Effects of liquid property on air entrainment and oxygen transfer rates ofa plunging jet reactor

The effects of liquid property on air entrainment and oxygen transfer chara cteristics of a plunging jet reactor are investigated in air-corn syrup sol ution system with changing the viscosity up to 40.5 mPa s. The effect of li quid property on air entrainment rate is divided into three regions. The tr ansition points of the regions are represented with jet Reynolds number. Th e change in air entrainment rate with liquid property is discussed in relat ion to the change in jet surface disturbances. Empirical correlations are a lso presented to predict the air entrainment rate, gas holdup and oxygen tr ansfer coefficient. The oxygen transfer performance of the reactor is super ior to that of the conventional bubble columns and stirred tank reactors ov er the range of viscosity from about 1 to 40.5 mPa s. It is concluded that the plunging jet reactor is one of the most promising bioreactor treating a viscous fermentation broth.