scholarly journals Measurement of Liquid Velocity and Liquid Distribution in a Packed Bed Using Electrical Resistance Tomography

Author(s):  
H. D. ◽  
A. Lohi
Author(s):  
Takeshi Eda ◽  
Achyut Sapkota ◽  
Masahiro Takei

Revealing gas-liquid permeable flow phenomena in the porous media is helpful for the environmental impact assessment of geological disposal of radioactive waste and purification of radioactive contamination water. This paper aims to investigate the liquid phase dispersion inside co-current downward gas-liquid flow in the bed packed with spherical particle as basic model. Water and air are injected from the top center of column, and water is spreading to the entire cross-section flowing down along the column. Radial dispersion of water is captured by electrical resistance tomography on several axial positions. The results indicated that liquid flow rate have impact on radial dispersion of water.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mian Hamood-Ur-Rehman

In the present work, a novel packed bed external loop pneumatically agitated airlift bioreactor with an internal gas distributor (perforated plate) between two rolls of packing in the riser was designed and built. This novel approach combines advantages of packed bed and external loop airlift bioreactors. The main objective of this research work was to characterize the hydrodynamic performance of this novel reactor through a non-intrusive flow visualization technique called electrical resistance tomography (ERT). The tomography images, which were generated using a linear back projection algorithm, were employed to explore the effects of different design parameters and operating conditions. These include the effect of the two packing in the riser and the internal gas distributor (perforated plate) installed between the two packing. Other parameters investigated include the effect of sparger configuration, gas flow rate, and liquid height in the bioreactor on the different hydrodynamic parameters such as gas holdup, mixing time, and liquid circulation velocity. Results showed that the gas holdup and mixing time increased in the presence of the gas distributor, while the riser superficial liquid velocity was decreased. Furthermore, gas holdup and mixing time increased, superficial liquid velocity decreased when decreasing liquid height in the reactor, and when using packing or gas distributor between two packings in the riser. These results can be used to improve mixing characteristics in external loop airlift bioreactors for wider range of applications.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazar Aoda

The aim of this research is to use Electrical Resistance Tomography technique (ERT) to measure factors that affect local mass transfer at various axial locations in a random packed column with diameter 0.3m and bed height 150cm filled with 2 cm plastic spheres. These factors are: liquid maldistribution, velocity profiles, and flow pattern. The system was designed to run in a trickling down-flow mode and a full liquid up-flow mode. Experiments were performed at flow rates of 3, 6, and 9 gpm (or 0.27 x 10⁻², 0.54 x 10⁻² and 0.8 x 10⁻² m³/m² s) and under normal operating conditions of 25C° and atmospheric pressure. The liquid maldistribution factors were measured via ERT technique and the conventional liquid collection method. Both measurements were conducted at various fluid flow rates at different bed heights. The results of ERT were in very good agreement with the conventional method. The standard deviation values were 17% and 21% at flow rates 3 and 6 gpm respectively. The numerical values of velocity for full liquid up flow at 3 gpm were 0.83cm/s, 1.2cm/s, 1.2 cm/s and 1.11 cm/s for different heights of 30, 60 and 90 cm respectively and the numerical values of velocity for trickle down flow at 3 gpm were 16.5 cm/s, 22.5 cm/s and 24 cm/ for different heights of 30, 60 and 90 cm respectively. The values of the liquid maldistribution factor for flow rate 3 gpm were 0.43 (30cm), 0.33(60cm) and 0.30 (90cm) and for flow rate 6 gpm were 0.33(30cm), 0.27(60cm) and 0.22 (90cm). By comparison with findings of many studies conducted on liquid distribution in packed bed column, a good agreement was observed on the relation of Mf and flow rates and bed heights.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mian Hamood-Ur-Rehman

In the present work, a novel packed bed external loop pneumatically agitated airlift bioreactor with an internal gas distributor (perforated plate) between two rolls of packing in the riser was designed and built. This novel approach combines advantages of packed bed and external loop airlift bioreactors. The main objective of this research work was to characterize the hydrodynamic performance of this novel reactor through a non-intrusive flow visualization technique called electrical resistance tomography (ERT). The tomography images, which were generated using a linear back projection algorithm, were employed to explore the effects of different design parameters and operating conditions. These include the effect of the two packing in the riser and the internal gas distributor (perforated plate) installed between the two packing. Other parameters investigated include the effect of sparger configuration, gas flow rate, and liquid height in the bioreactor on the different hydrodynamic parameters such as gas holdup, mixing time, and liquid circulation velocity. Results showed that the gas holdup and mixing time increased in the presence of the gas distributor, while the riser superficial liquid velocity was decreased. Furthermore, gas holdup and mixing time increased, superficial liquid velocity decreased when decreasing liquid height in the reactor, and when using packing or gas distributor between two packings in the riser. These results can be used to improve mixing characteristics in external loop airlift bioreactors for wider range of applications.


