Mass transfer in gas-liquid slurry reactors

A critical review is presented on the mass transfer characteristics of gas¿liquid slurry reactors. The recent findings on the influence of the presence of solid particles on the following mass transfer parameters in slurry reactors are discussed: volumetric gas¿liquid mass transfer coefficients (kLa, kGa), liquid-side mass transfer coefficients (kL and kS) and specific gas¿slurry contact area (a). The second part of this paper reviews the recent progress in our knowledge and understanding of the enhancement of gas¿slurry mass transfer due to the presence of solids. Five different cases are distinguished, i.e. \ud \ud ¿ enhanced mass transfer by physical adsorption on small particles.\ud \ud ¿ enhanced mass transfer by fast homogeneous reactions in the slurry, due to inert particles,\ud \ud ¿ enhanced mass transfer by homogenous reaction in the liquid with dissolving particles,\ud \ud ¿ enhanced mass transfer due to reactive particles and\ud \ud ¿ enhanced mass transfer due to catalytic particles in heterogeneous reactive systems.\ud \ud Prospective areas for additional research are identified

Mechanism of charge transfer in the discontinuous metal phase of a fluidized bed electrode

From measurements of double layer capacity, collision frequency and contact time during collision, it is concluded that models for charge transfer in the discontinuous phase of fluidized bed electrode that are based on ideal particulate fluidization cannot explain metal phase resistivities, experimentally observed.\ud Based on a literature survey it is shown that not only gas-solid but also liquid-solid fluidization is at least partially aggregative.\ud A preliminary model for charge transfer in the discontinuous phase, based on aggregative fluidization, is derived

Numerical calculation of simultaneous mass transfer of two gases accompanied by complex reversible reactions

A discretization technique is described, which makes it possible to calculate numerically mass transfer behaviour between two media in which complex chemical reactions occur. To show the stability of the technique it has been applied to the industrially well-known system of simultaneous absorption or desorption of H2S and CO2 to or from an amine solution, accompanied by simultaneously occurring strongly interfering overall chemical reaction(s) of complex, non elementary kinetics. For previously published limit cases of the transfer system considered, i.e. for the single transfer of H2S or CO2 accompanied by reversible chemical reaction, a comparison has been made with analytical and approximate solutions of previous authors. The agreement is very good. In studying simultaneous transfer of H2S and CO2, on which hardly any previous work was available, special attention has been paid to the effects of the reversibility of the reactions involved. It has been shown how, under certain conditions due to reversibility occurring in the transferzone, desorption takes place though absorption would be expected on basis of the driving forces. This revealed that not only enhancement factors larger than unity but also smaller, even negative values are possible

Experimental pulse technique for the study of microbial kinetics in continuous culture

A novel technique was developed for studying the growth kinetics of microorganisms in continuous culture. The method is based on following small perturbations of a chemostat culture by on-line measurement of the dynamic response in oxygen consumption rates. A mathematical model, incorporating microbial kinetics and mass transfer between gas and liquid phases, was applied to interpret the data. Facilitating the use of very small disturbances, the technique is non-disruptive as well as fast and accurate. The technique was used to study the growth kinetics of two cultures, Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b growing on methane, both in the presence and in the absence of copper, and Burkholderia (Pseudomonas) cepacia G4 growing on phenol. Using headspace flushes, gas blocks and liquid substrate pulse experiments, estimates for limiting substrate concentrations, maximum conversion rates Vmax and half saturation constants Ks could rapidly be obtained. For M. trichosporium OB3b it was found that it had a far higher affinity for methane when particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) was expressed than when the soluble form (sMMO) was expressed under copper limitation. While for B. cepacia G4 the oxygen consumption pattern during a phenol pulse in the chemostat indicated that phenol was transiently converted to an intermediate (4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate), so that initially less oxygen was used per mole of phenol.