Thomas Eppinger

Influence of Bubble Size Distribution in Gas-Liquid Flows

Gas-liquid systems form a key component of many chemical industry processes. In such systems, the knowledge of the gas volume fraction, its distribution and its eventual effect on mass transfer and reactions is absolutely essential. Experimental measurements have allowed to look into such systems to a good level of details, resulting in numerous correlations, which are commonly used in the design process. However, they are very much limited to the size, type and character of the lab or pilot scale system from which they were created. This leaves process engineers with a task of ascertaining if a particular design will meet all the process conditions or not. CFD simulations have allowed process engineers to look at plant scale designs due to the ability to investigate them virtually using computer models.