Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 602–612

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Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers

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Some industrial applications of gamma-ray tomography

Dinesh V. Kalaga a, Anand V. Kulkarni a, Rajesh Acharya b, Umesh Kumar b, Gurusharan Singh b,
Jyeshtharaj B. Joshi a,*
a
Institute of Chemical Technology, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Matunga, Mumbai 400019, India
b
Isotope in Industry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Mumbai 400085, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: Various tomographic techniques such as electrical capacitance, electrical resistivity, MRI, X-ray/gamma-
Received 6 February 2009 ray tomography have been reviewed with special emphasis on applicability for the industrial set-ups are
Received in revised form 25 May 2009 discussed. It was found that gamma-ray tomography is most suitable technique which could be used for
Accepted 25 May 2009
industrial set-ups. Gamma-ray tomography was also applied for variety of industrial equipment, such as
paddle bed dryer, packed distillation column, to explore the possibility of their use for diagnosis of
Keywords: unidentified problems. From the preset work it is recommended to undertake tomographic scanning of
Tomography
critical equipments periodically to enhance the efficiency and reduce possible downtime.
Gamma-ray
Packed column
ß 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Scanning
Image reconstruction

1. Introduction phase distribution or any kind of non-uniformity inside the

Tomography is an important tool for accessing the structural
details of any object, specifically, if any interstitial part of the object
is inaccessible. Such as any part of human body or internal flow
structures in any reactor or separation equipment in industry.
Computerized Tomography (CT) scanning is a standard diagnostic
tool for medical imaging, however for industrial application is still
under development stage. This is specifically because equipment
size can be too large also there may be some internals like
impellers, packings (structure as well as random packing), catalyst,
insulation (inside or outside of the equipment) etc. Safety issues
are even more stringent while applying a specific technique in
industrial equipment. Hence much of work is needed to use such
technique in industry.
Computerized tomography consists of two steps (a) the object is
first scanned with respect to some property like gamma/X-ray
absorption, capacitance, electrical resistivity, magnetic resonance
etc. (b) the scanned property is then reconstructed by means of
suitable reconstruction technique. Similarly tomography has two
major objectives (a) to reconstruct the geometrical details of the
underlying object and (b) to reconstruct the property values of the
underlying object.
Tomography is normally non-destructive technique and hence
is of immense use for industrial columns/reactors to detect the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 22 24145616; fax: +91 22 24145614.
E-mail address: jbj@udct.org (J.B. Joshi).
underlying object. The present work is focused on the industrial
applications of such technique.
2. Previous literature
Scanning of an object can be based on various properties. In case
of electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) (or electrical impe-
dance tomography (EIT)) difference in electrical permittivity of
material is measured by placing the sensors around the periphery
of the object. Hence this technique is suitable for electrically non-
conducting materials. In case of electrical resistance tomography
(ERT) difference in electrical conductivity is measured by the
sensors placed along the periphery of the object as shown in Fig. 1.
Hence this technique is used for electrically conducting material.
Both ECT and ERT methods are fast and can be potentially applied
as an on-line tool for control purpose for a process. Further these
methods are more suitable for imaging of transient processes. The
sensors used are robust and cheap (Bolton et al., 1999; Reinecke
and Mewes, 1997; Vijayan et al., 2007; Wang and Yin, 2001).
However, while applied for industrial cases these poses problems
since safety issues of the underlying process may not permit
passage for electric field through the equipment and contents of
the equipments.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the most advanced
diagnostic tool, which can produce almost real-time 3-D images of
the underlying object as shown in Fig. 2. When the nuclei of
hydrogen atom, single proton, spinning randomly are caught
suddenly in a strong magnetic field, they tend to line up in the

