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Determination of local phase holdups in airlift reactors by means of time‐domain‐reflectometry
Author(s) -
Kochbeck Birgit,
Lindert Mark,
Hempel Dietmar C.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.270200804
Subject(s) - airlift , reflectometry , mass transfer , phase (matter) , chemistry , metre , time domain , mechanics , materials science , environmental science , nuclear engineering , process engineering , chromatography , bioreactor , physics , engineering , computer science , organic chemistry , astronomy , computer vision
Airlift loop reactors are useful in many chemical and biotechnological processes where three phase reaction systems are required. One example is biological waste water treatment. In order to enhance biological reaction rates it is often useful to immobilize the bacteria on carrier particles. Knowledge of solid distribution and local gas holdup in those systems is important for calculation of mass and energy transfer or reaction kinetics. For this reason a method has been developed which enables to measure such local phase holdups. The measuring system consists of a time‐domain‐reflectometry (TDR)‐instrument in combination with a pressure difference meter. The method has successfully been applied to determine local axial gas and solid distribution in internal airlift loop reactors, filled with a three phase system consisting of water, air, and polymer particles.