Gas Holdup in Turbulent Bed Contactor: Experiments and Prediction Model

Knowledge of gas holdup is important for the development of the three-phase fluidized bed reactors. This work concerns the study of the effect of different operating conditions on gas retention in a turbulent bed contactor type 2 (TBC), such as superfi cial gas and liquid velocities, liquid to gas mass flows ratio ( L / G ), particle diameter and density, static bed height and free-open area of the supporting grid. The influence of the free area of the packing support grid ( φ ) on gas holdup was demonstrated and proved. The gas holdup increased to 22.92 % when φ decreased from 0.82 to 0.32. The experimental data (1746) led to the development of two correlations to predict gas holdup, one of which incorporated the ratio ( L / G ) which is an important design factor for gas-liquid contactors. The predicted results of holdup gas were in good agreement with the experimental data.