1876-1070/$ – see front matter ß 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers.
doi:10.1016/j.jtice.2009.05.012
 D.V. Kalaga et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 602–612
Nomenclature
g the property of the object in the pixel
Io incident intensity of gamma-radiation
I subsident intensity of gamma-radiation
L distance between source and detector (m)
N number of pixels in a ray
Pa measured value of the property of the object
Greek symbols
a mass energy absorption coefficient (m2/kg)
e hold-up
m linear attenuation coefficient (m1)
r density of the medium (kg/m3)
Subscripts
f measurement in flow condition
g gas phase
i respective medium
ij index of the pixel
L liquid phase
m mean
TP two phase condition
v vessel wall
z zero measurement
direction of magnetic axis. If the protons are then hit with a short,
precisely tuned burst of radio frequency (RF), they will momenta-
rily flip around. While returning to their original orientation, they
emit a radio signal (echo). The intensity of this emission reflects the
number of protons in a particular slice of matter. Multi-echo-MRI,
samples the NMR-signal in time for every pixel in echo-train to get
the real-time image. The advanced MRI technique can give images
having special resolution of 400 mm and temporal resolution of the
order of 1 ms. The particle velocity up to 1 m/s can be measured
with an accuracy of 2% (Muller et al., 2008). However MRI
techniques has some serious limitations (a) the imaging object
should contain an atom like hydrogen, carbon and (b) there is also
limitation for the maximum size of the object, which could be in
centimeters, since the magnet should be even higher than the
object itself (Muller et al., 2008). Hence, even if MRI is most
advanced and sophisticated tool it is most costly as well. The above
Fig. 1. Schematic of capacitance measurement technique.
603
Fig. 2. Schematic of MRI technique.
discussion itself suggests that MRI cannot be used on industrial
set-up as on today.
The X-ray and gamma-ray technique is most widely explored
for several equipment as well as it appears to be the oldest
technique used for imaging (Bartholomew and Casagrande, 1957;
Grohse, 1955). X-ray and gamma-ray both work on similar
principle. The difference lies only in the source of radiation.
Whenever X-ray/gamma-ray passes through a medium some
radiation is absorbed by the medium and less is attenuated at the
receiving end. The radiation attenuated depends upon the density
of the medium and the distance between the source and detector.
Usually this technique is used for acquiring the steady-state
images of the object.
Above discussion summarizes the advantages and limitations of
various techniques. Thus while applying for industrial cases the
limitations may arise with respect to the sensor to be used.
Electrical resistivity probes, capacitance measurement, or mea-
surement of magnetic resonance would be much more cumber-
some to adapt for industrial columns/reactors. The X-rays are also
more suitable for laboratory purpose. Gamma-ray source is
relatively easily available, easy to handle and use with proper
safety precautions and hence are more suitable to use on industrial
set-ups. Hence, in the present work gamma-ray tomography was
used to detect the phase separation, phase distribution and other
non-uniformities in various unit operations.
Table 1 highlights the work on tomography applied for various
equipments with specific objective by using a specific technique,
by the individual researcher. In view of applicability of gamma-ray
for industrial columns/reactors the developments in the past few
years are summarized here in detail. Probably the first attempt of
application of tomography was by Bartholomew and Casagrande
(1957) where gamma-ray tomography was used to detect the solid
phase distribution in a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit. Gamma-
rays were used for scanning the riser of FCC. Source was 60Co of
5 mCi strength. The solid distribution was non-uniform and there
was a high density region on one side of column cross-section.
There onwards several attempts can be seen in literature on
various unit operations and reactors. The maximum vessel
diameter covered is 0.7 m by Azzi et al. (1991). Tomography
was applied for industrial FCC unit to detect the solid distribution.
Radial asymmetry was evident from the tomograms. Shollenberger
et al. (1997), Kumar et al. (1997), Parasuveer and Joshi (1999),
Marchot et al. (1999), Yin et al. (2002) showed considerable effect
of type of distributor used in the respective case. The effect of

