This work reports an experimental investigation of the dispersion of a low-diffusive dye within a homogeneous swarm of high-Reynolds-number rising bubbles at gas volume fractions α ranging from 1 % to 13 %. The capture and transport of dye within bubble wakes is found to be negligible and the mixing turns out to result from the bubble-induced turbulence. It is described well by a regular diffusion process. The diffusion coefficient corresponding to the vertical direction is larger than that corresponding to the horizontal direction, owing to the larger intensity of the liquid fluctuations in the vertical direction. Two regimes of diffusion have been identified. At low gas volume fraction, the diffusion time scale is given by the correlation time of the bubble-induced turbulence and the diffusion coefficients increase roughly as α 0.4 . At large gas volume fraction, the diffusion time scale is imposed by the time interval between two bubbles and the diffusion coefficients become almost independent of α. The transition between the two regimes occurs sooner in the horizontal direction (1 % α 3 %) than in the vertical direction (3 % α 6 %). Physical models based on the hydrodynamic properties of the bubble swarm are introduced and guidelines for practical applications are suggested.

The simulation of bubble columns operating under the heterogeneous regime is an ambitious challenge, due to the difficulty of predicting accurately hydrodynamics and bubble size distributions, that requires experimental data for model validation. Gas fraction distributions, liquid and gas velocity profiles and bubble size distributions across bubble columns are deeply interconnected in these systems and only a comprehensive study allows the links between them to be understood. This work reports experimental data obtained by measuring bubble sizes with an innovative technique based on the cross correlation between two optical probes. Particular attention is given

Unsteady and three-dimensional Eulerian-Eulerian CFD simulations of bubble column reactors under operating conditions of industrial interest are discussed in this work. The flow pattern in this equipment depends strongly on the interactions between the gas and liquid phases, mainly via the drag force. In this work, a correlation for the drag force coefficient is tested and improved to consider the so-called swarm effect, that modifies the drag force at high gas volume fractions. The improved swarm factor proposed in this work is the adjustment of the swarm factor proposed by Simonnet et al. (2008). This new swarm factor is suitable for very high gas volume fractions without generating stability problems, which were encountered with the original formulation. It delivers an accurate prediction of gas volume fraction and liquid velocity in a wide range of tested operating conditions. Results are validated by comparison with experimental data on bubble column reactors at different scales and for several operating conditions. Hydrodynamics is well predicted for every operating condition at different scales. Several turbulence models are tested. Finally, the contribution of Bubble Induced Turbulence (BIT), as proposed by Alméras et al. (2015), on mixing is evaluated via an analysis of the mixing time.

a b s t r a c tThe present work investigates the mixing of a low-diffusivity dye in a swarm of bubbles at high Reynolds number confined in a Hele-Shaw cell for gas volume fractions ranging from 1.4 to 5.4%. A patch of a fluorescent dye is injected within the swarm and, during its mixing, its concentration is measured at a given location in an observation volume of 4.5 mm 2 by means of Laser Induced Fluorescence at a frequency of 250 Hz. A spectrometer is used to analyse the light issued from the observation volume and to distinguish the fluoresced light from other light sources. Simultaneously, the bubble distribution around the observation volume is imaged with a high speed camera synchronised with the spectrometer in order to assess the LIF technique in bubbly flow. Thanks to the good time resolution, rapid and intense concentration fluctuations corresponding to dye patches passing through the observation volume are recorded and are superimposed to a slow global evolution. This slow global evolution shows first an increase of the concentration and then an exponential decrease due to the mixing by bubble-induced agitation. This exponential decay, which is incompatible with a diffusion process, is consistent with the transport by dye capture in bubbles wakes that are quickly dampened by the shear-stress at the walls. The one-point statistics of the concentration fluctuations (probability density function and spectrum) also point out that mixing in a confined bubbly flow is intermittent and convective.

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