Effects of air-lift reactor dimensions on its hydrodinamic characteristics

In this study the hydrodynamic characteristics of the external loop airlift bioreactors were investigated. The influence of reactor height and solid particles concentration on the mean liquid circulation velocity was examined. Also, the possibility of theoretical prediction of this liquid circulation velocity was assessed. The correlation originally proposed by Glennon et al. (Chem. Eng. Commun. 121 (1993) 183-192) for two phase system liquid velocity prediction was extended and corrected for application to three phase systems. The accuracy of this new correlation was tested on our experimental data. The corrected correlation shows higher accuracy than the originally proposed one. In addition, the influence of reactor geometry and solid loading on reactor working performances was established. U radu je ispitivan uticaj visine i precnika pneumatskih reaktora sa spoljasnjom cirkulacijom kao i udela cvrste faze na brzinu cirkulacije tecnosti i druge hidrodinamicke osobine reaktora. Takodje, u radu je analizirana i mogucnost teorijskog predvidjanja brzine cirkulacije tecnosti. Jednacina predlozena od strane Glenona (B. Glennon) i saradnika (Chem. Eng. Commun. 121 (1993) 183-192) za odredjivanje brzine tecnosti u dvofaznim sistemima, prosirena je i korigovana, i na taj nacin je omogucena njena primena na trofazne sisteme. Tacnost nove jednacine je ispitana na nasim eksperimentalnim podacima. Korigovani oblik jednacine daje rezultate blize eksperimentalnim vrednostima od originalne jednacine.