The objectives of this project are: to relate noise production to gas dispersion phenomena occurring in agitated tanks; to investigate to what extent the interaction between the sparge ring and impeller controls bubble size; and to develop a non-visual characterization method for the assessment of gas dispersion in chemical engineering processes. The work is based upon classical sound analysis techniques, coherence studies, and acoustic intensity measurements. The three major regions of interest include the impeller region, the bulk of the tank, and the sparge ring area. The investigations identify the various sound sources in gas dispersion and their paths to receivers, determine the noise characteristics in frequency and space of the various gas dispersion phenomena occurring in the tank, and rank the various sound sources as to their importance to receivers. The equipment consists of hydrophones, hydrophone calibrator, and power amplifier.
