where EG = gas-phase axial-dispersion coefficient, m2/s; D = vessel diameter, m; UG = superficial gas velocity, m/s; and £ = fractional gas holdup, volume fraction.

The correlations given in the preceding paragraphs are applicable to vertical cylindrical vessels with pure liquids without coalescence inhibitors. For other vessel geometries such as columns of rectangular cross section, packed columns, and coiled tubes, the work of Shah et al. (loc. cit.) should be consulted. For systems containing coalescence-inhibiting surfactants, axial dispersion can be vastly different from that in systems in which coalescence is negligible. Konig et al. (loc. cit.) have well demonstrated the effects of surfactants and sparger type by conducting tests with weak alcohol solutions using three different porous spargers. With pure water, the sparger—and, consequently, initial bubble size—had little effect on back mixing because coalescence produced a dynamic-equilibrium bubble size not far above the sparger. With surfactants, the average bubble size was smaller than the dynamic-equilibrium bubble size. Small bubbles produced minimal back mixing up to £ « 0.40; however, above £ « 0.40 backmixing increased very rapidly as UG increased The rapid increase in back mixing as £ exceeds 0.40 was postulated to occur indirectly because a bubble carries upward with it a volume of liquid equal to about 70 percent of the bubble volume, and, for £ « 0.40, the bubbles carry so much liquid upward that steady, uniform bubble rise can no longer be maintained and an oscillating, slugging flow develops, which produces fluctuating pressure at the gas distributor and the formation of large eddies. The large eddies greatly increase backmixing. For the air alcohol-water system, the minimum bubble size to prevent unsteady conditions was about 1, 1.5, and 2 mm for UG = 1, 3, and 5 cm/s, respectively. Any smaller bubble size produced increased back-mixing. The results of Konig et al. (loc. cit.) clearly indicate that the interaction of surfactants and sparger can be very complex; thus, one should proceed very cautiously in designing systems for which surfactants significantly retard coalescence. Caution is particularly important because surfactants can produce either much more or much less backmixing than surfactant-free systems, depending on the bubble size, which, in turn, depends on the sparger utilized.

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