INVESTIGATION OF BUBBLE COLUMN HYDRODYNAMICS USING CFD SIMULATION (2D AND 3D) AND EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION

This article presents the results of 2D and 3D simulations of a bubble column reactor at unsteadystate conditions and low gas flow rates. The simulations have been done based on a two-fluidmodel with a k ε model used for turbulence modeling. The experimental data have beenobtained by differential pressure transducer. To analyze the hydrodynamic parameters such ashold up of phases, a system consists of water tank and air aerated from bottom has been used.The simulations have been done based on two different approaches which were mixture andeulerian approaches. Despite the fact that these approaches lead to similar results, the convergenceand stability of eulerian approach was better than mixture approach. Furthermore, the effectsof gas velocity and liquid height on hydrodynamic behavior of the column have been studied.Simulation results were reasonably close to the experimental data. Gas holdup has been predictedreasonably well. Results of this study shows that simple two dimensional model can’t be usedin engineering calculations required in the design of bubble columns.