Effects of Sparger Height and Orifice Orientation on Solids

Dispersion in a Slurry Bubble Column

BIMAL GANDHI, ANAND PRAKQSH* and MAURICE A. BERGOUGNOU
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B9,
Canada
The effects of gas distributor height and the orientation of its orifices are investigated on solids dispersion and gas
holdup profiles in a three-phase slurry bubble column. The height of the distributor was varied to cover locations from
near column bottom to above the settled solids bed height. The orifice orientations were changed from upward facing to
downwards facing directions. The measurements were conducted in a Plexiglas column of 0.15 m ID and 2.5 m height.
The gas phase was oil-free compressed air while tap water was used as liquid phase. Glass beads with an average particle
diameter of 35 pm and density of 2450 kg/m3 constituted the solid phase. The settled bed height was about 0.4 m which
provided an average slurry concentration of about 15% (v/v) when all solids were dispersed. Both axial and column average
phase holdups were measured. Effects of sparger location, gas jets formation and liquid circulation patterns on gas
holdups and solids dispersion are analyzed. Empirical correlations are developed to relate sparger location to solids dis-
persion as a hnction of gas velocity. Optimum sparger height and orifice orientation is proposed based on the measure-
ment of this study.
On a etudie les effets de la hauteur du distributeur de gaz et de Iorientation de ses orifices sur les profils de disper-
sion des solides et de retention de gaz dans une colonne a bulles en suspension triphasique. On a fait varier la hauteur
du distributeur afin de couvrir les differents emplacements, en partant du fond de la colonne jusqua la hauteur de lit de
solides sedimentes. Les orientations dorifices ont ete modifiees de la direction vers le haut a la position vers le bas.
Les mesures ont ete menees dans une colonne en plexiglass de 0,15 m de diametre interieur et de 2,5 m de hauteur. La
phase gazeuse etait de Iair comprime sans huile tandis que de Ieau du robinet etait utilisee comme phase liquide. Des
billes de verre ayant un diametre de particule moyen de 35 pm et de masse volumique egale a 2450 kg/m3 constituaient
la phase solide. La hauteur de lit fixee etait denviron 0,4 m ce qui donnait une concentration moyenne de boues denviron
15% en volume lorsque tous les solides etaient disperses. Les retentions de phase axiales et moyenne pour la colonne
ont toutes deux etaient mesurees. Les effets de la position de Iaerateur, de la formation de jets de gaz et des profils de
circulation des liquides sur les retentions de gaz et la dispersion de solides sont analyses. Des correlations empiriques sont
etablies pour relier la position de Iaerateur a la dispersion de solides en fonction de la vitesse de gaz. On propose une
hauteur daerateur et une orientation des orifices optimales a partir des mesures de cette etude.
Keywords: sluny bubble column, sparger height, orifice orientation, solids dispersion.
he slurry bubble column reactor is an important multi-
T phase particulate system used for a number of processes
in chemical, petrochemical and biochemical industries
(Deckwer, 1985; Fan, 1989; Dudukovic and Devanathan,
1992). The advantages offered by slurry bubble columns
include: high liquid (slurry) phase content for reactions to
take place, reasonable interphase mass transfer rates at low
energy input, high selectivity and conversion per pass,
excellent heat transfer properties and easy temperature con-
trol (isothermal operation), and online catalyst addition and
withdrawal. Also, there is a low maintenance requirement
due to simplicity in construction and absence of any moving
parts. Some of the drawbacks of slurry bubble columns
include: considerable backmixing in both the continuous
liquid (sluny) phase and the dispersed gas phase, low volu-
metric catalyst loading, bubble coalescence, and difficulties
in scaling up. The productivity of catalytic slurry bubble
column reactors could be improved by increasing catalyst
loading. This can, however, lead to regions of poor mixing
and mass transfer, especially in the distributor region. The
distributor design therefore, is expected to play an important
role in proper design and operation of slurry bubble
columns. The placement of the gas distributor system is also
critical for an efficient and trouble Freeoperation of the slurry
Author to whomcorrespondence may be addressed. E-mail address:
aprakas2@julian.uwo.ca
bubble column reactor. The placement of a sparger with
downward facing orifices too close to the column base can
lead to eventual erosion of the base place. Moreover, for
higher solids corrcentration systems, there may be startup
problems due to solids plug formation (Gandhi, 1997).
There is currently a lack of information on the hydro-
dynamic behavior of slurry bubble columns with varying
sparger heights which can lead to optimum sparger location.