Table 1
Summery of previous literature on tomography.
Reference Set-up
Reinecke and Trickle bed, capacitance
Mewes (1997) tomography. Column diameter
0.12 m and height 2 m. Packing
material was ceramic spheres of 10,
5 and 3 mm hydraulic diameter.
Bolton et al. (1999) Capacitance tomography to
immiscible liquid–liquid system.
Three different column diameters
(0.1 m, 0.15 m, and 0.6 m) were
used. Liquid–liquid system was
kerosene–water.
Wang and Yin (2001) Miscible liquid–liquid mixing by
using ERT. Vessel diameter was
0.19 m. Scanning was done at 0.11 m
from bottom.
Vijayan et al. (2007) Bubble column. Column diameter
0.24 m, height 2.75 m, ERT.
Heibel et al. (2001) MRI in monolith film flow reactor. 25
cells per square inch (cpsi) monolith
with square channels of a hydraulic
diameter of 0.00411 m and a length
of 0.5 m. Three different distributors
were used.
Muller et al. (2008) MRI of fluidized bed reactor. Column
diameter 0.05 m. Particle size was
0.0005–0.0012 m and density 900–
1050 kg/m3.
Objective
Tomography of regular and irregular
packing for maldistribution.
To develop non-invasive technique
for large diameter columns. To
develop a system for on-line
monitoring of phase distribution
this could be used for control
purpose.
To study the unsteady dynamics of
liquid–liquid mixing by estimating
the concentration gradients.
Effect of sparger geometry on flow
pattern transition in bubble column
by using ERT.
To detect maldistribution in
monolith reactor. To find the
appropriate distributor and location
of distributor.
To develop a tool to get almost
instantaneous image of fluidized bed
to visualize the phenomena like
bubbling, jetting, falling particle
films. 3-D particle velocity around
an air jet was obtained.
Scanning and reconstruction
methodology
16 peripherally mounted sensors.
Reconstruction by backprojection
method.
8–12 measurement electrodes were
used. Reconstruction was done by
linear back-projection method.
16, square electrodes placed flush on
the periphery (area 1 cm2).
Reconstruction was done by back-
projection and multi-step inverse
solution algorithms.
604
Conclusion
Gas rich and liquid rich regions in a pulse flow regime have been identified. Overall
liquid hold up was found to be independent of flow regime.
The application of electrical capacitance tomography to liquid–liquid phase
contacting in the bench-scale stirred tank and flow contactor has demonstrated
accurate measurement of the volume fraction of the dispersed phase in, and on-line
visualization of the distribution of the contents. Much development is required to
D.V. Kalaga et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 602–612
provide quantitative distribution results. The results pave the way for the
development of ECT as an on-line monitoring and control tool, with the potential to
operate liquid–liquid countercurrent contacting processes closer to the flooding
point, with the obvious benefit of increased throughput, and under improved
control. In addition, ECT can identify cases of poor distributor performance due to
poor design or becoming partially blocked as a result of corrosion.
Multi-step inverse solution algorithm gives more accurate data than back-
projection method. Angular velocities were obtained by using auto-correlation.
Void fraction characteristics were found to vary with sparger geometries. Effects of
total pressure and superficial gas velocity using different sparger designs were
observed. The hold-up measured from ERT was found to be in good agreement with
those measured by pressure transmitters. Three different flow regimes (discrete
bubbly flow, cluster bubbly flow and churn-turbulent flow) have been identified
based on void fraction properties and the wall pressure fluctuations. The spectral
analysis of ERT measurements yields the quantitative information, such as a
characteristic time and a characteristic frequency of void fraction waves, which are
closely related to flow structure in the prevailing regime.
The accumulation of liquid in the corners of the square channels due to capillary
forces is confirmed. An arc-shaped gas–liquid interface was determined. An
appropriate choice of the distributor gives uniform distribution of the liquid across
the monolith. This is in good agreement with a cold-flow liquid distribution test.
Higher resolution channel-scale measurements reveal that, on a more microscopic
level, significant liquid distribution differences occur over the corners of the
individual channels. These variations show a systematic behavior, independent of
the liquid velocity, and are therefore believed to be a result of specific geometries of
monolith and the distributor. The average liquid saturation (ratio of liquid and void
area) is in very good agreement with CFD predictions. Imposed maldistribution
confirmed the expected trends in the deviation of liquid saturation. The gas–liquid
mass transfer is rather insensitive to the channel-scale distribution differences. The
effect on the residence time distribution was found to be pronounced. Especially,
the high local velocities in the corners of higher liquid saturation shift the break-
through time to lower values and result in an overall broadening of the residence
time distribution, which is not desirable for the reactor performance.
A tool has been developed to obtain detail particle motions in a fluidized bed. The
images show various phenomena as bubble formation, bubble rise, formation of jet,
particle velocities near jet, slugging bed, gulf-streaming and particle dispersion.
Toye et al. (1998) X-ray tomography in packed
column. Column diameter 0.6 m,
height 2 m, cascade min-ring 1A
random type packing.
Marchot et al. (1999) X-ray tomography in packed
column. Column diameter 0.6 m,
packed height was 2 m, random
packing of CMR1A Glitsch, cascade
mini-ring packing
Grassler and Gas–solid circulating fluidized bed
Wirth (2000) by using X-ray tomography. Riser
diameter 0.19 m. Downer diameter
was 0.15 m. Solid phase was glass
beads of 70 mm and superficial gas
velocity of 2–7 m/s. The experiments
were performed at four locations for
both riser and downer.
Schimt et al. (2001) X-ray tomography for counter
current air–water packed column.
Column diameter 0.15 m. Packing
type was random packing of metal
ballast rings.
Schmit et al. (2004) X-ray tomography of packed column
with structured packing of Mellapak
of 500 Y. Column diameter 0.15 m.
Packed height was 0.61 m.
Detection of liquid phase
maldistribution.
To study the maldistribution in
packed column.
Detection of solid distribution in
riser. Potential and limitation of X-
ray tomography were investigated
for detection of solid phase
distribution.
Liquid distribution and hold-up
values obtained at three different
elevations.
To measure the flow distribution
and validate it against simulations.
Fan beam (408) scanning with
aperture 1 mm thick.
Fan beam (408) scanning with
apertures of 1 mm thickness.
Reconstruction by linear filtered
back-projection, with pixel grid of
512  512 and 1024  1024 with
resolution of 1 mm.
Fan beam (358) having linear
detector array of 1024 elements.
Reconstruction was done by ART.
Fan beam scanning with linear array
of 125 detectors. The aperture for
scans was 0.3 mm  0.3 mm and
0.2 mm  0.2 mm.
Fan beam scanning with linear array
of 125 detectors. The aperture for
scans was 0.3 mm  0.3 mm.
The measured value of the bed void fraction is equal to the value provided by the
manufacturer. The analysis of the axial profile of void fraction shows that the ‘end
effect’ may be neglected. Analysis of the radial profile evidences the existence of a
non-negligible ‘wall effect’. The dependence of the liquid hold-up on the liquid
superficial velocity can be expressed in terms of a power law. The fitted value of the
exponent equal to 0.65 is in the range of exponent values found in correlations of
the literature.
Liquid maldistribution in packed beds appears at two scales: bed scale and particle
scale. At the bed scale, the maldistribution, was found to be caused by the liquid
distributor and by the column wall. The wall effect was reasonably described by
diffusion like equation with appropriate boundary conditions. This description
introduces the radial dispersion coefficient D, which is a purely geometrical
parameter. At the particle scale, for a given operating conditions and for each
packing an equilibrium flow establishes at sufficient packing depth. This
D.V. Kalaga et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 602–612
distribution, which is not uniform, is stable in time. It may be characterized by a
non-zero maldistribution factor. A statistical model was developed which, at least
semi quantitatively was found to explain most of the experimental observations. X-
ray computed tomography was used to access the scales smaller than the particle
and leads to the determination of l. An Ergun-like equation was applied at this
scale which was found to allow computing the local liquid superficial velocities
from the local liquid holdups obtained by tomography. The radial dispersion
coefficient and maldistribution factor which are subsequently evaluated on
tomographic images, seem in fair agreement with previously published results.
X-ray computed tomography does not influence the flow structure. Moreover, this
system is applicable even at higher temperatures or when electric charging caused
by flowing particles occurs. After calibrating the X-ray tomography system, it is
possible to measure average solid hold-up up to 20 vol% and a minimum spatial
resolution of 0.2 mm. Testing the tomographic system with well-defined objects
showed the results to be reliable within an error range of 5%. Experiments in riser
show a parabolic solid concentration profile with maximum concentration at wall
and minimum at the center. The cross-sectional mean solid concentration
decreases as riser height increases. At the bottom of riser, the maximum solid
concentration reaches a concentration near to minimum fluidization. The shape of
the solid concentration distribution is similar for all elevations of the riser even at
different superficial gas velocities and different circulating mass fluxes. In case of
downer, it was observed that near the distributor (at the top) most of solid is
concentrated at the center, homogeneous distribution was observed as one moves
downstream. This indicates a strong influence of the gas–solids distributor on the
flow patterns inside a downer.
The local liquid hold-up values were much useful for determination of hydraulic
behavior and mass transfer characteristics.
Ring like artifacts were observed in the CT images. Accumulation of liquid in the
region above the joint between the two packing elements was also observed, in
spite of operation below the loading point for this packing. The liquid hold-up was
measured from the transmission data obtained during the CT scans and compared
with the traditional measurement technique of liquid holdup.
605

