Dispersed holdup

Gas-liquid Lower overall mass transfer rate because of insufficient gas dispersion-holdup and surface area. 

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. 

However, in a countercurrent column contactor as sketched in Figure 8, the holdup of the dispersed phase is considerably less than this, because the dispersed drops travel quite fast through the continuous phase and therefore have a relatively short residence time in the equipment. The holdup is related to the superficial velocities U of each phase, defined as the flow rate per unit cross section of the contactor, and to a sHp velocity U (71,72) ... 

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. 

The role of coalescence within a contactor is not always obvious. Sometimes the effect of coalescence can be inferred when the holdup is a factor in determining the Sauter mean diameter (67). If mass transfer occurs from the dispersed (d) to the continuous (e) phase, the approach of two drops can lead to the formation of a local surface tension gradient which promotes the drainage of the intervening film of the continuous phase (75) and thereby enhances coalescence. It has been observed that d-X.o-c mass transfer can lead to the formation of much larger drops than for the reverse mass-transfer direction, c to... 

The General Mills mixer—settler (117), shown in Figure 13b, is a pump—mix unit designed for hydrometaHurgical extraction. It has a baffled cylindrical mixer fitted in the base and a turbine that mixes and pumps the incoming Hquids. The dispersion leaves from the top of the mixer and flows into a shallow rectangular settler designed for minimum holdup. 

This correlation is valid when turbulent conditions exist in an agitated vessel, drop diameter is significantly bigger than the Kohnogoroff eddy length, and at low dispersed phase holdup. The most commonly reported correlation is based on the Weber number ... 

E] Used as an arithmetic couceutratiou difference. Low <3, disperse-phase holdup of drop swarm. 

Operating holdup contributes effectively to mass-transfer rate, since it provides residence time for phase contact and surface regeneration via agglomeration and dispersion. Static holdup is hmited in its contribution to mass-transfer rates, as indicated by Thoenes and Kramers [Chem. Eng. ScL, 8, 271 (1958)]. In laminar regions holdup in general has a negative effecl on the efficiency of separation. 

The power for agitation of two-phase mixtures in vessels such as these is given by the cuiwes in Fig. 15-23. At low levels of power input, the dispersed phase holdup in the vessel ((j)/ ) can be less than the value in the feed (( )df) it will approach the value in the feed as the agitation is increased. Treybal Mass Transfer Operations, 3d ed., McGraw-HiU, New York, 1980) gives the following correlations for estimation of the dispersed phase holdup based on power and physical properties for disc flat-blade turbines ... 

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. 

The volume of droplets within the contactor at any time is referred to as the operational holdup of the dispersed phase, generally expressed as a fraction of the contactor volume. 

Direction of extraction, whether from dispersed to continuous, organic hquid to water, or the reverse Dispersed-phase holdup Flow rates and flow ratio of the liquids... 

Correlations for axial dispersion in beds packed with very small particles (<50 Im) that take into account the holdup of liquid in a bed are discussed by Horvath and Lin [J. Chromatogr, 126, 401 (1976)]. 

Data are not currently available on the dispersion with the newer fluidfoil impellers, but they are often used in industrial mixer-settler systems to maintain dispersion when additional resonance time holdup is required, after an initial dispersion is made by a radial- or axial-flow turbine. 

Swaroop et al. [Powder Technology, 28, 253-260 (Mar.-Apr. 1981)] found that the material holdup is higher and the vessel dispersion number Dl/L (see subsection on Continuous Mill Simulation) is lower in the rod mill than in the ball mill under identical dimensionless conditions. This indicates that the known narrow-product-size distribution from rod mills is partly due to less mixing in the rod mill, in addition to different breakage kinetics. 

Two complementai y reviews of this subject are by Shah et al. AIChE Journal, 28, 353-379 [1982]) and Deckwer (in de Lasa, ed.. Chemical Reactor Design andTechnology, Martinus Nijhoff, 1985, pp. 411-461). Useful comments are made by Doraiswamy and Sharma (Heterogeneous Reactions, Wiley, 1984). Charpentier (in Gianetto and Silveston, eds.. Multiphase Chemical Reactors, Hemisphere, 1986, pp. 104—151) emphasizes parameters of trickle bed and stirred tank reactors. Recommendations based on the literature are made for several design parameters namely, bubble diameter and velocity of rise, gas holdup, interfacial area, mass-transfer coefficients k a and /cl but not /cg, axial liquid-phase dispersion coefficient, and heat-transfer coefficient to the wall. The effect of vessel diameter on these parameters is insignificant when D > 0.15 m (0.49 ft), except for the dispersion coefficient. Application of these correlations is to (1) chlorination of toluene in the presence of FeCl,3 catalyst, (2) absorption of SO9 in aqueous potassium carbonate with arsenite catalyst, and (3) reaction of butene with sulfuric acid to butanol. 

The experimental and theoretical work reported in the literature will be reviewed for each of the five major types of ga s-liquid-particle operation under the headings Mass transfer across gas-liquid interface mass transfer across liquid-solid interface holdup and axial dispersion of gas phase holdup and axial dispersion of liquid phase heat transfer reaction kinetics. 

Information on gas holdup and axial dispersion in bubble-columns containing suspended solid particles is scarce reference will therefore also be made to significant studies of bubble-columns with no particles present, results obtained for these systems being probably of some relevance to the understanding of bubble-column slurry operations. 

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