Impact of liquid driving flow on the performance of a gas-inducing impeller

The present work was conducted to improve the gas-induction performance over a preliminary gas-inducing impeller designed in our previous work. For the first time, a series of liquid-inlet holes with different diameters were drilled separately so as to examine their effects on the gas-induction process and also to find the optimum size. The critical impeller speed (NCG) and the overall gas hold-up (ɛG) were measured experimentally in order to evaluate the properties of the gas-inducing impeller. A mathematical model, which takes into account the geometrical parameters of the gas-inducing impeller, was proposed to predict NCG of the gas-inducing impeller with or without liquid-inlet holes. The predictions are in good agreement with the experimental results. The results also show that the optimum gas-induction properties would be obtained with respect to the lowest value of NCG and the highest value of ɛG, when the diameter of the liquid-inlet hole is approximately 0.5 times the diameter of the gas-inducing pipe.

► The function of the liquid-inlet holes on gas-induction capacity was investigated.
► Liquid-inlet holes regardless of size are all beneficial to the decrease of NCG.
► There exists an optimum size of the liquid-inlet holes for gas-induction intensification.
► A model was proposed to predict NCG of the gas-inducing impeller with or without liquid-inlet holes.