Characteristics and Applications of Bubble Column with External Liquid Circulation

Abstract

The external loop airlift bubble column facilitates the contact between gas, liquid and solid phases, since a relatively high recirculating liquid velocity is brought about by only sparging gas into liquid without any mechanical agitation. It is due to the higher recirculating liquid velocity that various properties such as gas holdup, mass transfer, etc. in the column differ from those in the conventional bubble column. The present status of knowledge of airlift column behavior is described with a brief survey on applications such as biological and chemical reactors. The areas in which further reserch is needed are also discussed.