The investigation of gas holdup distribution in a two-phase bubble column using ultrasonic computed tomography

In this study, time-averaged gas holdup distributions were investigated in a 16 cm diameter bubble column for two-phase dispersed system of air-water and air-glycerol solution of 10 wt% by using ultrasonic computed tomography (UCT). A quantitative result of UCT - as a coupling of the ultrasonic transmission method and the iterative filtered backprojection (IFBP) image reconstruction technique - is presented. The UCT results are in a good agreement with those by the bed expansion method. A higher gas holdup in the air-glycerol 10 wt% solution than in the air-water system was observed. The distribution of gas holdup in the column with an attached baffle is also investigated by UCT. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.