of the recent advances of MBs in real and synthetic wastewater treatment, existing research gaps, and limitations in upscaling of the technology, conclusion and future recommendations is detailed. A critical analysis of the energetics and treatment cost of combined approaches of MB technology with other advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) is carried out highlighting the potential applicability of hybrid technology in large-scale wastewater treatment.

Research on the Law of Head Loss of Jet Pumps in the Cavitation State

Liquid flow is subject to head loss because of viscous force, surface tension, friction force, and so on. Part of the energy is irreversibly converted into heat, which then dissipates into the environment. Head loss intensifies in the turbulent state. At present, few studies explore the law of head loss caused by secondary flow, cavitation intensity, and turbulence intensity. In this study, the head losses in different sections of a jet pump were studied by controlling the cavitation number σ, the secondary flow rate Q _s, and the inlet pressure p _i. The experimental results were analyzed with the aid of computational fluid dynamics. The results show that an increase in Q _s can weaken the variations of Q _s and suction pressure p _s in the transitional stage of cavitation. Besides, σ, Q _s, and p _i influence head loss to varying extents. Cavitation intensity and turbulence intensity are the main factors for head loss and jet temperature difference. In particular, the influence of Q _s on head loss provides guidance both for reducing the energy loss of the quantitative adding device and jet aerator and for expanding the stable adding range of the jet. More importantly, the main factors of energy loss caused by jet cavitation were analyzed in detail, which can effectively facilitate the pipeline design to reduce the local and frictional head loss.

Effects of the Microbubble Generation Mode on Hydrodynamic Parameters in Gas–Liquid Bubble Columns

The hydrodynamics parameters of microbubbles in a bubble column were studied in an air–water system with a range of superficial gas velocity from 0.013 to 0.100 m/s using a differential pressure transmitter, double probe optical fiber probe, and electrical resistance tomography (ERT) technique. Two kinds of microbubble generators (foam gun, sintered plate) were used to generate microbubbles in the bubble column with a diameter of 90 mm, and to compare the effects of different foaming methods on the hydrodynamics parameters in the bubble column. The hydrodynamic behavior of the homogeneous regime and the transition regime was also studied. The results show that, by changing the microbubble-generating device, the hydrodynamic parameters in the column are changed, and both microbubble-generating devices can obtain a higher gas holdup and a narrower chord length distribution. When the foam gun is used as the gas distributor, a higher gas holdup and a narrower average bubble chord length can be obtained than when the sintered plate is used as the gas distributor. In addition, under different operating conditions, the relative frequency distribution of the chord length at different radial positions is mainly concentrated in the interval of 0–5 mm, and it is the highest in the center of the column.

A micro-jet array for economic intensification of gas transfer in bioreactors

Bioreactors are of interest for gas-to-liquid conversion of stranded or waste industrial gases, such as CO, CH₄ , or syngas. Process economics requires reduction of bioreactor cost and size while maintaining intense production via rapid delivery of gases to the liquid phase (i.e., high k_L a). Here, we show a novel bioreactor design that outperforms all known technology in terms of gas transfer energy efficiency (k_L a per power density) while operating at high k_L a (i.e., near 0.8 s^-1 ). The reactor design uses a micro-jet array to break feedstock gas into a downward microbubble flow. Hydrodynamic and surfactant measurements show the reactor's advanced performance arises from its bubble breakage mechanism, which limits fluid shear to a thin plane located at an optimal location for bubble breakage. Power dissipation and k_L are shown to scale with micro-jet diameter rather than reactor diameter, and the micro-jet array achieves improved performance compared to classical impinging-jets, ejector, or U-loop reactors. The hydrodynamic mechanism by which the micro-jets break bubbles apart is shown to be shearing the bubbles into filaments then fragmentation by surface tension rather than "cutting in half" of bubbles. Guided by these hydrodynamic insights, strategies for industrial design are given. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 35: e2710, 2019.