This study investigates the effects of sparger height, orifice
orientations and superficial gas velocities on hydrodynamics
of a slurry bubble column. The hydrodynamic parameters
investigated are solids dispersion and gas holdup.
Experimental
Experiments were conducted in a Plexiglas column which
had an inner diameter of 0.15 m and a total height of 2.5 m.
The column was designed with four sections for easy con-
struction and flexibility (Figure 1). The gas phase was oil-free
compressed air. Filtered air passed through a sonic nozzle
and entered the column through a gas distributor at the bottom
of the column. The sonic nozzle provided the advantage of
a controlled air flow which is independent of downstream
pressure (which would fluctuate during experimental runs).
The air flow rate was varied by adjusting the pressure
upstream of the sonic nozzle with a pressure regulator. The
superficial gas velocity was varied between 0.05 d s and
0.28 m/s based on ambient conditions. Air exited the column
THE CANADIAN J OURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, VOLUME 77, APRIL, 1999 383
Section #4
(0.30m)
Section t 3
(0.50m)
Section #2
(1.20m)
Section W 1
(0.50m)
/
rl
R I.D. =0.15m
Cyclonic
Separator
i! I I I E& Sluny Sampling Taps
(9.53mm)
..
1 I A i r
Pressure Taps
(6.35mm) Drain
Sonic Nozzle
Figure 1 - Details of experimental setup.
top via a fume hood. Prior to exiting in the fume hood, the
air passed through a cyclonic separator and bag filter to
remove any fine particulates which may have been entrained.
Tap water was used as the liquid phase for both two phase
(G-L) and three phase (G-L-S) systems. Since the system
was operated in batch mode, the static slurry height was
maintained at 1.5 m above the bottom of the column. Glass
beads with an average diameter of 35 pm and particle den-
sity of 2452 kg/m3 constituted the solid phase. The settled
solids bed height was about 0.395 m giving an average slurry
concentration of about 15% (vh) solids.
The gas was distributed at the column bottom through a
four armsparger with orifices facing downwards or upwards.
The distance between the orifice and the column bottom
(base plate) could be adjusted with a special arrangement
shown in Figure 2a. It consisted of a Plexiglas ring, with its
inner diameter flush with the gas inlet pipe. The sparger
could bemoved up or down with respect to the ring and an
O-ring prevented any leakage of slurry. The following pro-
cedure was followed for adjusting sparger height: first the
screws on the Plexiglas ring were loosened, then the sparger
height adjusted by either raising or lowering the sparger and
finally the screws on the Plexiglas ring were tightened. The
height of the orifices from the base plate was varied between
0.015 to 0.45 m. Figure 2a shows the sparger with down-
ward facing holes. For upward facing holes, the sparger
arms were turned up by 180". Each armof the sparger had
five orifices of 1.5 mmdiameter. The orifices were spaced
as shown in Figure 2b, based on the criterion of uniform dis-
tribution of gas across column cross-section.
Average and axial gas holdups were measured by the
pressure profile technique using manometers located at
Spai er (Adjustable) Height 550
Column Wall
Plexiglass
Ring
___-________--------------
Screw
0-nng
Air from sonic nozzle
Figure2a - Adjustableheight sparger design details.
Sparger Arm
Column Wall /
0
O I
j !
! !
:I
n
Orifice
(diameter =1.5 mm)
Figure 2b - Top view of sparger with orifice spacing.
approximately 0.05, 0.25, 0.45, 0.75 and 1.15 m, above the
base plate. To avoid plugging of pressure ports by fine solid
particles, a U-tube manometer system with air backflushing
was used. Each rotameter allowed a small amount of air to
enter the column, thereby preventing liquid and/or solids
from entering the lines. To minimize any errors due to fric-
tional pressure drop in the back flushing lines, the length of
tubing from the tee splitter to the column wall was minimized
384 THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, VOLUME 77, APRIL, 1999
and kept constant for all pressure taps. The pressure gradient
can be related to the manometer pressure differential by:
Column Wall
w
I I
165 mm4;
- AP =p,p(%)
. . . . . . . .
A.2
....................
(1)
Where p,is the density of the manometer fluid, Ay is the
manometer pressure differential and Az is the height differ-
ence of the pressure taps. However, for the three-phase flu-
idized system, pressure gradient is also defined as:
. . . . . . . . . (2)
where pd is the dispersion density. Since water was used as
the manometer fluid, a relationship between dispersion den-
sity and pressure profile can be obtained:
Pd =-Ow( *y&) ..........................
