A Study on Gas-Liquid Contact in a Perforated Plate-Type $SO_2$ Absorber at Flooding Conditions

Gas-liquid contact tests above a perforated-plate were conducted with air and water at flooding gas-flow conditions in order to study two-phase flow characteristics in a limestone-gypsum SO2 absorber. Gas layers were in the form of air pockets and confined to the limited areas around each duct pipe, while the remaining tary area were in the wet condition. The liquid above the tray was always in the flooded and even fluidized conditions at gas flows over the range studied, although vigorous bubbly or churn-turbulent two-phase regime was only observed in the immediate vicinity of the gas hole exit at low gas loads. The froth zone was extremely active to provide intimate contact between gas and liquid so that the necessary mass transfer operation can take place, which is the primary purpose of high-performance SO2 absorbers. Howefer, the absorber $\Delta$P was 250mmH2O for the initial water level at 150mm, which is an important issue to be resolved for economical operation of the SO2 absorber. It was seen in the liquid level-and gas flow-transient tests that changes in the absorber liquid inventory were much more pronounced for intimate gas-liquid contact than changes in the gas flow. Based on the 4- and 8-duct pipe test results, grouping the duct pipes near the center of the test tray seemed to promote better recirulation of liquid from gas-liquid contact zone back to the reaction tank so that the absorbed SO2 can be neutralized.