Countercurrent Gas−Pseudoplastic Liquid Two-Phase Flow

Countercurrent flow limitation (flooding), two-phase flow patterns, and void fraction in countercurrent flow of gas−pseudoplastic liquids in a vertical and an inclined channel (with a 68° inclination angle with respect to the horizontal plane) were experimentally studied. The test section was a transparent tube, 2.36 m long with a 1.9 cm inner diameter. Aqueous 500 and 1000 ppm solutions of PERCOL 727 (a copolymer of sodium acrylate and acrylamide) with flow behavior indices of 0.58 and 0.35, respectively, were used as the liquid phase, and air constituted the gas phase. The gas and liquid superficial velocity ranges in the experiments were 0.5−198 and 0.8−34 cm/s, respectively. The flooding curves of both polymer solutions were similar for both angles of inclination and were similar to the flooding curves of low-viscosity Newtonian liquids. They thus indicate little effect of pseudoplasticity on flooding. The visually observed two-phase flow regimes were bubbly/slug, slug, slug/churn, and churn. Annular flow occurred only at near-flooding conditions. The flow regime transition lines showed significant differences with data representing a Newtonian liquid with a viscosity of the same order of magnitude as the polymer solution apparent viscosities. The slug flow pattern, characterized by Taylor bubbles, was the most dominant flow pattern. The measured void fractions were correlated based on the drift flux model, using different correlation parameters for bubbly/slug, and slug or slug/churn flow regimes.