Abstract
An industrial-scale internal loop airlift reactor is used to remove
volatile gas from high-viscosity molten sulfur. The effects of the
superficial gas velocity and reactor height on the hydrodynamic
characteristics were studied. The gas holdup, average bubble diameter,
and liquid circulation velocity in the reactor under different
conditions were analyzed using computational fluid dynamics simulation.
The superficial gas velocity was varied from 0.0056 m/s to 0.05 m/s at a
constant reactor height of 15 m. The total reactor height was varied
from 5 m to 25 m at a superficial gas velocity of 0.0389 m/s.Based on
the correlation between the gas holdup and liquid circulation velocity
proposed by Chisti (1988), an optimized correlation between the gas
holdup and liquid circulation velocity was developed by considering the
influence of the bubble diameter. The results obtained using the
proposed correlation were compared with those obtained using the Chisti
correlation and simulation.