Stimuli-responsive Membranes： Smart Tools for Controllable Mass-transfer and Separation Processes

As emerging artificial biomimetic membranes, smart or intelligent membranes that are able to respond to environmental stimuli are attracting ever-increasing interests from various fields. Their permeation properties including hydraulic permeability and diffusional permeability can be dramatically controlled or adjusted self-regulatively in response to small chemical and/or physical stimuli in their environments. Such environmental stimuli-responsive smart membranes could find myriad applications in numerous fields ranging from controlled release to separations. Here the trans-membrane mass-transfer and membrane separation is introduced as the beginning to initiate the requirement of smart membranes, and then bio-inspired design of environmental stimuli-responsive smart membranes and four essential elements for smart membranes are introduced and discussed. Next, smart membrane types and their applications as smart tools for controllable mass-transfer in controlled release and separations are reviewed. The research tooics in the near future are also suggested.

Rapid and real-time analysis of multi-component dissolved gas in seawater by Raman spectroscopy combined with continuous gas-liquid separator

Rapid and sensitive detection of dissolved gases in seawater is quite essential for the investigation of the global carbon cycle.Large quantities of in situ optical detection techniques showed restricted measurement efficiency,owing to the single gas sensor without the identification ability of multiple gases.In this work,a novel gas-liquid Raman detection method of monitoring the multi-component dissolved gases was proposed based on a continuous gas-liquid separator under a large difference of partial pressure.The limit of detection(LOD)of the gas Raman spectrometer could arrive at about 14 μl·L^(-1)for N_(2)gas.Moreover,based on the continuous gas-liquid separation process,the detection time of the dissolved gases could be largely decreased to about 200 s compared with that of the traditional detection method(30 min).Effect of equilibrium time on gas-liquid separation process indicated that the extracted efficiency and decay time of these dissolved gases was CO_(2)>O_(2)>N_(2).In addition,the analysis of the relationship between equilibrium time and flow speed indicated that the decay time decreased with the increase of the flow speed.The validation and application of the developed system presented its great potential for studying the components and spatiotemporal distribution of dissolved gases in seawater.

Degradation of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride in a multiphase mixed system by subaquatic gas-liquid discharge plasma

In recent years, antibiotic pollution has become a serious threat to human health. In this study, a gas-liquid discharge plasma is developed to degrade ciprofloxacin hydrochloride in a multiphase mixed system containing inorganic and organic impurities. The discharge characteristics are analyzed by diagnosing the applied voltage and discharge current waveforms, as well as the optical emission spectra. The work investigates how degradation efficiency is affected by applied voltage, gas flow rate, treatment time, initial concentration as well as the addition of γ-Al_(2)O_(3) pellets and peanut straw. After 70 min, the degradation efficiency of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride in the multiphase mixed system reached 99.6%. Its removal efficiency increases as the initial concentration decreases and the applied voltage increases. Besides, there is still a good degradation efficiency of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride with the addition of peanut straw.The degradation mechanism of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride is investigated through the analysis of degraded intermediates and reactive species.

A Novel Method for Determining the Void Fraction in Gas-Liquid Multi-Phase Systems Using a Dynamic Conductivity Probe

Conventional conductivity methods for measuring the void fraction in gas-liquid multiphase systems are typically affected by accuracy problems due to the presence of fluid flow and salinity.This study presents a novel approach for determining the void fraction based on a reciprocating dynamic conductivity probe used to measure the liquid film thickness under forced annular-flow conditions.The measurement system comprises a cyclone,a conductivity probe,a probe reciprocating device,and a data acquisition and processing system.This method ensures that the flow pattern is adjusted to a forced annular flow,thereby minimizing the influence of complex and variable gas-liquid flow patterns on the measurement results;Moreover,it determines the liquid film thickness solely according to circuit connectivity rather than specific conductivity values,thereby mitigating the impact of salinity.The reliability of the measurement system is demonstrated through laboratory experiments.The experimental results indicate that,in a range of gas phase superficial velocities 5–20 m/s and liquid phase superficial velocities 0.079–0.48 m/s,the maximum measurement deviation for the void fraction is 4.23%.

