Mass Transfer Prediction in a Mechanically Stirred Gas‐Liquid Reactor Containing Solid Particles

Abstract

Microorganisms are used in various fermentation processes for the production of biochemicals and food. These types of processes take place predominantly in mechanically agitated vessels. An important transport characteristic is the volumetric mass transfer coefficient kLa. Many correlations are available in the literature to estimate parameters in a gas‐liquid system; however, three‐phase systems are not sufficiently described. The experiments were carried out under laboratory conditions in a single‐impeller mechanically agitated vessel with an internal diameter of 0.29 m. The solid phase was either cellulose, with two different particle sizes, or glass beads. An updated correlation is proposed that could be adopted in the design and scale‐up of agitated devices operating in the presence of solid particles.

Heat and Mass Transfer at the Wall of a Square Mechanically Stirred Gas‐Liquid‐Solid Catalytic Reactor

“…Dispersion of gases in liquids in mechanically agitated vessels is widely used in the chemical, petrochemical, and biochemical industries to conduct processes such as hydrogenation, oxidation, chlorination, and aerobic fermentation. Although many studies discussed different aspects of agitated vessels handling gas‐liquid systems, such as the mixing time, gas‐liquid mass transfer, the interfacial area of gas bubbles, and the effect of gas bubbles on mechanical energy consumption 1–8, little has been done on the rates of mass and heat transfer at the wall of the gas‐liquid agitated vessels.…”