Maximum Sauter Mean Diameter and Terminal Velocity of Drops in a Liquid-liquid Spray Extraction Column

The effect of holdup on Sauter mean drop diameter, d32 and the effect of d32 on terminal velocity have been investigated in a spray extraction column. There are two different zones for the dependence of d32 on holdup. d32 increased with an increase in holdup at low holdup levels and decreased with increasing holdup at high holdup levels. Variations in the terminal velocity of drops were similar to the dependence of d32 on holdup. Furthermore, empirical correlations have been derived to predict d32max and terminal velocity and were in a good agreement with the experimental data. The derived correlations were compared with other researchers work and the results were in a satisfactory conformity