A New Device for Gas-Liquid Flow Measurements Relying on Forced Annular Flow

A new measurement device,consisting of swirling blades and capsule-shaped throttling elements,is proposed in this study to eliminate typical measurement errors caused by complex flow patterns in gas-liquid flow.The swirling blades are used to transform the complex flow pattern into a forced annular flow.Drawing on the research of existing blockage flow meters and also exploiting the single-phase flow measurement theory,a formula is introduced to measure the phase-separated flow of gas and liquid.The formula requires the pressure ratio,Lockhart-Martinelli number(L-M number),and the gas phase Froude number.The unknown parameters appearing in the formula are fitted through numerical simulation using computational fluid dynamics(CFD),which involves a comprehensive analysis of the flow field inside the device from multiple perspectives,and takes into account the influence of pressure fluctuations.Finally,the measurement model is validated through an experimental error analysis.The results demonstrate that the measurement error can be maintained within±8%for various flow patterns,including stratified flow,bubble flow,and wave flow.

Enhanced degradation of tetracycline by gas-liquid discharge plasma coupled with g-C_(3)N_(4)/TiO_(2)

Plasma-catalysis is considered as one of the most promising technologies for antibiotic degradation in water.In the plasma-catalytic system,one of the factors affecting the degradation effect is the performance of the photocatalyst,which is usually restricted by the rapid recombination of electrons and holes as well as narrow light absorption range.In this research,a photocatalyst g-C_(3)N_(4)/TiO_(2) was prepared and coupled with gas-liquid discharge(GLD)to degrade tetracycline(TC).The performance was examined,and the degradation pathways and mechanisms were studied.Results show that a 90%degradation rate is achieved in the GLD with g-C_(3)N_(4)/TiO_(2) over a 10 min treatment.Increasing the pulse voltage is conducive to increasing the degradation rate,whereas the addition of excessive g-C_(3)N_(4)/TiO_(2) tends to precipitate agglomerates,resulting in a poor degradation efficiency.The redox properties of the g-C_(3)N_(4)/TiO_(2) surface promote the generation of oxidizing active species(H2O2,O3)in solution.Radical quenching experiments showed that·OH,hole(h^(+)),play important roles in the TC degradation by the discharge with g-C_(3)N_(4)/TiO_(2).Two potential degradation pathways were proposed based on the intermediates.The toxicity of tetracycline was reduced by treatment in the system.Furthermore,the g-C_(3)N_(4)/TiO_(2) composites exhibited excellent recoverability and stability.

带非局部边值条件的Gas-Liquid模型正解的渐近性态

应用bootstrap技巧,讨论了带非局部边值条件的Gas-Liquid模型正周期拟解的存在性和一般时变解的渐近性态.

Numerical Simulation of Gas-Liquid Flow in a Stirred Tank with a Rushton Impeller

The gas-liquid flow field in a stirred tank with a Rushton diskturbine, including the impeller region, was numerically simulatedusing the improved inner-outer iterative procedure. Thecharacteristic features of the stirred tank, such as gas cavity andaccumulation of gas at the two sides of wall baffles, can be capturedby the simulation. The simulated results agree well with availableexperimental data. Since the improved inner-outer iterative algorithmdemands on empirical formula and experimental data for the impellerregion, and the approach seems generally applicable for simulatinggas-liquid stirred tanks.

Gas-Liquid Microreaction Technology： Recent Developments and Future Challenges

Gas-liquid microreaction technology has shown great potential in a variety of industrial relevant mass transfer operations and reactions. This paper outlines the current research status of this technology with emphasis on reactor design, hydrodynamics and mass transfer phenomena as well as reaction applications. The future challenges of this important technology are also summarized.

Design and Experimental Analyses of Small-flow High-head Centrifugal-vortex Pump for Gas-Liquid Two-phase Mixture

The design method of small-flow high-head centrifugal-vortex pump was presented. This pump, configured with inducer, complex-centrifugal impeller and open-vortex impeller, was put forward to deliver gas-liquid two-phase mixture. An HTB-5/60 type sample pump was developed and tested on a closed-loop test rig. Experimental studies on performance and cavitation tests for gas-liquid two-phase mixture were carried out compared with pure-water experimental results. Also the effect of gas phase on pump was analyzed and discussed. The experimental results show that performance and cavitation characteristics of the sample purnp deteriorates progressively with increasing volume fraction of gas. When the total capacity Qm is between 4.5 m^3·h^-1 and 6 m^3·h^-1 and the gas flow rate qg below 0.66 m^3·h^-1, or qg/Qm is lower than 15%, the characteristic curves are approximately parallel to those in pure water test, but the performance deteriorates sharply until an abrupt flow-cutting at a critical volume fraction of gas. This pump is found suitable for transporting gas-liquid two-phase mixture when working around rated capacity of 5 m^3·h^-1 with qglQm below 15%.

