Generating a database to validate CFD simulations using a pilot-plant scale bubble column operating with water and ethanol

• Applicant: Dr.-Ing. Thomas Ziegenhein
• Subject Area: Chemical and Thermal Process Engineering
• Term: from 2016 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 335448239

During the guest stay, a validation database for pilot-plant scale bubble columns, which will help to improve the predictive capability of CFD models, shall be build up. For this purpose, experiments at a bubble column at the polytechnic institute of Milan are planned for air/water as well as air/water-ethanol at different operation points using two different gas spargers. The facility is 0.24 m in diameter with a height of 5.3 m. In the past, the cooperation partner already measured the local bubble size distributions and gas holdups for the intended experiments. For a reasonable model validation, however, the liquid velocity is necessary; but a realizable measuring technique was missing. During his doctoral studies, the applicant developed a measuring method with which the measurements are possible, which was tested at the facility in Milan in May this year. The data that will be obtained are not yet published in such a level of detail for large bubble columns and are urgently needed for validation. The results will be published in prestigious international journals and will be provided to other international research groups; further, the results will be the basis for the following cooperation.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Italy
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Giorgio Besagni