Improving gas-liquid mass transfer in bubble columns by applying low-frequency vibrations

We show that application of low-frequency vibrations, in the 50-200 Hz range, to the liquid phase of an air-water bubble column causes significantly smaller bubbles to be generated at the distributor plate. For bubble column operation in the homogeneous flow regime, measurements of the volumetric mass transfer coefficient using the oxygen absorption technique show that the increase in the k<SUB>L</SUB>a values ranges from 50-100 % depending on the flow rate. It is concluded that application of low-frequency vibration has the potential of improving the performance of bubble columns