Dispersal flood

Apart from the critical impeller speed for solid suspension and efficient gas dispersion, flooding is also a very important phenomenon in three-phase systems. Flooding may take place at low impeller speed or high gassing rate. Under these conditions, the gas is dispersed just around the central shaft of the tank, whereas the solids are settled at the bottom. Flooding characteristics are not affected by particles. Furthermore, high-viscosity liquids are able to handle more gas before flooding than low-viscosity liquids. 

Low pressures favor high vapor velocities and low liquid flow rates and, therefore, spray regime dispersions. Flooding in vacuum columns and in columns operating at a low liquid-to-vapor ratio is usually caused by the spray entrainment mechanism. 

Holdup and Flooding. The volume fraction of the dispersed phase, commonly known as the holdup can be adjusted in a batch extractor by means of the relative volumes of each Hquid phase added. In a continuously operated weU-mixed tank, the holdup is also in proportion to the volume flow rates because the phases become intimately dispersed as soon as they enter the tank. 

The nonuniformity of drop dispersions can often be important in extraction. This nonuniformity can lead to axial variation of holdup in a column even though the flow rates and other conditions are held constant. For example, there is a tendency for the smallest drops to remain in a column longer than the larger ones, and thereby to accumulate and lead to a locali2ed increase in holdup. This phenomenon has been studied in reciprocating-plate columns (74). In the process of drop breakup, extremely small secondary drops are often formed (64). These drops, which may be only a few micrometers in diameter, can become entrained in the continuous phase when leaving the contactor. Entrainment can occur weU below the flooding point. 

Coalescence and Phase Separation. Coalescence between adjacent drops and between drops and contactor internals is important for two reasons. It usually plays a part, in combination with breakup, in determining the equiHbrium drop si2e in a dispersion, and it can therefore affect holdup and flooding in a countercurrent extraction column. Secondly, it is an essential step in the disengagement of the phases and the control of entrainment after extraction has been completed. 

Fig. 22. Bulk flow patterns with increasing N at constant where (a) shows flooding (b) to (d), increasing degrees of dispersion, and (e) complete...

A general flow map of different hydrodynamic conditions (Fig. 23) consists of regions of flooding, dispersion, and recirculation on a plot of N vs for a Rushton turbine. For a low viscosity aqueous/air system, the gas flow numbers for the three conditions are given hy FI = 30Fr[D/TY for flooding, = 0.2Fr° (F/r)° for complete dispersion, and =13FF D/TY for recirculation. 

Processes. The most common method for the appHcation of chemicals to the surface of a paper web is by a size press. In the size press, dry paper, which usually is sized to prevent excess water and chemical penetration, is passed through a flooded nip or pond, and a solution or dispersion of the functional chemical contacts both sides of the paper. Excess Hquid is squeezed out in a press and the paper is redried. 

The WAG process has been used extensively in the field, particularly in supercritical CO2 injection, with considerable success (22,157,158). However, a method to further reduce the viscosity of injected gas or supercritical fluid is desired. One means of increasing the viscosity of CO2 is through the use of supercritical C02-soluble polymers and other additives (159). The use of surfactants to form low mobihty foams or supercritical CO2 dispersions within the formation has received more attention (160—162). Foam has also been used to reduce mobihty of hydrocarbon gases and nitrogen. The behavior of foam in porous media has been the subject of extensive study (4). X-ray computerized tomographic analysis of core floods indicate that addition of 500 ppm of an alcohol ethoxyglycerylsulfonate increased volumetric sweep efficiency substantially over that obtained in a WAG process (156). 

A stable operating condition beyond flooding (region CD or C D ) for nonextended surface packing with the liquid as the continuous phase and the gas as the dispersed phase has been reported by Lerner and Grove [Ind. Eng. Chem., 43, 216 (1951)] and Teller [Chem. Eng., 61(9), 168 (1954)]. 

The major variable in setting entrainment (E, weight of liquid entrained per weight of vapor) is vapor velocity. As velocity is increased, the dependence of E on velocity steepens. In the lowest velocity regime, E is proportional to velocity. At values of E of about 0.001 (around 10 percent of flood), there is a shift to a region where the dependence is with (velocity) ". Near flood, the dependence rises to approximately (velocity). In this regime, the kinetic energy of the vapor dominates, and the bulk of the dispersion on the plate is often in the form of a coarse spray. 

Holdup and Flooding At this point it is useful to introduce the concepts of holdup and flooding in column contactors. It is normal practice to select the phase which preferentially wets the internals of the column as the continuous phase. This then allows the dispersed phase to exist as discrete droplets within the column. If the dispersed phase were to preferentially wet the internals, this could cause the dispersion to prematurely coalesce and pass through the column as rivulets or streams which would decrease interfacial area and therefore column efficiency. 

Down spouts (or up spouts) are best set flush with the plate from which they lead, with no weir as in gas-hquid contact. The velocity of the continuous phase in the down spout V, which sets the down-spout cross section, should be set at a value lower than the terminal velocity of some arbitrarily small droplet of dispersed phase, say, 0.08 or 0.16 cm i M or Mfi in) in diameter otherwise, recirculation of entrained dispersed phase around a plate will result in flooding. The down spouts should extend beyond the accumulated layer of dispersed phase on the plate. 

Countereurrent bubble flow with liquid-supported solids, whieh ean be affeeted by downward liquid fluidization of partieles having a density lower than that of the liquid, has been referred to as inverse three-phase fluidization. The mass transfer potential of sueh a eountercurrent operation is worthy of study, especially for cases in whieh dispersion of the gas rather than the liquid is ealled for and the required gas-liquid ratio and throughput ean be effected without flooding. In contrast, the eorresponding eoeurrent mode has reeeived more attention than all other eases and eonstitutes the majority of the literature on three-phase fluidization. 

In buffered surfactant-enhanced alkaline flooding, it was found that the minimum in interfacial tension and the region of spontaneous emulsification correspond to a particular pH range, so by buffering the aqueous pH against changes in alkali concentration, a low interfacial tension can be maintained when the amount of alkali decreases because of acids, rock consumption, and dispersion [1826]. 

INEEL. 241Am contamination occurred outside the SDA to a distance of 2,500 meters at the INEEL (Markham et al. 1978). Maximum concentrations of 241Am, 2,048 nCi/m2 (75.8 kBq/m2) in the 0-4" surface layer, near the perimeter of the SDA were thought to be due to flooding and to localized drainage of water, while low concentrations away from the SDA perimeter are a result of wind transport. Soil sampled at 118 plots around RF contained 241 Am ranging from 0.18 to 9,990 Bq/kg (0.0049-270 nCi/kg) with a mean and SD of 321 and 1,143 Bq/kg (8.67 and 30.9 nCi/kg), respectively (Litaor 1995). The distribution pattern reflects wind dispersion consistent with the prevailing winds at RF. 

Petroleum recovery typically deals with conjugate fluid phases, that is, with two or more fluids that are in thermodynamic equilibrium. Conjugate phases are also encountered when amphiphiles fe.g.. surfactants or alcohols) are used in enhanced oil recovery, whether the amphiphiles are added to lower interfacial tensions, or to create dispersions to improve mobility control in miscible flooding 11.21. 

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