Table 1 (Continued )
Reference Set-up
Van der Merwe X-ray tomography of trickle bed
et al. (2007) reactor. Column diameter 0.4 m,
Packing is spherical porous g-
alumina catalyst of diameter 25 mm.
Flow is cocurrent downward.
Boden et al. (2008) X-ray tomography in stirred tank.
Cylindrical autoclave with
hemispherical bottom. Reactor
diameter 0.08 m. Gas inducing type
impeller with six blades
Bartholomew and Gamma-ray tomography of riser of
Casagrande (1957) Fluid catalytic cracker. Column
diameter was 0.52 m
Azzi et al. (1991) Gamma-ray tomography applied to
Circulating fluidized bed.
Experiments were performed in
three different set-ups, (a) a stand-
pipe of FCC unit (id 0.609 m), (b)
riser of FCC (id 0.19 m) and (c)
industrial FCC (id 0.7 m) at 4 m from
feed point.
Hosseini-Ashrafi and Gamma-ray tomography applied to
Tuzun (1993) granular flow in cylindrical and
conical vessels. Maximum diameter
of object is 0.1 m.
Shollenberger Gamma-ray tomography for bubble
et al. (1997) column. Column diameter was
0.19 m and 0.48 m and height of
1.8 m and 3 m respectively. A bubble
cap sparger was used for column
diameter of 0.19 m and ring type
sparger for 0.48 m diameter column.
For 0.19 m column diameter,
scanning was done at 0.57 m from
distributor. For 0.48 m column
diameter, scanning was done at
0.96 m from distributor.
Objective
Flow distribution and stability in a
trickle bed.
3D Gas hold up distribution in
stirred tank with high accuracy
which would be used for CFD.
To map the solid concentration
profile in the riser.
To map the solid concentration
profiles in the FCC units.
To develop Gamma-ray Tomography
set-up for granular flow in a hopper
of diameter 0.096 m and 2 m high
and also in a conical discharge of
same hopper.
Gamma-ray densitometer for
detection of radial hold-up profiles
for industrial size reactors.
Scanning and reconstruction
methodology
Fan beam tomography with
transform based reconstruction.
Scanning was done by fan beam
method. Reconstruction was done
by algebraic method.
Parallel beam scanning. In three
different directions was used with 7
locations per direction. Source was
137
Cs of 57 mCi. Detector was
collimated with 30 mm diameter
opening.
Parallel beam scanning was used.
The source and detector were moved
every 1.58 till 1808. This forms a grid
of 155 by 155 mm square grid.
Source was 153Gd with half life of
240 days. Collimators of aperture
width of 1 mm and 2 mm
Reconstruction was done by filtered
back-projection.
Gamma-ray source 5 Ci 137Cs. Fan
beam scanning. Aperture for source
collimator was 3.175 mm and that
for detector was 6.35 mm.
Reconstruction was done by Abel
inversion.
606
Conclusion
The radiographic images indicate that the liquid hold-up stabilizes shortly after the
end of the start-up procedure for all pre-wetting modes except non-pre-wetted
beds. These flow non-uniformities persist at high liquid and gas flow rates.
Although the bed-averaged liquid hold-up and general flow type (sometimes
referred to as rivulets for Levec pre-wetted beds and films for Kan and Super beds)
are completely reproducible, the exact location of the liquid in the bed appears to
have a stochastic nature. Local hold-up changes were observed (without changing
the bed-averaged values) in the Levec mode, but not in the KanLiq, Kan-Gas or
Super modes. These changes are sudden but with a low frequency, occur at both
high and low liquid and gas flow rates and do not appear to alter the general flow
type. Apart from these small perturbations in this one mode the overall flow
D.V. Kalaga et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 602–612
structure remains stable for several hours, suggesting that the different modes of
operation will prevail for longer operating times. These observations form the basis
of an ongoing computed tomography study of trickle flow in the various pre-
wetting modes.
3D images showing the gas phase distribution were obtained. The high accuracy in
time-average phase fraction distribution is achieved by proper and practical
correction measures for the problems of beam hardening and radiation scattering.
The values of gas fraction are better than 3.5% for a single voxel size of 200 mm.
The non-uniform flow distribution was found. The high density region was seen
near the wall on one side where as gas-rich region on the opposite end of the
scanned cross-section was observed.
The tomographic method was developed for detecting the solid concentration
profile in the riser with minimum number of measurements. Even if number of
scans is limited the resolution of the image is sufficient to diagnostic purpose.
Tomographic scanning was done for mom-sized and binary mixture of two
different particle sizes. The resolution of 1–2 mm is sufficient for the present case.
The voidage profile data generated in the model silo are used to identify the planes
of maximum and minimum voidage as well as that of the propagation velocity of
the voidage maximum as a function of the time of discharge. These results agree
well with the expected initial flow transients and the subsequent flow regime
transitions in the cylindrical and conical sections of the model silo.
Little difference was observed in average gas hold up values obtained by gamma-
ray tomography and differential pressure measurement. This may be due to
difficulty in measurement of accurate gas hold-up near wall. The gas hold-up
profile for large diameter column is flatter as compared to small diameter column,
at the same gas flow rate. Also for large diameter column the wall hold-up is non-
zero, this was attributed to different type of sparger used.
Kumar et al. (1997) Gamma-ray tomography was
applied to bubble columns. Five
different column diameters were
