Experimental study on a co-current gas-liquid down flow contactor with gasentrainment by a liquid jet

Two-phase flow co-current vertical downflow reactor with gas entrainment by a liquid jet is investigated in an air-water system. Experiments are carri ed out in order to clarify the flow behavior of the reactor under various c onditions. Gas entrainment flow rates and gas holdup are quantified experim entally and their dependency on the liquid jet flow rates are shown. The ex perimental program also included determination of liquid phase residence ti me distribution (RTD) characteristics for different liquid jet flow rates. The result of the analysis of the liquid phase RTD curves justified the tan k-in-series model flow for the liquid phase. On the basis of these analyses , the reactor hydrodynamics are modeled by the tank-in-series model includi ng dead zones. Good agreement is obtained between theoretical and experimen tal results assuming the reactor is operating as perfectly mixed. The volum etric mass transfer coefficient k(L)a(L) is determined experimentally by a "gasing out" method. The interfacial area is deduced from the bubble diamet er measurements which are determined by visualization experiments.