Modelling of mass transfer and chemical reactions in a bubble column reactor using a discrete bubble model

Abstract A 3D discrete bubble model is adopted to investigate complex behavior involving hydrodynam-ics, mass transfer and chemical reactions in a gas-liquid bubble column reactor. In this model a continuum description is adopted for the liquid phase and additionally each individual bubble is tracked in a Lagrangian framework, while accounting for bubble-bubble and bubble-wall interactions via an encounter model. The mass transfer rate is calculated for each individual bubble using a surface renewal model accounting for the instan-taneous and local properties of the liquid phase in its vicinity. The distributions in space of chemical species residing in the liquid phase are computed from the coupled species balances considering the mass transfer from bubbles and reactions between the species. The model has been applied to simulate chemisorption of CO2 bubbles in NaOH solutions. Our results show that apart from hydrodynamics behavior, the model is able to predict the bubble size distribution as well as temporal and spatial variations of each chemical species involved.