Measurement of Liquid Concentration Fields Near Interface with Cocurrent Gas-Liquid Flow Absorption Using Holographic Interferometry

Real-time laser holographic interferometry was applied to measure liquid concentrations of CO2 in the vicinity of gas-liquid free interface under the conditions of cocurrent gas-liquid flow for absorption of CO2 by ethanol. The influences of the Reynolds number on the measurable interface concentration and on the film thickness were discussed. The results show that CO2 concentration decreases exponentially along the mass transfer direction,and the concentration gradient increases as Reynolds number of either liquid or gas increases. CO2 concentrations fluctuate slightly along the direction of flow; on the whole, there is an increase in CO2 concentration. The investigation also demonstrated that film thickness decreases with the increase of Reynolds number of either of the two phases. Sherwood number representing the mass transfer coefficient was finally correlated as a function of the hydrodynamic parameters and the physical properties.

Experimental Investigation of Vibration Response of A Free-Hanging Flexible Riser Induced by Internal Gas-Liquid Slug Flow

The vibration response of a free-hanging flexible riser induced by internal gas-liquid slug flow was studied experimentally in a small-diameter tube model based on Froude number criterion. The flow regime in a curved riser model and the response displacements of the riser were simultaneously recorded by high speed cameras. The gas superficial velocity ranges from 0.1 m/s to 0.6 m/s while the liquid superficial velocity from 0.06 m/s to 0.3 m/s.Severe slugging type 3, unstable oscillation flow and relatively stable slug flow were observed in the considered flow rates. Severe slugging type 3 characterized by premature gas penetration occurs at relatively low flow rates. Both the cycle time and slug length become shorter as the gas flow rate increases. The pressure at the riser base undergoes a longer period and larger amplitude of fluctuation as compared with the other two flow regimes. Additionally, severe slugging leads to the most vigorous in-plane vibration. However, the responses in the vertical and horizontal directions are not synchronized. The vertical vibration is dominated by the second mode while the horizontal vibration is dominated by the first mode. Similar to the vortex-induced vibration, three branches are identified as initial branch, build-up branch and descending branch for the response versus the mixture velocity of gas-liquid flow.

Effect of the Inclination Angle on Slippage Loss in Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow

The lifting efficiency and stability of gas lift well are affected by the socalled slippage-loss effect in gas-liquid two-phase flow.The existing studies on this subject have generally been based on vertical and horizontal wells.Only a few of them have considered inclined pipes.In the present work a new focused study is presented along these lines.More specifically,we use the non-slip pressure drop model with Flanigan’s fluctuation correction coefficient formula(together with the parameters of slippage density,slippage pressure drop and slippage ratio)to analyze the influence of the inclination angle on slippage loss for different conditions(different gas-liquid superficial velocity and pipe diameters).Moreover,the“standard regression coefficient method”is used for multi-factor sensitivity analysis.The experimental results indicate that slippage loss is affected by multiple factors,and the influence of the inclination angle on slippage loss is less significant than other factors.The change of the slippage pressure drop with the superficial velocity of gas-liquid is similar to that of the total pressure drop.The inclination angles of 45°and 60°have the greatest influence on slippage loss.The correlation between slippage density and slippage ratio is not obvious.Using the so-called slippage ratio seems to be a more accurate option to evaluate the degree of slippage loss.

Flow Regime Identification of Gas-liquid Two-phase Flow Based on HHT

A new method to identify flow regime in two-phase flow was presented, based on signal processing of differential pressure using Hilbert Huang transform （HHT）. Signals obtained from a Venturi meter were decomposed into different intrinsic mode functions （IMFs） with HHT, then the energy fraction of each intrinsic mode and the mean value of residual function were calculated, from which the rules of flow regime identification were summarized. Experiments were carried out on two-phase flow in the horizontal tubes with 50mm and 40mm inner diameter, while water flowrate was in the range of 1.3m^3.h^-1 to 10.5m^3.h^-1, oil flowrate was from 4.2m^3.h^-1 to 7.0m^3.h^-1 and gas flowrate from 0 to 15m^3.h^-1. The results show that the proposed rules have high precision for single phase, bubbly, and slug, plug flow regirne identification, which are independent of not only properties of two-phase fluid. In addition, the method can meet the need of industrial application because of its simple calculation.

An Investigation on the Void Fraction for upward Gas-Liquid Slug Flow in Vertical Pipe

In order to investigate the influence of the entrance effect on the spatial distribution of phases, the experiments on gas-liquid two-phase slug flow in a vertical pipe of 0.03m ID were carried out by using optical probes and an EKTAPRO 1000 high speed motion analyzer. It demonstrates that the radial profile of slug flow void fraction is parabolic. Influenced by the falling liquid film, the radial profile curve of liquid slug void fraction in the wake region is also parabolic. Since fully turbulent velocity distribution is built up in the developed region,the void fraction profile in this region is the saddle type. At given superficial liquid velocity, the liquid slug void fraction increases with gas velocity. The radial profiles of liquid slug void fraction at different axial locations are all saddle curves, but void fraction is obviously high around the centerline in the entrance region. The nearer the measuring station is from the entrance, the farther the peak location is away from the wall.