used (0.102, 0.14, 0.19, 0.26, and
0.3 m). Gas phase was air and liquid
phase was deionized water and 50%
iso-propanol–water mixture. Ratio
of static liquid height to diameter in
all cases was 5. Five different sieve
plate distributors were used. Also
simple cone and a single bubble cap
riser were also employed.
Measurements were made at five
different axial locations.
Parasuveer and Gamma-ray tomography of bubble
Joshi (1999) column. Bubble column diameter
(D) was 0.38 m, height was 3.2 m.
Five different sieve plate spargers
were used. Hole diameter ranges
0.8–87 mm, % free area ranges
0.135–5.4. Tomography was done at
three axial locations (0.259D, 3D and
5D). Gas–liquid system was air–
water.
Wang et al. (2001) Gamma-ray tomography in
randomly packed column. Column
diameter 0.6 m. Packing was Pall
ring of diameter 16, 25 and 38 mm.
Boyer and Gamma-ray tomography for large
Fanget (2002) diameter trickle bed reactor. Column
diameter 0.6 m.
Yin et al. (2002) Gamma-ray tomography of
randomly packed column with pall
rings. Column diameter 0.6 m,
Distributor was ladder type with 6
branches and 31 drip points. In
second distributor 15 holes along
periphery were plugged. The third
was single pipe distributor located at
axis.
To study the effect of column
diameter, superficial gas velocity
distributor design and liquid phase
properties on gas hold-up profile in
bubble column.
To study the effect of sparger design
and height of dispersion on gas hold-
up profile.
Liquid distribution in packed
column
To find the gas–liquid distribution in
trickle bed for various distributor
configurations
To study the effect of sparger design
on liquid phase maldistribution.
Gamma-ray source was 137Cs of
100 mCi encapsulated in a lead block
so that it provides a fan beam
subtending and angle of 408 in
horizontal plane. Source was
collimated with a central slit of
dimensions 0.2 m  0.1 m  0.1 m.
Detectors were collimated with a
hole of 5 mm  10 mm. Image was
reconstructed by convolution-
backprojection, ART and
estimation–maximization (E–M)
algorithm. E–M reconstruction was
found most appropriate and hence
was used for bubble column
experiments.
Scanning was done by both fan beam
and parallel beam. Fan beam was
used till dimensionless radial
distance (r/R) of 0.7 there onwards
parallel beam was used for 0.8, 0.9,
and 0.95 r/R. Source was 137Cs of
67.5 mCi. Source was collimated
with a slit of
35 mm  8 mm  30 mm. Fan beam
angle was 308. Detector was
collimated with a vertical slit with
6 mm  18 mm  30 mm. 1D hold-
up profile was estimated by using
Abel inversion technique.
Fan beam scanning with detector
opening of 50 mm. 12  7 scan lines
were used per plane. Reconstruction
by Fourier Transform method and
also based on least square.
Fan beam scanning was used.
Fan beam scanning. 12  7 lines
scanning. Measurements were done
at two different axial locations.
The observation that effect of column diameter above 0.15 m on gas hold-up is
negligible has been validated. The power law exponent of 2 to 2.5 for the radial
hold-up distribution is reasonable. As column diameter and superficial gas velocity
increases, the gas hold-up profile changes from flatter distribution to a parabolic
distribution. The gas hold-up profile changes with axial location, however the
entrance length required for characterizing the fully developed flow could not be
estimated. The type of distributor shows effect only for low superficial gas velocity.
In churn-turbulent regime negligible effect of distributor found. Significant effect of
liquid phase property (surface tension) was found on magnitude and shape of gas
hold-up profile. The liquid with low surface tension produces very fine bubbles,
hence large values of gas hold-up and flatter hold-up profiles were obtained.
D.V. Kalaga et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 602–612
For multipoint sparger, the gas hold-up profiles are relatively flat at the bottom and
become steeper with an increase in height of dispersion. For single point sparger,
(single hole with diameter 25 mm), gas hold-up profile is very steep at bottom and
becomes flatter as axial distance increases. Consequently, centerline hold-up
decreases and wall hold-up increases. For single point sparger, as hole diameter
increases (from 25 mm to 87 mm) centerline hold-up was practically constant and
wall hold-up increases. For air–water, the shape of gas hold-up profile remains
nearly constant beyond HD/D of 5 for multipoint sparger. Absence of any axial hold-
up profile for multipoint spargers and for single point sparger axial hold-up profile
exists till HD/D of 3. For multipoint sparger, the gas hold-up profiles are flat at low
values of HD/D and are steeper as height of dispersion increases.
The spatial porosity distribution in random packed columns is not uniform. There
are always some pockets in the packed beds, where the porosity is higher than the
average value. The size of the pockets is generally one to three diameters of the
packings. For the circumferentially averaged radial porosity distribution, the
porosity in the wall region tends to be higher than that in the bulk region. The
experimental results also show that the porosity variation can be described by a
normal distribution function in the bulk region of the packed bed.
High accuracy gamma-ray tomography tool was developed for large diameter
columns.
Liquid distribution was found to be non-uniform and strongly dependent upon the
type of distributor. The experimental liquid phase distribution agreed with the CFD
predictions (CFX4.2). To achieve a better distribution of liquid inside a column, the
liquid distributor should be designed to supply liquid on the top of the packings as
uniformly as possible.
607

