Drop size in a liquid pulsed sieve-plate extraction column

The (Benzoic acid + kerosene + water) system was studied in a 5.0 cm diameter liquid pulsed liquid-liquid extraction column with a total number of 80 sieve plates. The effect of pulsation intensity, dispersed phase superficial velocity, and continuous phase superficial velocity on volume-surface mean diameter was studied. Generally, the mean drop diameter decreased more rapidly with the increase of pulsation intensities and superficial velocities at low pulsation intensities and superficial velocities. However, the effect was not found to be significant at higher pulsation intensities and higher superficial velocities. In the interpretation of the experimental results, the drop size was observed to be a function of the operating regimes (mixer-settler, dispersion, and emulsion) of the pulsed sieve-plate extraction column. The experimental mean drop diameters were compared to the most acceptable analytical drop size correlation developed by Kumar and Hartland (1986). The correlation proved to be in good agreement for the column operating in the dispersion regime.