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Hydrodynamics and power consumption of a reciprocating plate gas–liquid column
Author(s) -
Lounes Mustapha,
Thibault Jules
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.5450710401
Subject(s) - reciprocating motion , stack (abstract data type) , mechanics , power (physics) , plate column , column (typography) , power consumption , materials science , environmental science , chromatography , chemistry , mechanical engineering , thermodynamics , engineering , physics , computer science , gas compressor , connection (principal bundle) , programming language
An experimental program has been initiated to use a reciprocating plate column for aerobic fermentations. This paper reports the results of the initial phase consisting of the hydrodynamic studies and the evaluation of the power consumption as a function of the level of agitation and gas superficial velocity. The variation of the gas holdup is presented and compared to a correlation. It is shown that a simple correlation can predict adequately the gas holdup when water is used. The power consumption, necessary for scale‐up and design considerations, was evaluated using the pressure variation at the base of the column, the pressure difference across the column and the force exerted on the central shaft to reciprocate the plate stack. Results for the power consumed by the fluid mixture obtained with the three methods are presented and analyzed. The three methods give approximately the same value of the power consumption.