GAS-LIQUID MASS-TRANSFER IN A SLURRY BUBBLE COLUMN

Gas holdups and volumetric mass transfer coefficients (k//La) for oxygen were measured in suspensions of kieselguhr (7 mu m), aluminium oxide (8 mu m) and activated carbon (5 mu m) in water or 0. 8 molar sodium sulfate solution. By comparison to previously reported specific interfacial areas (a) determined by the sulfite oxidation technique, the liquid side mass transfer coefficients (k//L) can be evaluated. Most data are well correlated as a decreasing function of the effective viscosity. However, higher k//L values are determined at low concentrations of solids with a high density.