A PIV study of hydrodynamics in gas-liquid high throughput experimentation (HTE) with eccentric impeller configurations

Jonathan Hall, Mostafa Barigou, Mark Simmons, EH Stitt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

33 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

High-throughput experimentation (HTE) is used for the screening of novel catalyst formulations via miniature agitated gas-liquid reactors with vessel volumes of an order of magnitude below the laboratory scale. An investigation of the macroscopic hydrodynamic performance of a miniaturised unbaffled stirred vessel of diameter 45 mm for an air-water system has been carried out at gassing rates of 0.25 and 0.5 vvm (dispersed flow regime) using particle image velocimetry (PIV). Measurements of bubble size and gas hold-up were also made. Eccentric agitation was employed as a means of breaking solid body rotation within the vessel, using a 6-blade, up-pumping pitched blade turbine. The gas phase was introduced via sintered glass panel spargers mounted in the vessel base. Two different configurations were used: firstly where the sparger located directly below the impeller, and secondly where the sparger was located opposite the impeller on the other side of the vessel. Measured distributions of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) for both gassed configurations were similar and showed significant differences to the ungassed case. Estimates of the gas-liquid interfacial area were at least 2-3 times higher than those found in conventional, lab-scale baffled vessels; this was attributed to the creation of very small bubbles at the sparger (d(32) approximate to 100 mu m). (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6403-6413
Number of pages11
JournalChemical Engineering Science
Volume60
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2005

Keywords

  • high throughput experimentation
  • PIV
  • gas-liquid
  • PBT
  • eccentric impeller

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