(3)
For bubble column systems (G-L), the gas holdup
between two adjacent pressure taps can be directly correlated
from the ratio of pressure differential to the height differ-
ence of the pressure taps as:
............................
E g =1 +(Ay&) (4)
For slurry systems, Equation (2) can be rearranged to
give:
or.
Pd - PSI
& =-
..........................
Pg -PSI
Finally, for low pressure operations the gas density (p,) is
small compared to slurry density (p,,), therefore:
Thus, the gas holdup in a differential section of the col-
umn (Az), could be calculated from Equations (3) and (6) if
the slurry density in this section was also known. Therefore,
slurry samples were taken along the column height and slurry
density was determined by the pycnometric technique. The
set of slurry samples withdrawn along the column height
gave an axial profile of the slurry density. From this profile
and Equations (3) and (6), the axial gas holdup profile in the
column was determined. The average gas holdup in the col-
umn was calculated from the pressure difference between
the top and the bottom pressure taps and the average slurry
density obtained from total solids dispersion. Since back-
flushing introduced a small amount of air into the system,
tests were performed to measure the effect of back-flushing
.-t
- . J
9 53 mm
Slurry Sample
Figure 3 -Details of slurry sampling probe design and operation.
on average gas holdups. Measurements were made for a
gas-liquid system with air back-flushing and with back-
flushing turned off. The effects of back-flushing were found
to be less than 1%.
Local slurry concentrations were obtained from slurry
samples withdrawn with a specially designed sampling
probe shown in Figure 3. The sampling probe was designed
so as to avoid entrainment of gas bubbles and prevent solids
from settling within its shaft. Five sampling ports were
available along the axial column height to collect slurry
samples. They were located at 0.05, 0.25, 0.65, 1.05 and
1.45 m respectively, above the base of the column. Each
sampling probe consisted of an outer sleeve and a piston
rod. Figure 3 shows the probe assembly and direction of
flow of slurry sample. As can be seen in Figure 3, when the
piston rod was pulled outward the slurry flowed out of the
nozzle pointing downwards. After collection of the slurry
sample the piston was pushed back into the sleeve to stop
the flow of slurry. A brush attached at the tip of the piston
cleaned the sleeve when the piston was pushed back.
Samples sizes of 75 mL to 100 mL were withdrawn and the
solid fraction in slurry sample (y,) was obtained by the pycno-
metric technique. Average solids dispersion density was
determined by measuring static solid heights prior to and
during experimental runs.
Results and discussion
Measurements were made for solids dispersion and gas
holdups for varying sparger heights. The sparger was above
the initial bed of solids when positioned at 0.45 m and
0.40 m from the bottom, and within the bed for other sparger
positions. When air was sparged into the column some of
the settled solid got dispersed, causing a reduction in the set-
tled bed height. Figure 4 gives the settled solid bed height as
a function of superficial gas velocity for varying sparger
positions for the downward facing orifices. A relatively
even interface between the solid bed and slurry could be
observed for different conditions, allowing visual measure-
ments of the settled bed heights. For a given sparger posi-
tion, the settled bed height decreased with increasing gas
velocity due to the dispersion of the solids. The total amount
of solids dispersed had two components; the solids dis-
persed from above the sparger and those dispersed from
below it. Dispersion of solids from above the sparger was
always complete and dependent only on the sparger posi-
tion. This is illustrated in Figure 4, where the height of the
undisturbed solid bed is always below the sparger position
at any given velocity. When the sparger was positioned at
0.45 m, there was practically no dispersion of solids at the
superficial gas velocity of 0.05 m / s . The distance between
THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, VOLUME 77, APRIL, 1999 385
8 Spargar .I 0.40m
A Smrasr at 0.35m 1 .o
0.8
P
H
i5
UI 0.6
P
5
u)
-6
C
.' 0.4
P
LL
0.2
0.0
0.15 -/ ------v
,
0.05
0.00
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
Superficial Gas Velocity (m/s)
Figure 4 - Settled solid bed height for various sparger positions
and superficial gas velocities (downward facing orifices).
the sparger and the solid bed was about 0.065 m, indicating
that any effect of bubbles generated turbulence and liquid
recirculation extended to a lower distance. Some reduction
in the settled solid bed height was, however, observed at the
same gas velocity when the sparger was positioned at 0.40 m.
