HYDRODYNAMICS AND OXYGEN MASS TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS OF PETROLEUM BASED MICRO-EMULSIONS IN A PACKED BED SPLIT-CYLINDER AIRLIFT REACTOR

The effects of aeration velocity and liquid properties on the pertinent hydrodynamic and mass transfer parameters in a split-cylinder airlift reactor (with and without packing) were examined. Four different oil-in-water micro-emulsion systems containing kerosene, heavy naphtha, light naphtha and diesel as the oil at the concentration of 7% (v/v) were used in the experiments and the results were compared with pure water. The experimental results showed that the gas (air) hold-up and the volumetric gas-liquid oxygen transfer coefficient values for the micro-emulsion systems were usually greater than those of pure water. The packing installation increased the overall gas-liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient by increasing the flow turbulence and Reynolds number, compared to the unpacked column. The packing increased the gas hold-up and decreased the bubble size and liquid circulation velocity. Furthermore, two empirical correlations were developed to predict the overall gas hold-up and volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient. A good agreement was observed between the experimental and correlated data.