Hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics of a loop-venturi reactor with a downflow liquid jet ejector

The hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics of a loop-venturi reactor have been investigated using a downflow liquid jet ejector. The specific interfacial area of the ejector and the main holding vessel were determined separately. The cobalt catalyzed sulfite oxidation was used as a model system. The measured values of the interfacial area were in the range of 40,000 to 70,000 m2/m3 in the ejector and 500 to 2500 in the total system. From this it can be concluded that the Loop-venturi reactor is particularly suitable for very fast reactions, in which the liquid phase mass transfer is the reaction limiting step of the process. Further it was demonstrated that the f low regime in the ejector has a huge influence on the mass transfer characteristics of the total system. From the results it is concluded that for a proper design of a loop-venturi reactor, the ejector and the main holding vessel should be considered as two reactors in series, which require individual modeling.