Multi-scale Investigations of Reactive Bubbly Flows

Reactive bubble columns are widely used in chemical, petrochemical, biochemical and metal industries. Besides many other apparatuses applied in the process industry, bubble columns are governed by a complex, non stage-wise flow structure and concentration distribution, that limits the application of simplified models. Recent research indicated a good agreement when coupling computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations with mass transfer models. However, there still exists a gap between detailed modelling, including interface tracking algorithms, and model based approaches such as Euler-Euler based population balance models (PBM) and Euler–Lagrange simulations. On the one hand, this gap can be closed by enhanced multi-scale analysis. On the other hand, the numerical models were until now not able to describe the existing uncertainties such as the bubble shape variations, rise, interactions and mass transfer without experimental investigations. Therefore, an experimental and computational multi-scale closure of the layout process is presented to reduce these uncertainties based on the system FeII(edta)/NO.