Mass transfer in a rotor-stator spinning disc reactor with co-feeding of gas and liquid

This paper presents a new type of spinning disk reactor configuration for gas-liquid operations. It combines the features of a classical spinning disk with a liquid film on the rotor [e.g., Aoune, A.; Ramshaw, C. Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 1999, 42, 2543-2556] and those of a rotor-stator spinning disk unit with a single gas inlet in the bottom stator [Meeuwse, M.; van der Schaaf, J.; Kuster, B. F. M.; Schouten, J. C. Chem. Eng. Sci. 2010, 65 (1), 466-471]. In this new configuration, gas and liquid are cofed through an inlet in the top stator. It is shown that gas-liquid mass transfer mainly takes place in the dispersed region between the rotor and the bottom stator. kGLaGLVR in this region is up to a factor of 6 larger than in the region with the liquid film on the rotor. Simulation of gas desorption from a saturated liquid shows that the gas-liquid mass transfer in this cofed configuration is considerably improved in comparison to the separate reactors, at similar operating conditions. The new reactor has also a higher potential for scaling up: gas and liquid can be cofed from one rotor-stator unit to another without the need for redistribution of the gas.