The distance between the sparger and the defluidized bed
was about 0.035 m, indicating that the effect of the gas bubbles
and the turbulence induced by it extended to about 0.035 m.
The length to which the solid bed height was reduced for the
superficial gas velocity of 0.05 m/ s remained substantially
constant (at about 0.035 m) for all other sparger positions.
As the gas velocity was increased further, the dispersion of
solids increased and the solids bed height decreased. It can
also be seen in Figure 4 that the settled solid bed height lines
are almost parallel to each other for different sparger
heights. This implies that the amount by which the settled
solid bed height is reduced from below the sparger is mainly
a function of the gas velocity and relatively independent of
the sparger position. However, when the sparger height is
decreased, there is higher dispersion of solids from the bed
leading to a maximum slurry concentration of 15% (v/v)
when all solids were dispersed. Therefore, it may be con-
cluded that for the downward facing orifices there is no sig-
nificant effect of slurry concentration on solids dispersion
up to the highest slurry concentration (1 5% v/v) used in this
study.
With increasing gas velocity through sparger orifice,
there is a transition from the bubbling regime to gas jetting
regime. The transition from uniform bubbling to bubble coa-
lescence and gas jetting has been reported in the literature
(Leibsan et al., 1956; Ozawa and Mori, 1983; Rabiger and
Vogelpohl, 1983). For a superficial gas velocity of 0.05 m/ s
the orifice Reynolds number was about 2500, indicating
operation in the bubble coalescence regime (Leibsan et al.,
1956) between uniform bubbling and gas jetting. For the
superficial gas velocity of 0.1 m/ s , the orifice Reynolds
number was about 6000, indicating transition to gas jetting
regime (Leibsan et al., 1956). For the downward pointing
orifices, the solids dispersion below the sparger is aided by
the momentum of gas jets. The dispersion of solids would
h
I I I I
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Sparger Height from Base Plate (m)
Figure 5 -Fractional solid dispersion with varying sparger height
for downward facing orifices.
increase with increasing gas velocity, due to increasing gas
jet penetration and upward solids entrainment by the rising
gas bubbles. The kinetic energy of the gas jets (1/2p,V 2)
would increase with increasing gas velocity. The gas bubgles
formed from the penetrating gas jets, create an upward
momentum of the suspension. In turn, the suspension travels
up the column center and back down at the column walls,
creating circulation patterns. If there is enough kinetic energy
in this recirculation, solids may also be entrained and dis-
persed: The length of the gas jets and the recirculation pattern
in the liquid both increase with an increase in gas superficial
velocity. This can account for the increased dispersion (smaller
undispersed bed) with the gas velocity seen in Figure 4.
Local slurry samples were taken along the column with
sampling probes #2 to 5 (wherever possible). The average
concentration of the dispersed solids could be calculated
from these local slurry concentrations. Figure 5, shows the
amount of dispersed solids in the slurry, (represented as a
fraction of the maximum solid concentration), as a function
of the gas superficial velocity, at different sparger locations.
Nearly complete solids dispersion could be achieved up to a
sparger height of about 0.1 m at the highest gas velocities
(>0.2 d s ) . For sparger heights above 0.1 m, complete dis-
persion of solids could not be achieved. Figure 5 can be used
for a quick estimation of sparger height for uniform disper-
sion of solids at a given velocity and vice versa.
The distance between the sparger and the undisturbed
solid bed (Ldis), could be related to the modified Froude
number based on the orifice velocity and orifice diameter.
Figure 6 presents the distance of the settled solid bed from
the sparger as a function of the modified Froude number for
various sparger positions. Data for the runs with gas super-
ficial velocity varying from 0.10 m/ s to about 0.25 m/ s , and
with sparger positions ranging from 0.45 m to 0.10 m above
the bottom, have been included in this figure. It is seen from
Figure 6, that LdiS is relatively independent of the sparger
location (as indicated by the 95% confidence interval),
except for the sparger position of 0.45 m from the bottom.
However, L, for the sparger location at the 0.45 m con-
verges with those for the other sparger positions at high
3 86 THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, VOLUME 77, APRIL, 1999
0.14
-
E 0.12
l
p 0.10
B
; 0.08
5
k
n_
r
g 0.06
v)
6
8
5
2 0.02
0.04
8 Sprger at 0.35m
A Spr ger at 0.25m
v Sprger at O.15m
+Spr gar at 0.10m
0.00 I I I I I I I I
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
Modified Froude Number (KO)
Figure 6 - Relationship between modified Froude number and
distance between the sparger and the settled solid bed for the
downward facing orifices.
