Prediction of the mean drop diameter, dispersed phase hold-up and slip velocity in a horizontal pulsed sieve plate column for uranium stripping from Loaded Alamine 336 by ammonium carbonate

Highlights: • The experimental results showed that an increase in the pulsation intensity led to a decrease in φ and d₃₂. • An increase in the phase flow rates increased both φ and d₃₂. • The results show that V_s increases by an increase in the pulsation intensity as well as the phase flow rates. • Because of the Marangoni effect, the system with reactive stripping has smaller V_s values than those of the system without the reactive stripping. • The average absolute relative errors (AARE) of the proposed correlations for predicting d₃₂, φ, and V_s were 9.90%, 14.45% and, 8.58% respectively. -- Abstract: This study has investigated the effects of operational parameters on the mean drop diameter (d₃₂), the dispersed phase holdup (φ) and the slip velocity (V_s) in uranium (VI) stripping of the loaded Alamine 336 using ammonium carbonate (0.64 M) by a horizontal pulsed sieve plate column. The main operational and physical parameters are the continuous and the dispersed phase flow rates, the pulsation intensity, the density, the continuous and the dispersed phase viscosities and the interfacial tension. Experimental results showed that an increase in the pulsation intensity led to a decrease in φ and d₃₂, and an increase in the phase flow rates cause an increase in both φ and d₃₂, although the impact of the flow rates on the d₃₂ was much milder than the pulsation intensity. Also, it was observed that the V_s increase by increasing the pulsation intensity and the phase flow rates. Based on the experimental results and dimensional analysis, three experimental-theoretical correlations for predicting d₃₂, φ, and V_s are proposed. The Average Absolute Relative Errors (AARE) of these parameters were 9.90%, 14.45%, and 8.58%, respectively, signifying their accuracy and usefulness for horizontal pulsed sieve plate column scaling up.