Cavitational reactors are a novel and promising form of multiphase reactors, based on the principle of release of large magnitude of energy due to the violent collapse of the cavities. Use of cavitational reactors for process intensification of several chemical and physical processing applications has been exploited worldwide in recent years. The present talk aims at presenting an overview of design and operation of cavitational reactors also focusing on the different areas of application illustrating some typical case studies.
The initial part of the talk will be devoted to basic concepts of cavitation phenomena and mechanism of observed intensification in different chemical/physical systems. Different designs of cavitational reactors including sonochemical and hydrodynamic cavitation reactors will be discussed and recommendations given for selection of optimum design and operating parameters. Comparison of different reactor configurations will be presented using two criteria of energy efficiency and cavitational yield estimations for different reactions.
The talk will also present some experimental case studies using industrially important operations, highlighting the degree of intensification achieved as compared to the conventional approaches. Overall it appears that considerable economic savings is possible by means of harnessing the spectacular effects of cavitation in chemical and physical processing.