SMART‐Reactors: Tailoring Gas Holdup Distribution by Additively Manufactured Lattice Structures

• Published in: Chemical engineering & technology Vol. 43; no. 10; pp. 2053 - 2061
• Main Authors: Spille, Claas, Lyberis, Anastasios, Maiwald, Maria Isabelle, Herzog, Dirk, Hoffmann, Marko, Emmelmann, Claus, Schlüter, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frankfurt Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-10-2020
• Subjects: Additive manufacturing; Additively manufactured lattice structures; Bubbles; Chemical reactions; Chord length distribution; Local gas holdup; Mass transfer; Periodic open‐cell structures; Size distribution
• ISSN: 0930-7516; 1521-4125
• DOI: 10.1002/ceat.202000211

In chemical process engineering, fast gas‐liquid reactions often suffer from an inefficient distribution of gas and therefore mixing and mass transfer performance. This study deals with the possibility of influencing the local gas holdup and bubble size distribution in a gas‐liquid process using additively manufactured lattice structures (AMLS). The used measuring technique to study bubble size, velocity, and the local gas holdup is a photo‐optical needle probe. By using AMLS, a significant radial homogenization of the local gas holdup and the mean bubble size is achieved. Furthermore, it can be demonstrated that the bubble size can be tailored by the geometry of the inserted structure. It is illustrated that the mean bubble velocities are lowered within the lattice resulting in a higher residence time of the dispersed phase with an impact on the mass transfer performance within the AMLS.
Additively manufactured lattice structures are used to tailor gas‐liquid phase distribution and bubble sizes enhancing the reactor performance of gas‐liquid reactions in bubble columns. A closer look on bubble velocities inside the structures helps to understand how structured packings reduce the rising speed, enhancing the residence time of the dispersed phase for a possibly conducted chemical reaction.