Surface aeration in baffled stirred tanks: hydrodynamics, mixing and mass transfer characteristics

Biotechnological and chemical processes often need a supply of gas for acceptable product formation. In some applications - where either gas requirements/reactor volumes are relatively low, or bubbles are undesirable - aeration through the liquid free-surface is enough to meet the demand. In case of sparged stirred tanks, aeration through the liquid free-surface is a factor to be determined when scaling-up /down processes.
Gas-liquid transfer is strongly influenced by the hydrodynamic conditions. Two phenomena, occurring at different scales, can be coupled in order to explain mass transfer : (i) circulation (macroscale) and (ii) mixing/homogenization (microscale). Mixing/homogenization takes into consideration the small eddies
responsible for the rippled liquid free-surface and for the concentration gradients surrounding it. Circulation determines the fluid path across the reactor as well as its contribution of the surface aeration and leads to periodic and local deformation of the liquid free-surface. Circulation also accounts for the design of the reactor, where the scaling problems are focused.
The objective of this work is to develop an experimental approach able to fully (global and local quantities) characterize a chosen agitation configuration in terms of hydrodynamics, mixing and transfer, in order to assess the capability of computational methods to predict gas-liquid mass transfer due to aeration through the liquid free-surface.