Gas Hold-Up and Mass Transfer in a Vessel with an Unsteady Rotating Concave Blade Impeller

The steady mixing of gas-liquid systems is used where a large development of the interfacial area is required. However, the presence of gas in the liquid reduces the efficiency of mass transfer by reducing the mixing power, due to the creation of gas formations behind the impeller blades and the reduction in density. The efficiency of mass transfer can be increased by using a concave blade impeller or unsteady mixing. Mass transfer efficiency studies for these impellers and unsteady mixing are limited. This paper presents an analysis of the influence of the impeller construction on the gas hold-up and volumetric mass transfer coefficient k_La. Impellers with a different number of concave blades, and with alternatively arranged concave blades, were analyzed. The obtained results were compared with the standard flat blade turbine. The obtained results indicate that the arrangement of the concave blades has the greatest effect on reducing the gas hold-up and k_La. Higher values were obtained for the four-bladed and six-bladed impellers. A comparison of the gas hold-up rate for the unsteady and steady mixing has shown that for steady mixing greater gas hold-up is achieved. The volumetric mass transfer coefficient for unsteady mixing is also greater compared to steady mixing, indicating greater efficiency in mass transfer.