Correlation between hydroxyl radical production and theoretical pressure distribution in a sonochemical reactor

A. Martínez-Tarifa*, S. Arrojo, O. Louisnard, José González-García, I. Tudela

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

Abstract / Description of output

The effects of operational parameters upon the hydroxyl radical generation of sonochemical reactors are critical to optimize this technology for wastewater treatment purposes. Ultrasonic wave characteristics are usually considered as the main parameter to be taken into account. Nevertheless, it is the interaction of these waves with the liquid medium and the reactor what really affects the process. Therefore, the characterization of sonochemical reactors should be based on the effective pressure distribution in the reactor, which not only includes the wave characteristics but also the propagation and reflection of these ultrasonic oscillations. The pressure field can be characterized using different parameters, such as maximum pressure amplitude or volumetric integration of pressure in the reactor. This study intends to find a correlation between such calculated pressure-distribution-related parameters and experimental measurements of hydroxyl radicals in the process. Both experiments and calculations are run varying the tip-bottom distance (keeping the rest of parameters constant), creating different reflection effects with the reactor walls and therefore different pressure distributions across the reactor. The hydroxyl radical measurements are performed with salicylic acid dosimetry, applying a specific developed method for biphasic cavitating systems. On the other hand, the pressure distribution was calculated simulating the different configurations with the computational tool COMSOL.

Original languageEnglish
Pages971-979
Number of pages9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2010
Externally publishedYes
EventInternational Congress on Ultrasonics, ICU 2009 - Santiago, Chile
Duration: 11 Jan 200917 Jan 2009

Conference

ConferenceInternational Congress on Ultrasonics, ICU 2009
Country/TerritoryChile
CitySantiago
Period11/01/0917/01/09

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Characterization
  • Computational tool
  • Dosimetry
  • Hydroxyl
  • Radical
  • Reflection
  • Salicylic acid
  • Ultrasonics and wave

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