Hydrodynamics and Mass Transfer in Downflow Slurry Bubble Columns

Slurry bubble column reactors are intensively used as a multiphase reactor in the chemical, biochemical, and petrochemical industries for carrying out reactions and mass transfer operations in which a gas, made up of one or several reactive components, comes into contact or reacts with a liquid. This volume describes the hydrodynamics of three-phase gas-liquid-solid flow in a downflow slurry bubble column. The efficiency of the downflow gas interacting system is characterized by the self-entrainment of secondary gas. The book covers the gas entrainment phenomena, gas holdup characteristics, pressure drop, gasliquid mixing characteristics, bubble size distribution, interfacial phenomena, and the mass transfer phenomena in the downflow slurry system. This volume will be useful in chemical and biochemical industries and in industrial research and development sectors, as well as in advanced education courses in this area. The book will be helpful for further understanding the multiphase behavior in gas interacting multiphase systems for research and development. The hydrodynamic and mass transfer characteristics discussed will be useful in the design and installation of the modified slurry bubble column in industry for specific applications.

Subrata Kumar Majumder, PhD, is a Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, India. His research interests include multiphase flow and reactor development, hydrodynamics in multiphase flow, mineral processing, and process intensification and micro-nano bubble science and technology and its applications. He is a recipient of several awards and serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He has authored five book chapters, has presented 27 conference papers, and has published 74 articles in several reputed refereed journals. He has carried out several sponsored and consultancy projects and has done international collaboration. Presently he is working in the field of microbubble science and technology and its applications in mineral beneficiation; removal of arsenic, ammonia, dye, phenolic and pharmaceutical derivatives; and process intensification by developing ejector induced gas-aided extraction process.

Introduction. Gas Distribution. Gas Holdup Characteristics. Frictional Pressure Drop. Bubble Size Distribution. Dispersion Phenomena. Mass Transfer Phenomena in Downflow Gas Interacting Slurry Reactor (DGISR)