Simulated and Experimental Dispersed-Phase Breakage and Coalescence Behavior in a Kuhni Liquid-Liquid Extraction Column-Steady State

Given the difficulties normally associated with direct experimentation in liquid-liquid extraction processes, their direct computer simulation has acquired increased relevance and utility, especially when dealing with some of the details of the dispersed-phase hydrodynamics. The possibility of testing very complex theoretical models of such behavior is increasingly attractive to the researcher, as a result of both the power and the availability of personal computing resources. Experimental data obtained in a pilot-scale Kuhni liquid-liquid extraction column and simulated data generated by means of a drop population-balance model and algorithm were used to describe and compute the local drop-size distributions and dispersed-phase holdup profiles. In this work, the applicability of this algorithm to describe the steady-state behavior of a Kuhni liquid-liquid extraction column is illustrated. Data generated using this algorithm exhibit reasonable agreement with experimental data, with physically meaningful model parameter values.