Effect of hydrodynamics on mass transfer in a gas-liquid oscillatory baffled column

In this paper, we present an experimental study on mass transfer of oxygen into water in an oscillatory baffled column (OBC). The objective of this work is to establish the contribution of individual parameters, such as the size of bubbles and the gas holdup, to the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient (kLa). Our results show that the gas holdup is the most important factor. The liquid-side mass transfer coefficient (kL) is calculated directly from the experimental measurements of gas holdup, Sauter mean diameter and kLa, and an increase of kL with D32 is observed. The results also show that, above a critical level of fluid oscillation, the mass transfer coefficients are mainly
governed by the oscillatory operating conditions, while independent of the type of gas sparger.