Analysis and Measurement of Mass Transfer in Airlift Loop Reactors1

Inter-phase mass transfer is important to the design and performance of airlift loop reactors for either chemical or biochemical applications, and a good measurement technique is crucial for studying mass transfer in multiphase systems. According to the model of macro-scale mass transfer in airlift loop reactors, it was proved that the airlift loop reactor can be regarded as a continuous stirred tank reactor for measuring mass transfer coefficient. The calculated mass transfer coefficient on such a basis is different from the volumetric mass transfer coefficient in the macro-scale model and the difference is discussed. To describe the time delay of the probe response to the change of oxygen concentration in the liquid phase, a model taking into account the time constant of response is established. Sensitivity analysis shows that this model can be used to measure the volumetric mass transfer coefficient. Applying this model to the measurement of volumetric mass transfer coefficient in the loop reactor, results that coincide with the turbulence theory in the literate were obtained.