Modified airlift reactor with a cross-shaped internal and its hydrodynamic simulation by computational fluid dynamic method

A modified airlift reactor (ALR) with a cross-shaped internal was developed to achieve beneficial flow conditions for an advantageous biological process. To study the effect of introduced internal on the reactor's hydrodynamics, computational fluid dynamics simulation method was applied to predict the flow characteristics verified with experimental data. The internal introduction into a conventional ALR resulted in increased liquid velocities in the riser and the downcomer for 12% and 16%, respectively, maintaining the superficial gas velocity of 3 cm/s. The internal allowed the total gas holdup slightly decreased for 4.8%, whereas the turbulent kinetic energy in the riser was significantly reduced for 13%. The cross-shaped internal modified the flow structure in the ALR's bottom zone due to, presumably, substitution of non-elastic collisions of liquid micro-lumps moving in counter-current directions with elastic collisions of micro-lumps with the wall of the internal, reducing the energy dissipation at the U-turn of the flow. The internal unified the direction of liquid velocity vectors in the bottom zone bringing an order to the liquid momenta in the flows close to the parallel ones and thus, saving energy in the ALR's operation.