Gas bubbling

Oxygenation of water or water suspension such as blood can be done by (1) blowing oxygen gas into the liquid via a porous membrane and (2) bubbleless oxygenation via a gas-permeable (nonporous) membrane. Both the methods have 

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Flotation. Flotation is a gravity separation process which exploits differences in the surface properties of particles. Gas bubbles are generated in a liquid and become attached to solid particles or immiscible liquid droplets, causing the particles or droplets to rise to the surface. This is used to separate mixtures of solid-solid particles and liquid-liquid mixtures of finely divided immiscible droplets. It is an important technique in mineral processing, where it is used to separate different types of ore. 

When used to separate solid-solid mixtures, the material is ground to a particle size small enough to liberate particles of the chemical species to be recovered. The mixture of solid particles is then dispersed in the flotation medium, which is usually water. Gas bubbles become attached to the solid particles, thereby allowing them to float to the surface of the liquid. The solid partices are collected from the surface by an overflow weir or mechanical scraper. The separation of the solid particles depends on the different species having different surface properties such that one species is preferentially attached to the bubbles. A number of chemicals are added to the flotation medium to meet the various requirements of the flotation process ... 

Gas bubble separation time of petroleum oils NFT 60-149 ASTM D 3427 Time for air liberation after supersaturation (measurement of density)... 

As well as preventing liquid carry over in the gas phase, gas carry undef must also be prevented in the liquid phase. Gas bubbles entrained in the liquid phase must be given the opportunity (or residence time) to escape to the gas phase under buoyancy forces. 

The ease with which small gas bubbles can escape from the liquid phase is determined by the liquid viscosity higher viscosities imply longer residence times. Typical residence times vary from, some 3 minutes for a light crude to up to 20 minutes for very heavy crudes. 

Convection is the movement of a species due to external mechanical forces. This can be of two types natural convection, which arises from thennal gradients or density differences within the solution, and forced convection, which can take the fomi of gas bubbling, pumping or stirrmg. The fomier is undesirable and can occur m any solution... 

Erosion is the deterioration of a surface by the abrasive action of solid particles in a liquid or gas, gas bubbles in a liquid, liquid droplets in a gas or due to (local) high-flow velocities. This type of attack is often accompanied by corrosion (erosion-corrosion). The most significant effect of a joint action of erosion and corrosion is the constant removal of protective films from a metal s surface. This can also be caused by liquid movement at high velocities, and will be particularly prone to occur if the solution contains solid particles that have an abrasive action. 

The ohmic drop across the electrolyte and the separator can also be calculated from Ohm s law usiag a modified expression for the resistance. When gas bubbles evolve at the electrodes they get dispersed ia and impart a heterogeneous character to the electrolyte. The resulting conductivity characteristics of the medium are different from those of a pure electrolyte. Although there is no exact description of this system, some approximate treatments are available, notably the treatment of Rousar (9), according to which the resistance of the gas—electrolyte mixture, R, is related to the resistance of the pure electrolyte, R ... 

The actual flotation phenomenon occurs in flotation cells usually arranged in batteries (12) and in industrial plants and individual cells can be any size from a few to 30 m in volume. Column cells have become popular, particularly in the separation of very fine particles in the minerals industry and coUoidal precipitates in environmental appHcations. Such cells can vary from 3 to 9 m in height and have circular or rectangular cross sections of 0.3 to 1.5 m wide. They essentially simulate a number of conventional cells stacked up on top of one another (Fig. 3). Microbubble flotation is a variant of column flotation, where gas bubbles are consistently in the range of 10—50 p.m. 

Two main operational variables that differentiate the flotation of finely dispersed coUoids and precipitates in water treatment from the flotation of minerals is the need for quiescent pulp conditions (low turbulence) and the need for very fine bubble sizes in the former. This is accompHshed by the use of electroflotation and dissolved air flotation instead of mechanically generated bubbles which is common in mineral flotation practice. Electroflotation is a technique where fine gas bubbles (hydrogen and oxygen) are generated in the pulp by the appHcation of electricity to electrodes. These very fine bubbles are more suited to the flotation of very fine particles encountered in water treatment. Its industrial usage is not widespread. Dissolved air flotation is similar to vacuum flotation. Air-saturated slurries are subjected to vacuum for the generation of bubbles. The process finds limited appHcation in water treatment and in paper pulp effluent purification. The need to mn it batchwise renders it less versatile. 

This causes the soHds to be fluidized. In practice, the soHds are moving so fast that iaterstitial gas and gas bubbles are dragged downward with them. 

Flow Past Deformable Bodies. The flow of fluids past deformable surfaces is often important, eg, contact of Hquids with gas bubbles or with drops of another Hquid. Proper description of the flow must allow for both the deformation of these bodies from their shapes in the absence of flow and for the internal circulations that may be set up within the drops or bubbles in response to the external flow. DeformabiUty is related to the interfacial tension and density difference between the phases internal circulation is related to the drop viscosity. A proper description of the flow involves not only the Reynolds number, dFp/p., but also other dimensionless groups, eg, the viscosity ratio, 1 /p En tvos number (En ), Api5 /o and the Morton number (Mo),giJ.iAp/plG (6). 

If the gas-flow rate is increased, one eventuaHy observes a phase transition for the abovementioned regimes. Coalescence of the gas bubbles becomes important and a regime with both continuous gas and Hquid phases is reestabHshed, this time as a gas-flUed core surrounded by a predominantly Hquid annular film. Under these conditions there is usuaHy some gas dispersed as bubbles in the Hquid and some Hquid dispersed as droplets in the gas. The flow is then annular. Various qualifying adjectives maybe added to further characterize this regime. Thus there are semiannular, pulsing annular, and annular mist regimes. Over a wide variety of flow rates, the annular Hquid film covers the entire pipe waH. For very low Hquid-flow rates, however, there may be insufficient Hquid to wet the entire surface, giving rise to rivulet flow. 

Fig. 3. Two-dimensional schematic illustrating the distribution of Hquid between the Plateau borders and the films separating three adjacent gas bubbles. The radius of curvature r of the interface at the Plateau border depends on the Hquid content and the competition between surface tension and interfacial forces, (a) Flat films and highly curved borders occur for dry foams with strong interfacial forces, (b) Nearly spherical bubbles occur for wet foams where...

Other. Because a foam consists of many small, trapped gas bubbles, it can be very effective as a thermal insulator. Usually soHd foams are used for insulation purposes, but there are some instances where Hquid foams also find uses for insulation (see Eoamed plastics Insulation, thermal). Eor example, it is possible to apply and remove the insulation simply by forming or coUapsing the foam, providing additional control of the insulation process. Another novel use that is being explored is the potential of absorbing much of the pressure produced by an explosion. The energy in the shock wave is first partially absorbed by breaking the bubbles into very small droplets, and then further absorbed as the droplets are evaporated (53). 

The minimum ignition energy of Hquid acetylene under its vapor, when subjected to electrostatic sparks, has been found to depend on the temperature as indicated in Table 3 (86). Ignition appears to start in gas bubbles within the Hquid. 

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