Gas-Liquid Mass Transfer in a Slurry Bubble Column Reactor under High Temperature and High Pressure

The gas-liquid mass transfer of H2 and CO in a high temperature and high-pressure three-phase slurry bubble column reactor is studied. The gas-liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficients kLa are obtained by measuring the dissolution rate of H2 and CO. The influences of the main operation conditions, such as temperature, pressure, superficial gas velocity and solid concentration, are studied systematically. Two empirical correlations are proposed to predict kLa values for H2 and CO in liquid paraffin/solid particles slurry bubble column reactors.

Local Flow Regime Transition Criteria of Gas-Liquid Two-phase Flow in Vertical Upward Tube with a Horizontal Rod

The upward multiphase cross flow and heat transfer in the vertical tube may occur in oil production and chemical facilities. In this study, the local flow patterns of an upward gas-water two phase cross flow in a vertical tube with a horizontal rod have been investigated with an optical probe and the digital high speed video system. The local flow patterns are defined as the bubble, slug, churn and annular flow patterns. Optical probe signals are ana- lyzed in terms of probability density function, and it is proved that the local flow patterns can be recognized by this method. The transition mechanisms between the different flow patterns have been analyzed and the corresponding transitional models are proposed. Finally, local flow pattern maps of the upward gas-water two-phase flow in the vertical tube with a horizontal rod are constructed.

Identification Method of Gas-Liquid Two-phase Flow Regime Based on Image Multi-feature Fusion and Support Vector Machine

The knowledge of flow regime is very important for quantifying the pressure drop, the stability and safety of two-phase flow systems. Based on image multi-feature fusion and support vector machine, a new method to identify flow regime in two-phase flow was presented. Firstly, gas-liquid two-phase flow images including bub- bly flow, plug flow, slug flow, stratified flow, wavy flow, annular flow and mist flow were captured by digital high speed video systems in the horizontal tube. The image moment invariants and gray level co-occurrence matrix texture features were extracted using image processing techniques. To improve the performance of a multiple classifier system, the rough sets theory was used for reducing the inessential factors. Furthermore, the support vector machine was trained by using these eigenvectors to reduce the dimension as flow regime samples, and the flow regime intelligent identification was realized. The test results showed that image features which were reduced with the rough sets theory could excellently reflect the difference between seven typical flow regimes, and successful training the support vector machine could quickly and accurately identify seven typical flow regimes of gas-liquid two-phase flow in the horizontal tube. Image multi-feature fusion method provided a new way to identify the gas-liquid two-phase flow, and achieved higher identification ability than that of single characteristic. The overall identification accuracy was 100%, and an estimate of the image processing time was 8 ms for online flow regime identification.

Numerical Simulation and Experimental Analysis of the Influence of Asymmetric Pressure Conditions on the Splitting of a Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow at a T-Junction

Dedicated experiments and numerical simulations have been conducted to investigate the splitting characteristics of a gas-liquid two phase flow at a T junction.The experiments were carried out for different gas-liquid velocities.The flow rates in the two branches were measured accurately to determine how the two considered phases distribute in the two outlets.The experimental results have shown that when the two outlet pressures are asymmetric,the two-phase flow always tends to flow into the outlet which has a lower pressure.As the inlet liquid velocity increases,however,the two-phase flow gradually tends to split evenly.Compared with the experiment results,the pressure difference between the two outlets can be determined more accurately by means of numerical simulation.The trends of experimental results and simulations are in very good agreement.

A Novel Surface Aeration Configuration for Improving Gas-Liquid Mass Transfer

A novel surface aeration configuration featured with aself-rotating and floating baffle (SRFB) and a Rushton disk turbine(DT) with a perforated disk has been developed. The SRFB, consistedof 12 fan blades twisted By an angle of 30 deg to the horizontalplane, is incorporated onto the impeller shaft to improve gasentrainment, bubble Breakup, mixing in a φ 154 mm agitated vessel.This new configuration is compared to the conventional DT surfaceAeration experimentally. The results suggest that the criticalimpeller speed for onset of gas entrainment is lower for The newconfiguration and it demands greater power consumption. Moreover, theSRFB system produces 30/100-168/100 Higher volumetric mass transfercoefficient per unit power input than that obtained in theconventional DT surface Aerator under the same operation conditions.