Froude number (or high gas velocity). At low superficial gas
velocities, there was very little dispersion of solids for this
sparger height since the gas jets could not reach the bed and
solids were dispersed mainly by turbulence in the region
above the bed.
There is very little information in the literature on gas jet
penetration length in gas-liquid or gas-liquiholid flu-
idized bed systems. However, extensive work has been done
in gassolid fluidized beds and several correlations of jet
penetration length have been proposed (Zenz 1968; Meny,
1975; Wen et al., 1982; Yates et al., 1988; Benjelloun et al.,
1995). The correlations proposed by Yates et al. (1988) and
Benjelloun et al. (1995) for vertical downward jets were
tested against the data of this study.
Yates et al., (1988):
Benjelloun et al., (1995):
Figure 7 compares L, for the given gas-liquid-solid sys-
tem, with the gas jet lengths, L. for vertical downward jets
in gassolid systems predictebby the above correlations. It
can be seen that Ljet predicted by the above correlations, are
about half of the dispersed solids height below the sparger.
It may be noted that Ldjs is a cumulative effect of dispersion
by the gas jets and dispersion of solids by liquid recircula-
tion and bubble turbulence. It was pointed out earlier, that
bubble formation would extend its influence up to about
0.035 m of bed height. If this value is subtracted from L,,
the predicted values of L.et become close (within 10%) to
experimental values. For &e data of this study, a correlation
1
g 0.02
0.00 I I I I I I I I
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
Modified Froude Number (Fr;)
Figure 7 - Comparison of distance between sparger and settled
solids bed height with gas jet penetration length predictions by lit-
erature correlations for gassolid systems.
was also developed to predict Ldi,? based on a modified
Froude number using orifice velocity (FrJ. This correla-
tion can be directly used to estimate dispersed solid bed
height below the sparger:
......................
L, =0.0082(FJ,)0.335 (9)
In order to separate the effects of gas jet penetration and
liquid recirculation patterns, additional experiments were
conducted with the sparger orifices facing upwards. Unlike
the flat bed surface observed for the downward facing
sparger, the settled solid bed surface was dish-shaped when
the orifices were facing upwards. This indicated that solids
dispersion was aided by liquid (slurry) recirculation flow.
Since the bed surface was not flat, it was not possible to
make visual measurements of the height of the solid bed.
The total amount of solid dispersed was estimated from the
concentration of the slurry samples withdrawn at various
axial positions along the column. For these calculations, the
column was divided into five sections. These sections were
chosen so that each slurry sampling probe location was
roughly in the middle of the respective section (except the
top section). Thus, it was assumed that the average solid con-
centration of each section was that measured by the sampling
probe. The average gas holdup in each section was calculated
by using the taps closest to or at the top and bottom of the
section (taps at 0.05 m and 0.15 m for section 1, taps at
0.15 m and 0.45 m for section 2, taps at 0.45 m and 0.95 m
for section 3, and 0.95 m and 1.15 m for section 4). It was
assumed that the gas holdup for section 5 was the same as in
section 4. Thus the total amount of solid dispersed could be
calculated as:
where subscript i denotes a section. Since the system was
operated at 15% (v/v) solids, the total amount of solids
added (MJ was known. From the initial settled height of the
THE CANADI AN J OURNAL OF CHEMI CAL ENGINEERING, VOLUME 77, APRIL, 1999 387
Spr par at 0.25m
A spr par at 0.15m
Spr per at 0.10m
+8pr p~aI O. OSm
Sparpar at 0.OlE.m
..-.-.-.-
0.05 -
0.00
A
4 0.15
A
A
0.10
w
w
.
I I I I I
total amount of solids (HSi) the average voidage of the solid
bed was calculated:
.........................
The amount of solids remaining in the bed was (M, - Md )
and the height of the solids remaining in the bed could thus
be estimated as:
........................
(12)
(Mi - Md )
PsEsbAc
Hbed =
The expanded height of dispersion was estimated by tak-
ing the average of three readings over an interval of about
10 min. The maximum deviation between the three readings
was found to be less than 2%. In order to find the errors
associated with this estimation procedure, the solids bed
height was calculated from the slurry samples collected for
the downward facing sparger. The deviation between the
estimated and the measured solid bed heights for the down-
ward facing sparger was found to be less than5% for sparger
positions up to 0.35 m from the bottom. This error generally
increased to about 10% for higher sparger positions, due to
errors associated with measurement of samples with low
solids concentrations.
