3. Methodology

A system with a complex geometry, the evolution of the Turboxal™ can only be carried out if advanced knowledge of the flows generated and the contribution of the various components of the device is available. So, to achieve the objectives, a first part of the project involved exploiting the potential of the existing device to the full, by varying several simple geometric parameters. This experimental characterization was carried out in liquid only, then in gas-liquid on a reduced-scale model of the device. Conventional measurements such as power dissipation, gas flow rate at clogging, determination of the gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient and local hydrodynamics of the liquid phase (using laser Doppler velocimetry) were carried out. It was found that performance could only be slightly enhanced by simple geometrical modifications (