Fabrication of low cost composite spargers and their performance in polar and non-polar liquids

Abstract

Spargers are porous devices used for the continuous injection of gas bubbles into liquids. They have many applications like effective aeration in bio reactors, enhanced oil recovery, flotation, filtration and water treatment. In this study low cost spargers are fabricated, utilizing a new method. The bubble sizes and distributions are determined in an experimental setup comprising a bubble column equipped with a semi-professional camera to record the sizes of the bubbles in the column and resulting bubbles are photographed at different gas flow rates. First substrate of glass-bead spargers are fabricated. They are then covered by a layer of copper. The effect of reaction temperature and fluid properties are investigated on the size and the distribution of the produced bubbles. The results showed that the pore size of flat composite sample is decreased to 100 nm by coating by plasma focus deposition device; consequently, all bubbles produced by this sample are less than 0.1 mm inside kerosene. Comparison of BSD for all samples indicated that the smallest bubbles are produced in kerosene. By controlling the sintering conditions and through our innovative reaction and sintering method, we fabricated flat and conical composite spargers that produce 100% bubbles of less than 0.1mm diameter, and in kerosene a foamy bubble column is formed. © 2016 Avestia Publishing.