INTERFACIAL-AREAS IN AGITATED GAS-LIQUID CONTACTORS (REPRINTED FROM CHEM-ENGNG-SCI, VOL 18, PG 157-176, 1963)

Chemical reactions with known chemical and physical properties were us ed for the determination of integral values of the interfacial areas c reated with an agitator in a gas-liquid contactor. The reactions betwe en oxygen and a sulphite solution and between carbon dioxide and sodiu m hydroxide solutions were chosen. For the first system the chemical r eaction in the liquid boundary layer is proved to be rate determining under our experimental conditions. The existence of two regions is dem onstrated: (a) A region without agitation effect. At agitation rates b elow a minimum agitation rate n(0)D interfacial areas are not affected by the stirring; they only depend on the gas load upsilon(s) and the type of gas sparger. (b) A region with agitation effect. At agitation rates above n(0)D the interfacial areas are linearly dependent on the agitation rate and independent of the gas load and type of gas inlet. The value of n(0)D depends on the tank to agitator diameter ratio and probably is independent of the liquid viscosity. Generally valid corre lations for the minimum agitation rates and the interfacial area under fully baffled conditions could be derived for a great number of geome trically similar impellers of different sizes in vessels with diameter s ranging from 0.14 to 0.90 m. Although vessels with a diameter larger than 1 m were not investigated the method of correlation seems to giv e good results for scaling-up. The influence of the physical propertie s of the liquid remains uncertain.