Numerical investigation on the flow mixing feature inside a continuously carbonating process tank

A carbonating tank is continuously operated and filled with water supplied by an immersed flow injecting nozzle. At the same time, CO₂ gas is introduced from the gas tank. CO₂ gas can be dissolved in water and can form carbonated water with minimum production of gas bubbles depending on various process conditions. Therefore, the flow mixing phenomenon of CO₂ and water can be affected by the placement of the injecting nozzle and the flow rate in consideration of the interfacial surface. In this study, the gas-liquid flow mixing with the mass transport inside the carbonation process tank is numerically predicted. The Euler-Euler methodology is used to observe the effects of the design of the injecting nozzle, the gas bubble size, as well as the velocities of liquid and gas on the gas volume fraction, liquid velocity, gas concentration, interfacial area, and mass transfer coefficient.