Figure 8 shows the estimated height of the settled solid
bed, estimated using Equation (12), for the upward facing
sparger as a function of the superficial gas velocity and
sparger location. As in the case of the downward facing
sparger, there is an increased dispersion of solids from the
bed with increasing gas velocity. Lowering the sparger also
enhanced dispersion, as expected. An increase in the gas
superficial velocity implies a larger power input per unit
volume of slurry which causes stronger circulation patterns
to develop in the column. As the kinetic energy in this recir-
culation grows, more solids are entrained and dispersed. The
1 .o
0.8
f
0.6
u) 4
8 U
0.4
0.2
0.0
VQ- 0.05mla
vp.o.11 mls
A Vg-0. l SWa
vp=o.21 mls
+V~ - 0 3 7 ml s
95 % Confidence Interval
-
-
-
1 I I I
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Sparger Height From Base Plate (m)
Figure9 - Fractional solid dispersion with varying sparger height
for upward facing orifices.
fact that there was dispersion of solids from below the
sparger for the upwards pointing orifices, indicates that liquid
circulation also plays a role in solids dispersion. It was
observed that there was no dispersion of solids when the
sparger was at 0.45 m, thus indicating that the effect of the
liquid circulation and turbulence did not extend to 0.065 m
below the sparger. It can be observed from Figure 8 that
maximum dispersion of settled bed height was less than
0.06 m for all cases. For the sparger positions below 0.10 m,
the gradient of decrease of the solid bed height with the
increasing superficial gas velocity became smaller. This
could be attributed largely to a reduced recirculation rate
due to increase in slurry concentration. The solids dispersion
data as a bcti on of the sparger position for the upward facing
orifices are presented in Figure 9. Nearly complete dispersion
of solids could be achieved only at the lowest sparger location
(0.015 m from the bottom). However, even at this position
small pockets of solids were observed to remain at the col-
umn bottom around the comers.
Figure 10 compares the settled solid bed heights for the
downward facing and upward facing spargers. It can be seen
that at any given superficial gas velocity and sparger posi-
tion, the amount of dispersion from the solid bed is less in
the case of the upward facing sparger than the downward
facing sparger. This indicates that the effect of the liquid cir-
culation pattern extends to a much smaller distance than the
gas jet effects. Almost no dispersion was noted in the case
of the upward facing sparger at the lowest velocity
(0.05 d s ) , implying that the liquid circulation developed at
this velocity is too weak to entrain and disperse any solids.
On the other hand, the downward facing sparger showed
some solid dispersion even at the lowest gas velocity when
the sparger orifices are not jetting. This might be due to the
turbulence developed by the bubbles forming at the orifice
of the sparger. This effect extended to a length of about
0.03 m to 0.04 m. As the gas superficial velocity was
increased, LdjS increased for both the upward facing and the
downward facing spargers. At the highest gas velocity
388 THE CANADIAN J OURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, VOLUME 77, APRIL, 1999
0.50
0.45
0.40
0.35
r 0.30
A
8
1 0.25
+j 0.20
v)
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0 6pr gor at O.t Om m Sprgerat0.tOm
A 8parg.r at 0.15 m A sparperat O.tSm
'I Spr ger at O.25m
v Sp.rg.rn1025m
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
Superkial gar velocity (WS)
Figure 10 - Comparison of settled solid bed height for upward
and downward facing orifices (filled symbols for downward facing
and hollow symbols for upward facing orifices).
(0.275 m/ s ) Ldis was about 0.10 m for the downward facing
sparger, while it was only about 0.04 m for the upward fac-
ing sparger.
At any given superficial gas velocity the relative position
of the sparger from the column bottom determines the
amount of solid dispersion that can be achieved. A regres-
sion analysis based on the fraction of the solids dispersed
(wf r aC) and the superficial gas velocity yielded the following
expression for the position of the downward facing sparger:
dsp,&,, =0.472 - 0.4721 yfiac +0.2737 Vg (R2 =0.97)
For the upward facing sparger, the relation between the
sparger position, fractional dispersion and the superficial
gas velocity had the form:
.........................................
* (13)
=0.4158 - 0.38551 yifiuc +0.0607 Vg (R2 =0.97)
(14)
The fractional solids dispersion is a measure of the amount
of dispersion actually obtained relative to the maximum
amount of dispersion that can be achieved, and is given as:
d.YP,UP
..........................................
............................