Author(s):  
Takeshi Eda ◽  
Achyut Sapkota ◽  
Jun Haruta ◽  
Masayuki Nishio ◽  
Masahiro Takei

A fixed bed reactor that operates in gas-liquid co-current down flow is called Trickle Bed Reactor (TBR). It is widely used in chemical engineering. And, recently used in purification of radioactive contamination from contaminated water generated in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. There are several flow conditions that occur in the TBR due to gas and liquid flow rate. Since mass and heat transfer rate and particles wetting depend on flow condition, it is necessary to establish the visualization techniques to understand flow condition, transition boundary and properties of gas liquid flow in TBR. In this study, authors employed the lab-scale TBR, made of 100mm inner diameter acrylic column, packed with particles of two sizes (3, 5 mm) that are used in the actual reactor. Water and air were injected from the top of the column and cross-sectional liquid distribution was captured at the bottom of the column by electrical resistance tomography (ERT). ERT is a tomographic technique that provides the cross-sectional conductivity distribution at the rate of about 50 frames per second by injecting current and measuring voltages between the 16 electrodes that are attached around the column. By analyzing the spatial and temporal characteristics of the liquid distribution obtained by ERT, it was found that particle size has only little impact on induction of pulsating flow and larger particle causes distinct pulses. Smaller particle causes blurred tiny pulses due to higher flow resistance. Larger particle (5 mm) is advantageous for pulsating flow.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazar Aoda

The aim of this research is to use Electrical Resistance Tomography technique (ERT) to measure factors that affect local mass transfer at various axial locations in a random packed column with diameter 0.3m and bed height 150cm filled with 2 cm plastic spheres. These factors are: liquid maldistribution, velocity profiles, and flow pattern. The system was designed to run in a trickling down-flow mode and a full liquid up-flow mode. Experiments were performed at flow rates of 3, 6, and 9 gpm (or 0.27 x 10⁻², 0.54 x 10⁻² and 0.8 x 10⁻² m³/m² s) and under normal operating conditions of 25C° and atmospheric pressure. The liquid maldistribution factors were measured via ERT technique and the conventional liquid collection method. Both measurements were conducted at various fluid flow rates at different bed heights. The results of ERT were in very good agreement with the conventional method. The standard deviation values were 17% and 21% at flow rates 3 and 6 gpm respectively. The numerical values of velocity for full liquid up flow at 3 gpm were 0.83cm/s, 1.2cm/s, 1.2 cm/s and 1.11 cm/s for different heights of 30, 60 and 90 cm respectively and the numerical values of velocity for trickle down flow at 3 gpm were 16.5 cm/s, 22.5 cm/s and 24 cm/ for different heights of 30, 60 and 90 cm respectively. The values of the liquid maldistribution factor for flow rate 3 gpm were 0.43 (30cm), 0.33(60cm) and 0.30 (90cm) and for flow rate 6 gpm were 0.33(30cm), 0.27(60cm) and 0.22 (90cm). By comparison with findings of many studies conducted on liquid distribution in packed bed column, a good agreement was observed on the relation of Mf and flow rates and bed heights.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (21) ◽  
pp. 6069
Author(s):  
Muhammad Awais Sattar ◽  
Matheus Martinez Garcia ◽  
Robert Banasiak ◽  
Luis M. Portela ◽  
Laurent Babout

Phase separation based centrifugal forces is effective, and thus widely explored by the process industry. In an inline swirl separator, a core of the light phase is formed in the center of the device and captured further downstream. Given the inlet conditions, this gas core created varies in shape and size. To predict the separation behavior and control the process in an optimal way, the gas core diameter should be measured with the minimum possible intrusiveness. Process tomography techniques such as electrical resistance tomography (ERT) allows us to measure the gas core diameter in a fast and non-intrusive way. Due to the soft-field nature and ill-posed problem in solving the inverse problem, especially in the area of low spatial resolution, the reconstructed images often overestimate the diameter of the object under consideration leading to unreliable measurements. To use ERT measurements as an input for the controller, the estimated diameters should be corrected based on secondary measurements, e.g., optical techniques such as high-speed cameras. In this context, image processing and image analysis techniques were adapted to compare the diameter calculated by an ERT system and a fast camera. In this paper, a correction method is introduced to correct the diameter obtained by ERT based on static measurements. The proposed method reduced the ERT error of dynamic measurements of the gas core size from over 300% to below 20%, making it a reliable sensing technique for controlled separation processes.


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