Gas Holdup and Mass Transfer in a Three-Phase Reversed Flow Jet Loop Slurry Reactor with Non-Newtonian Fluids

Experiments were carried out to study the total gas holdup and mass transfer coefficient in a three-phase reversed flow jet loop slurry reactor, with air, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) aqueous solution and resin as gas, liquid, and solid phases respectively. The distinct feature of this study is that the liquid employed was non-Newtonian. The influences of reactor geometry, solid holdup, and operation parameters were studied and the optimum values of draft tube to reactor diameter ratio, solid holdup, and distance between the lower edge of the draft tube and the bottom plate, were found to be 0.45, 0.03 and 0.08 m, respectively. Empirical corrections for the total gas holdup and mass transfer coefficient were developed.