(15)
W S
Wfiac =-
W max
The gas introduced at the sparger contains both kinetic
and potential (buoyant) power. The buoyant power is trans-
ferred to the slurry (from the gas) as the gas moves upward
and expands. Moreover, it can be reasonably assumed that
the gas expansion takes place under isothermal conditions
(Lamont, 1958). Thus, the potential power of the incoming
gas can be expressed as:
Wpot =PoQo In[ 21=PoQo In[ " -+ rHdg] . . . . (16)
0.18
0.16
0.14
7- 0.12
-
I 0.10
0 ! 0.08
5
iii 0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
L
o.-------d - _ _ _ _ _ _ _
3
V-------n
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Axial Dislanca alona Column (rnl
Figure 11 - Solids concentration profiles for upward and down-
ward facing orifices at superficial gas velocity of 0.05 m/s (filled
symbols for downward facing and hollow symbols for upward fac-
ing orifices).
The kinetic power in the incoming gas is related to the gas
velocity at the orifice and can be calculated as:
(17)
W , , =-ti 1 2 1 V, =-(p,Qo)Vo 2
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2 2
For superficial gas velocities between 0.05 and 0.25 m/s,
the total power input with the gas (WpolentiULg +Wki nel i c,g)
ranged fromabout 12 to 160 W. The kinetic power accounted
for only about 0.2% of the total power at a superficial veloc-
ity of 0.05 m/ s , but went up to 45% at the highest superficial
gas velocity of 0.25 m/ s . It has been reported (Abramovich,
1963; Lehrer, 1968) that only a small fraction of the jet
kinetic energy (<10%) is transmitted out of the jet region.
This implies that the kinetic power transmitted out of the jet
region to maintain the bulk motion of the slurry was less
than 3% of the total input power. This indicates that the
potential energy due to gas flow is responsible for maintain-
ing the bulk slurry motion, while the kinetic energy in the
gas is dissipated within the jet region without significant
contribution to the bulk motion.
The effect of the sparger orientation on the dispersion of
solids from the settled bed can be related to this difference
in kinetic and buoyant power utilization. When the sparger
orifices are pointing downwards, the gas jets impinge directly
on the settled bed of solids and the kinetic energy of the gas
is utilized to disperse solids from the bed. The gas jet would
entrain the surrounding fluid in its boundary and expand.
Eventually, the buoyancy force would take over, turning the
gas column upwards from which gas bubbles will break
away. The rising gas bubbles would provide the upward lift
(in their wake) to the surrounding fluid. Therefore, the
downward gas injection provides good agitation for solids
dispersion. In the case of the upward pointing sparger ori-
fices, the kinetic power in the gas is dissipated above the
sparger without contributing to solid agitation and disper-
sion below the sparger. Any dispersion of the solids is due
THE CANADIAN J OURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, VOLUME 77, APRIL, 1999 389
0.18
0.16
0.14
7- 0.12
-
C
0
5 0.10
8
5 0.08
$
Z 0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
0 vg--o.osmk
rn vg--o. 15mh
I
0 vg--o.o5ml s
0 vg--o.15ml s
A Vg--O.ZSmES
0 Sparger at O.35m
Sparger at 025m
A Sparger at 0.15m
7 Sparger ef 0.015rn
0 Sparger at 0.35 m
0 Spagw at 0.25 m
A Spargar at 0.15 rn
v Spr ger at 0.01 5 m
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
Axial Distance along Column (m)
Figure 12 - Solids concentration profiles for upward and down-
ward facing orifices at superficial gas velocity of 0.25 m/ s (filled
symbols for downward facing and hollow symbols for upward fac-
ing orifices).
to the circulatory motion of the slurry which is maintained by
the energy provided by the expanding gas (buoyant power).
For a given sparger location, the downward facing sparger
requires much lower gas velocities to maintain the same
solids dispersion than an upward facing sparger (Figure 10).
Thus, the power utilization in the downward facing sparger
is more effective in solids dispersion than the upward facing
sparger.
It may be noted that the jets from downward facing orifices
would entrain the surrounding medium downward. This will
help agitate the solids suspension without providing an
upward lift to solids. This was supported by the measure-
ments of axial solids profiles. Figure 11 shows that concen-
tration gradients for the two sparger types were similar for
low gas velocity (0.05 d s ) , where gas jet effects are less
significant. For the higher gas velocity, the gradients
become sharper for the downward facing sparger (Figure 12)
where gas jet effects are more significant.
