An electrical conductivity probe method for measuring the local solid holdup in a slurry system

Abstract

An electrical conductivity probe method for measuring the local solid holdup in a liquid-solid or gas-liquid-solid slurry system was developed. The relationship between the conductivity of the liquid-solid mixture and the local solid holdup was described by the electric field theory. From this relationship, the local solid holdup can be determined from the measured conductivity of the liquid-solid mixture. Validation was carried out for several cases. The experimental results showed that the conductivity probe method developed in this work was convenient for use and had a good accuracy in a wide range of solid holdup in the liquid-solid system. By adding sieves at the front of the probe to eliminate the effect of gas bubbles, the modified probe was used to measure the local solid holdup in a gas-liquid-solid system and good results were obtained. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.