Axial dispersion, flooding and phase holdup characteristics of a pulsed extraction column in which eight different plate arrangements have been investigated.
The effects of interactions between perforated and baffle plates in terms of various spacings in the unit modulus, pulsing amplitude and frequencies on flooding axial dispersion coefficients and phase holdup have been determined.
In this experiments, 10.16 cm-ID QVF glass column was used as a main column and 5.08 cm-ID QVF glass column was attached to the main column as a side arm. The free opening area fractions of the both plates, namely perforated and baffle plates are 0.378.
Axial dispersion coefficient has been determined by the color change method and the flow patterns are observed by visually.
Phase holdups has been determined by cutting-off the inlet lines of continuous and dispersed phases as the average holdups in the column.
The axial dispersion coefficient increased with pulsing amplitude and frequencies whereas the dispersed phase velocity did not produce any significant effect on axial dispersion. Also, axial dispersion coefficient decreased with decrease of baffle spacing in unit modulus due to the interruption of vertical circulation.
