Study of hydrodynamic behaviour in bubble columns and external loop airlift reactors through analysis of pressure fluctuations

Recent methods of regime identification based on pressure fluctuations anal ysis have been applied both in a bubble column and an external loop airlift reactor with several spargers. Their ability to determine regime transitio n and to extract regime features is compared. A new method based on the aut o-correlation function is proposed. This method is shown to be simple and e fficient. It also provides quantitative information about the characteristi c time and the axial dimension of the flow structure in the prevailing regi me. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.