Disengagement of the gas phase in bubble columns

Abstract

The technique of gas disengagement is popularly used to assess the bubble size distribution in bubble columns. The technique involves the dynamic measurement of dispersion height when the gas supply is stopped. In this paper a mathematical model has been proposed for the process of dynamic gas disengagement. It has been shown that the initial faster disengagement is due to the presence of internal liquid circulation and not due to the presence of very large bubbles. Further, slower disengagement has been attributed to the transition from heterogeneous dispersion to homogeneous dispersion. The new model also explains the effects of superficial gas velocity, column diameter, column height and liquid phase physical properties on the gas disengagement.