Hydrodynamics in spray and packed liquid-liquid extraction columns: A review

Abstract

This work provides a review of hydrodynamic characteristics such as the slip velocity, the dis-persed-phase holdup, mean drop size, and axial dispersion of non-mechanically agitated liquid-liquid (L-L) extractors, with special reference to spray and packed bed columns. The complexity and importance of hydrodynamic behavior in designing and scaling up L-L extractors was a driving force to analyze, com-pare and discuss some important experimental findings available in the literature. The effects of phase ve-locities and the dispersed-phase holdup on the slip velocity, the mean drop size and the axial dispersion coefficient were studied and presented. Empirical correlations for slip velocity, the Sauter mean drop di-ameter and the axial dispersion coefficient, which were taken from the literature, were commented in terms of their applicability.