Table 1 (Continued )
Reference Set-up
Roy et al. (2004) Gamma-ray tomography in
structured packed column. Column
diameter 0.3 m, height 1.52 m,
packing was Norton type.
Jin et al. (2005) Gamma-ray tomography in a high
pressure bubble column. Column
diameter 0.3 m, height 6.6 m.
Superficial gas velocity up to 0.4 m/s,
operating pressure 1 MPa.
Distributor was a four nozzle having
diameter of 20 mm. Gas–liquid
system was air–water and air–acetic
acid. Sodium oleate was used to
reduce surface tension of water.
Schubert et al. (2008) Gamma-ray tomography for trickle
bed reactor. Column diameter
0.09 m. Packing material was an
alumina catalyst and glass beads
with diameter of 4 mm.
Tortora et al. (2008) Electrical impedence tomography
(EIT) and gamma-ray tomography
for circulating fluidized bed. Riser
diameter 0.14 m and height 5.77 m.
Solid phase was catalyst particles.
Objective
To find the extent of uniformity in
liquid distribution and its effect on
superficial gas and liquid velocity.
The effects of superficial gas
velocity, liquid surface tension,
liquid viscosity, and system pressure
on the axial gas hold-up have been
investigated in this study.
To present a comparative analysis of
the liquid flow dynamics for two
different initial liquid distributions
and two different types of reactor
configurations. Thus, the
hydrodynamic behavior of a glass
bead packing was compared to a
porous Al2O3 catalyst particle
packing using inlet flow from a
commercial spray nozzle (uniform
initial liquid distribution) and inlet
flow from a central point source
(strongly non-uniform initial liquid
distribution), respectively.
EIT was verified with gamma-ray
tomography. Verification of
accuracy of correlations for radial
voidage profiles using the two
techniques.
Scanning and reconstruction
methodology
Fan beam (408) scanning with
aperture of 2 mm in vertical plane
was used. Source was 137Cs of
70 mCi strength. Detector collimator
has 2mm width. 9 detectors were
used. The projection was at every
0.28. Scanning was done at three
axial levels 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 D.
Reconstruction was done by
maximization algorithm.
Four differential pressure sensors
were placed at 0.25, 0.75, 1.25, 1.75,
and 2.25 m above distributor.
Gamma-ray source was 100 mCi
Cs137.
Gamma-ray source was Cs137 with
160 GBq activity. Focal spot
diameter of source was 4 mm.
Collimated source beam has height
of 2 mm and an angle of 468.
Distance between source and
detector was 512 mm. Total 320
detectors with active area of 2 mm
width and 8 mm height. Area of
cross-section of 2.6 mm by 2.7 mm.
Distance between source and the
column axis was 350 mm.
Reconstruction was done by ART.
Fan beam tomography was used.
Source was 100 mCi 137Cs. 8
Detectors were used and 7 views
were used. Reconstruction was done
by Abel inversion. In EIT 16
electrodes were used along the
periphery.
608
Conclusion
The solid fraction as determined by CT scan was about 2.5%, which was close to the
value of 3% as determined by water displacement method. The liquid saturation
increases with increase in the superficial liquid velocity. Moreover, the liquid
saturation increases as the liquid phase moves downward. The liquid distribution
was found to be fairly uniform. Liquid distribution was better at the bottom of the
bed, compared to the upper section. The effect of gas velocity, was in general, found
to be very small at the conditions used in the study.
D.V. Kalaga et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 602–612
The experimental results of the pressure and the gamma-ray measurements in this
study were found in a very good agreement. The axial holdup was found to vary
considerably along the height of the column. The axial gas hold-up increases with a
decrease in the liquid surface tension and liquid viscosity and an increase in the
system pressure. According to the axial distribution of gas holdup, the
accumulation part of foam in the upper section of the column was obtained, and the
gas hold-up in foaming zone linearly increases as the axial height increases. The
foaming height was found to be dependent on the gas and liquid properties and the
operating condition.
High resolution gamma-ray tomography was used for trickle bed reactor. With the
experimental study, the maldistribution of the dynamic liquid hold-up for a spray
nozzle producing a uniform initial distribution and a point source distributor
producing a central liquid stream in both glass bead bed and porous catalyst bed
could be seen. For the glass bed well developed liquid channels and totally dry
regions in the cross-sections at every plane downstream from the spray nozzle
were identified. In the catalyst packing cross-sectional dynamic liquid saturation
distribution has been found nearly uniform which is attributed to the boosting
effect of the porosity. Liquid spreading from a point source was clearly observed in
the glass packing, while in the catalyst packing after an entrance region with a
length-to-diameter-ratio of about one, dynamic liquid saturation was almost
uniformly distributed over the cross section. The very different hydrodynamic
behavior of the non-porous glass beads and real catalyst particles with porous
Al2O3 support suggest that a bed of glass beads is not representative for catalytic
packings and should not be used for the study of hydrodynamics in such columns.
Radial voidage profiles were compared with literature correlation and good
agreement was found. Radial solid flux was obtained from radial voidage profiles
and found that accuracy of correlation strongly depends on the measurement
accuracy at the center of riser. EIT is less expensive more safe and faster than GDT
and hence recommended in place of GDT.
 D.V. Kalaga et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 602–612 609

