EFFECT OF LIQUID COALESCING PROPERTIES ON MASS-TRANSFER, HEAT-TRANSFER AND HYDRODYNAMICS IN A 3-PHASE FLUIDIZED-BED

The most important difference between pure water and the liquids used in industrial reactors may be their coalescing properties, i.e. their ability either to promote or to hinder the coalescence of gas bubbles. Experimental techniques were developed for the simultaneous measurement of gas-liquid mass transfer, particle-liquid mass transfer and particle-liquid heat transfer. Salt could either promote or inhibit bubble coalescence, depending on its concentration. The effects on the gas holdup of coalescence inhibition and gas-distribution were correlated with the ''bubble slip velocity''. Coalescence inhibition reduced particle-liquid mass and heat transfer. There was no analogy between heat and mass transfers. Coalescence inhibition greatly affected gas-liquid mass transfer.