Effect of Bath Depth and Nozzle Geometry on Spout Height in Submerged Gas Injection at Bottom

Spout height is a widely used parameter to quantitatively analyze the performance of the submerged gas injection in industrial applications. However, the effect of bath depth and nozzle geometry on spout height in submerged gas injection is still unclear. In this work, the effect of bath depth and nozzle geometry on spout height in submerged gas injection at bottom was experimentally investigated. Circular-shaped, three-leaf-shaped, four-leaf-shaped, and four-flower-shaped nozzles were used for this study. Spout height was extracted from the images captured by high-speed camera and analyzed by digital image processing. The results indicate that the effect of nozzle geometry on spout height is as important as gas flow rate and bath depth. Through dimensional analysis, predictive correlations of spout height from circular shape and four-leaf shape were developed with dimensionless bath depth and a modified Froude number using orifice perimeter and opening area as characteristic parameters. Experimental data were compared with the correlations from literature and good agreement was found. (C) The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 2019