Flow in bubble columns: some numerical experiments

Abstract

Bubble columns are being widely used in the chemical and petrochemical industry. It has become increasingly important to develop theoretically sound models for scaling up and designing of these reactors for more complicated reaction systems. Such reactor models would require detailed knowledge of the flow characteristics of the reactor. This paper presents a numerical simulation model for predicting the details of turbulent gas-liquid flow encountered in bubble columns. The time-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for the liquid phase are solved, using a finite-volume solution algorithm. The turbulent stresses are obtained from the κ-ε model. The bubble slip velocities were specified externally to the solution, avoiding the need for the solutions of the gas-phase momentum equations. The results of various numerical experiments are described to highlight the influences of key parameters on the characteristics of flow in bubble columns.