distributor was found to be pronounced. Tortora et al. (2008)

compared the ECT and gamma-ray tomography technique and
found that ECT is much less expensive, safer and faster than
gamma-ray tomography. However ECT cannot be used for
industrial units for the above mentioned reasons. Schmit et al.
(2004) has successfully demonstrated the maximum resolution by
using X-ray tomography in a packed bed. The high resolution
images show the liquid accumulation regions in the packing
material. Further Boden et al. (2008) could get 3D images by using
X-ray tomography, in which the single voxel size was as low as
200 mm. In other cases the resolution of few millimeters is
common (Azzi et al., 1991; Roy et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2001; Yin
et al., 2002). As long as industrial set-ups are concern very few
attempts can be seen in literature (Azzi et al., 1991; Bartholomew
and Casagrande, 1957), both are applied for FCC. The above
discussion suggest that tomography is required to be applied in
Fig. 4. Schematic of parallel beam method of scanning.
industry to identify the real world problems whose causes could be
far different though result may be simple like product degradation,
loss in yield of the desired product etc. 4. Data analysis

3. Experimental set-up The gamma-ray absorption of monoenergetic source in any

medium follows the Lamberts–Beers law given by the following
The gamma-ray absorption technique was used in several equation:
industrial set-ups with two major objectives. In the first case,
objective was to detect the solid level in a paddle bed dryer, from Io ¼ IemL (1)
which quantity of solid could be estimated and hence the residence
where, Io is the incident intensity of radiation, I is the subsident
time of solid could be estimated. Hence measurements were
intensity of radiation, m is the linear attenuation coefficient, which
undertaken at three different locations along the axis of the dryer,
depends on the physical and chemical state of the medium and can
with a separation of 1 m. The source and the detector were suitably
be expressed as ar. Where r is the density of the material and a is
placed so that both could be vertically moved in steps of 0.05 m.
the mass energy absorption coefficient. The intensity of gamma-
The set-up is shown in Fig. 3. The gamma-ray source used in all the
ray propagating in a different homogeneous absorbing medium in
cases was 137Cs of 1 mCi strength. The source was collimated with
series with different density can be given by following equation:
a slit of 3 mm by 50 mm. The scintillation detector was
uncollimated in all the cases. The dwell time in all the cases P
Io ¼ Ie i ri ai Li (2)
was 20 s and ten readings were taken for each scan and average
value was used for estimation of line integral of the hold-up values. where i is the medium like vessel wall, insulation, any other
In second set of experiments, gamma-ray tomography was internal, etc. The measurement of Io can be avoided by means of
employed for three different packed bed distillation columns. In zero reading. This means if radiation intensity is measured for an
first case column was packed with random packing and column empty vessel consisting insulation, vessel wall for which radiation
diameter was 0.5 m. In other two cases column was packed with intensity can be given by following equation:
structured packing and column diameters were 0.8 and 1.6 m
respectively. The objective was to detect the non-uniformity in Iz ¼ Ieðrair aair Lair þrv av Lv þrinsulation ainsulation Linsulation Þ (3)
distribution. The reflux distributor was placed at the top. In all the
cases, scanning was conducted away from the distributor since the
maldistribution is likely to occur away from distributor. Scanning
was done by parallel beam scanning in four directions as shown in
Fig. 4. The scanning was conducted at the interval of 0.01 m.

Fig. 5. Variation of intensity of gamma-radiation at various axial locations in a

Fig. 3. Schematic of paddle bed dryer. paddle bed dryer.
610 D.V. Kalaga et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 602–612

Fig. 7. Intensity of gamma-radiation in a packed distillation column during dry

Fig. 6. Solid level at various axial location in the paddle bed dryer.
condition.

