Investigation of Reactive Bubbly Flows in Technical Apparatuses

First published in
Fluid mechanics and its applications  
Number in series
128
Start Page
621
End Page
642
Citation
Reactive Bubbly Flows. Fluid Mechanics and Its Applications 128: 621-642 (2021)
Publisher DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-72361-3_24
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85111815121
Publisher
Springer
In the previous chapters it has been shown that the fluid dynamic conditions in bubbly flows might affect a competitive consecutive chemical reaction concerning yield and selectivity. The question arises if this results are transferable to technical apparatuses with industrial conditions. To clarify this question, the competitive consecutive DBED reaction system dissolved in tetrahydrofuran is transferred to an industrial apparatus that has been already used for a cyclohexane oxidation. First, it is shown with the Taylor bubble experiments that the DBED reaction system can be used as a model system for competitive consecutive reactions with adjustable kinetics. Afterwards, the DBED reaction system is applied to the technical apparatus. It shows that the yield and selectivity of the DBED reaction in the technical apparatus depends on the bubble size distribution and therefore potentially on the local wake structure. Even though numerical simulations with the Euler-Lagrange approach are already able to predict the formation of product and byproduct of a competitive consecutive reaction, the local flow structure within the bubble wake and its potential influence on yield and selectivity can not be covered so far.