Average gas holdups obtained at different sparger heights
are compared in Figure 13 for the two spargers. For the low
gas velocity of 0.05 d s , no significant difference is observed
between the two orifice orientations, although differences
were observed in slurry concentrations (Figure 11). As dis-
cussed earlier, gas jet effects are not expected to be signifi-
cant at this gas velocity. For the higher gas velocities (0.15
and 0.25 d s ) , gas holdups are higher at low sparger heights
(<0.2 m) for the sparger with downward facing orifices.
The differences between the two spargers became less sig-
nificant for higher sparger positions. It may also be noted,
that variation of gas holdup with sparger position is more
significant for the upward facing sparger. The decrease in
gas holdup can be attributed to an increase in average bubble
size, due to decrease in turbulence, especially in the distrib-
utor region. For the upward facing sparger, turbulence in the
distributor region is created mainly by the recirculating
flow. It was observed earlier, that an increase in slurry con-
centration can explain reduced effects of gas velocity on
d "'-"
I rr--u
0.05 I I I I
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Sparger Position from BasePlate (m)
Figure 13 - Variation of average gas holdups with sparger posi-
tion for the upward and downward facing sparger orientations
(filled symbols indicate downward facing sparger; hollow symbols
indicate upward facing sparger)
solids dispersion for the upward facing sparger at lower
sparger positions (Figure 8). Such an effect, however, was
not observed for the downward facing sparger (Figure 4).
This again suggests that a sparger with downward facing ori-
fices would be a better choice for slurry bubble columns.
Conclusions
A sparger with downward pointing orifices is dernon-
strated to be more effective in solids dispersion compared to
the upward pointing orifices in a slurry bubble column. It is
argued that the gas jets from downward facing orifices pro-
vide the agitation to facilitate solids dispersion. Relationships
based on experimental data of the study are presented to
select sparger location for complete solids dispersion at a
given velocity. For complete dispersion of solids, the sparger
with upward facing orifices need to be placed as close to the
column bottom as possible. The sparger with downward fac-
ing orifices can be placed about 0.05 m from bottom to pro-
vide nearly complete solids dispersion above gas velocity of
0.1 d s .
Acknowledgements
Assistance provided by Mr. S . Bhattacharya in conducting some
of the experiments and in data analysis is gratefully acknowledged
by the authors. The financial supports from the Natural Sciences
and Engineering Research Council of Canada in the form of a
research grants to A.P. and M.A.B are gratefully acknowledged.
Nomenclature
A,
do =orifice diameter, (m)
dsp,dwn =position of sparger with downward facing orifices, (m)
d3p,yp =position of sparger with upward facing orifices, (m)
Fro
=cross-sectional area of column, (m2)
=modified Froude number based on orifice velocity,
[PgV,2/(gd,(P3, - Pg)l
390 THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, VOLUME 77, APRIL, I999
g
Hbed
Hd
Hsi
Ldi,y
Ljel
m
=acceleration due to gravity, (m/s2)
=height of settled solid bed, (m)
=height of dispersion, (m)
=height of initial settled bed of solids, (m)
=distance between sparger and remaining settled solid
=jet penetration length, (m)
=mass flowrate of gas, (kg/s)
=mass of slurry sample, (kg)
=total mass of solids in column, (kg)
=mass of solids dispersed in column, (kg)
=pressure at the bottom of column, (Pa)
=pressure at top of the column, (Pa)
=gas volumetric flowrate, (m3/s)
=superficial gas velocity, (m/s)
=orifice gas velocity ( d s )
=potential (buoyant) power in incoming gas as defined
by Equation (1 6), (W)
=kinetic power in incoming gas as defined by Equation
=height of section i in Equation (S), (m)
=static pressure increment along the column, (Pa)
=difference in U-tube manometer reading, (m)
=a small increment in vertical distance, (m)
bed, (m)
( 1 7), (W)
Greek letters
=volume fraction or holdup
=porosity of settled solid bed
=dispersion density, (kg/m3)
=density of manometer fluid, (kg/m3)
=density of water, (kg/m3)
=density, (kg/m3)
=fractional solid dispersion as defined in Equation (1 5)
=achievable maximum solid fraction in suspension, (v/v)
=solid fraction in slurry sample, (v/v)
=average solid fraction in slurry, (v/v)
Subscripts
d =dispersion
g =gas
i =section i
I =liquid
p =particle
S =solid
sb =settled bed
sl =slurry
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Manuscript received J une 17, 1998; revised manuscript received
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39 I