Fluid Mechanics for Chemical Engineers with Microfluidics and CFD, Second Edition

Chapter 10. Bubble Motion, Two-Phase Flow, and Fluidization

10.1. Introduction

The simultaneous motion of two or more immiscible fluids is of considerable importance in chemical engineering, and there is an abundance of examples, such as:

1. Mixing of coal particles with water and pumping the resulting slurry through a pipeline.

2. Simultaneous production of oil and natural gas upward through a vertical well.

3. Vaporization of water or other liquids inside the heated tubes of a vertical-tube evaporator.

4. Contacting a reacting fluid with catalyst particles in a fluidized bed.

5. Absorption of a component from a gas stream that is rising through a packed bed in a tower, down through which an absorbing liquid is flowing.

6. Aerated bioreactors, ...