Similarly radiation intensity measured during actual flow condi- eliminating Lf from Eqs. (7) and (8) and considering aair rair is
tion then Eq. (3) can be rewritten as: approximately equal to ag rg and solving for rm
 
If ¼ Ieðrg ag Lg þrv av Lv þrinsulation ainsulation Linsulation þrf af Lf Þ (4) 1 Iz
rm ¼ ln (9)
rf Lair If
taking ratio of Eqs. (3) and (4)
The Eq. (9) forms the basis of measurement and the respective
Iz values of hold-up can be easily estimated. The values of linear
¼ eðaf rf Lf þag rg Lg aair rair Lair Þ (5)
If attenuation coefficient as well as mass energy absorption
coefficient for different material and for sources of different
however
energy are reported in the literature (Tsoulfanidis, 1983).
Lair ¼ Lf þ Lg (6) Otherwise they can be easily measured.
The estimation of linear attenuation coefficient or mass energy
substituting Eq. (6) in Eq. (5) absorption can be eliminated by making the measurements in a
vessel filled with gas, then with liquid/solid and then in the
Iz
¼ eðaf rf ag rg ÞLf þðag rg aair rair ÞLf (7) operating condition. Under these circumstances Eq. (1) can be
If
applied for each case and then after rearrangement hold-up can be
and the mean density along the path can be given as estimated by using following equation:

Lf lnðITP =IL Þ
rm ¼ rf (8) e¼ (10)
Lair lnðIg =IL Þ

Fig. 8. Liquid hold-up distribution in the packed distillation column having column diameter 0.5 m and packed with random packing. (For interpretation of the references to
color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of the article.)
 D.V. Kalaga et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 602–612 611

Fig. 9. Liquid hold-up distribution in the packed distillation column having diameter 0.8 m and packed with structured packing. (For interpretation of the references to color
in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of the article.)

However, in order to use Eq. (10) one needs to take measurement,
when column is filled with only gas, then with only liquid and then in
actual flow condition. In industrial set-up it is practically difficult to
fill the column with only liquid (operating fluid) and hence in the
present work hold-up values were estimated using Eq. (9), since the
mass energy absorption coefficient can either be obtained from
literature or from experiments.
The reconstruction of image from the individual scans was done
by algebraic reconstruction technique (ART). The ART can be
described by the following equation (Hesselink, 1989):
Pa
gijkþ1 ¼ P k gijk
gij
where, Pa is the measured value of the hold-up, g is the hold-up in
the ijth pixel and k is the iteration number.
5. Results and discussion
Fig. 5 shows the count difference (radiation intensity) with
respect to vertical displacement in the paddle bed dryer at three
different axial locations as described in the previous section. The
presence of solid level can be easily seen by sudden difference in
the counts. The measured solid level is shown in Fig. 6. It can be
seen from Fig. 6 that solid level is high at the entrance and
decreases towards the discharge point of the dryer.
Fig. 7 shows the count rate in blank readings (in absence of
liquid and gas in a packed distillation column) in both the
directions. A sudden drop in the counts can be clearly seen, which
indicates the presence of highly dense matter in the gamma-ray
path. Similarly the count rate increases at the center and it is low
towards wall. This observation may be because of scattering
(11) occurred due to dense region, since detector was uncollimated.
Hence primarily it was concluded that some solid material is
rigidly accumulated in the central region of column. The
reconstructed image is shown in Fig. 8. It shows very less or
negligible hold-up of liquid in the central region, whereas most of
the liquid is channeled near the periphery of column. In order to
identify the problem the column was shut-down, the packings
were removed and it was found that a lot of residue had struck to
the packing material in the similar region. After suitable cleaning

Fig. 10. Liquid hold-up distribution in packed distillation column having diameter 1.6 m and packed with structured packing. (For interpretation of the references to color in
this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of the article.)
612 D.V. Kalaga et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 602–612
and repacking, distillation efficiency was improved by 5%. In case
of packed column of diameter 0.8 m, with structured packing the
hold-up profile is shown in Fig. 9. The average liquid hold-up was
3% and maximum liquid hold-up was 36%, concentrated in very
small portion which can be seen in Fig. 9. Further, it can be seen
that there is void space in nearly central region. Lot of channeling
can be seen, this must be because scanning is 4 m away from the
sparger. Further no much discontinuity in count rate was observed
during blank reading. Hence it is unlikely that any residue has
struck as observed in the previous case. In the third case, of column
diameter of 1.6 m, the hold-up profile is shown in Fig. 10. The
average hold-up was 3.5%. The maximum liquid hold-up was 15%.
6. Conclusion
Gamma-ray tomography is most suitable technique to diagnose
the various kinds of non-uniformities in industrial equipment.
Gamma-ray technique was successfully applied for detecting the
solid level measurement in a paddle bed dryer. Further gamma-ray
tomography was successfully applied for various industrial
columns covering range of column diameters. Industrial problem
in a packed distillation column like chocking or corrosion of
packing material was successfully identified by using gamma-ray
tomography. It is worth mentioning that distillation efficiency was
improved after installation of new packing. Thus periodic scanning
of critical equipment by using gamma-ray tomography can
improve the efficiency and also reduce the possible down time
of the plant for unidentified problem.
Acknowledgements
K.S. Dinesh kumar would like to acknowledge the financial
support from UGC in the form of fellowship. A.V. Kulkarni would
like to acknowledge the financial support from BRNS in the form of
fellowship.
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