The hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics of a lab-scale jet bubbling reactor (JBR) including the gas holdup

volumetric mass transfer coefficient and specific interfacial area were assessed experimentally investigating the influence of temperature

pH and superficial gas velocity. The reactor diameter and height were 11 and 30 cm

respectively. It was equipped with a single sparger

operating at atmospheric pressure

20 and 40℃

and two pH values of 3 and 6. The height of the liquid was 23 cm

while the superficial gas velocity changed within 0.010-0.040 m·s

-1

range. Experiments were conducted with pure oxygen as the gas phase and saturated lime solution as the liquid phase. The liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficient was determined under unsteady-state oxygen absorption in a saturated lime solution. The gas holdup was calculated based on the liquid height change

while the specific interfacial area was obtained by a physical method based on the bubble size distribution (BSD) in different superficial gas velocities. The results indicated that at the same temperature but different pH

the gas holdup variation was negligible

while the liquid-side volum

etric mass transfer coefficient at the pH value of 6 was higher than that at the pH＝3. At a constant pH but different temperatures

the gas holdup and the liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficients at 40℃ were higher than that of the same at 20℃. A reasonable and appropriate estimation of the liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficient (

k

l

a

) in a pilot-scale JBR was provided which can be applied to the design and scale-up of JBRs.