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Sediment from the environmental damage and erosion in the watershed will settle in the bottom of the reservoir. It can reduce the capacity of the reservoir. Airlift pump technology is one effective method for lifting the sediment from the reservoir. The airlift pump has a simple working principle, the pressurized air is injected into a riser pipe containing water, so those air bubbles are created. Air bubbles move upward and it will lift the around liquid due to interface friction. In this present experimental study, the airlift pump was designed by the transparent acrylic pipe with 3.4 m length, and 56 mm inner diameter. Air and water were the working fluid. The water column in the riser pipe was set-up corresponds to the submergence ratio from 0.5 to 0.68, and the superficial gas velocity was changed from 0.00677 to 0.677 m/s. The mouth bell suction head was placed on the lower end of the riser pipe to mounting the two injectors. It was placed on the lower end of the suction head with the 45° direction of the horizontal and opposite output direction to produce the swirl flow. A high-speed camera was used to record the flow pattern. As the results, we know that the higher the submergence ratio, the greater the superficial water velocity at the same of the superficial gas velocity. It is implying the greater the efficiency and effectiveness of the pump. The swirl flow at the suction head is generated when QG>2.8 m3/hr. The consecutive slug becomes the main factor in the existence of the pulsation effect when the pump is operated. The variation of superficial gas velocity is the dominant effect of change in the flow pattern than the variation of the submergence ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airlift pump has a several flow pattern in lifting mixtures liquids and solid through a vertical pipe. The flow pattern in airlift pump have been investigated in previous studies, the study focus on two-phase flow and performance of air lift pump. For this reason, the purpose of experiment was to known the flow pattern of gas-solid-liquid three-phase flow in airlift pump during the solid particles lifting in the upriser. In the present experimental study, we have modified the conventional airlift pump system by used swirl injector in the system. Here, experimental study on the flow pattern of gas- solid-liquid three-phase flow in upriser airlift pump to lift the solid particles with the vertical pipe as the transporting medium was conducted. The upriser pipe was an acrylic pipe with an inner diameter at 56 mm, and the total height of 340 cm. The type of gas injector in the system was swirl with 2 injectors in suction head of air lift pump. The solid particle of the present experiment was sand with particle diameters 0.774 mm and 1.43 mm, and the supplied air flow rate ranged from (60-80 LPM). The solid lifting particles were capture by using a high speed camera of the frame speed of 3000 fps. As a result, it was obtained that (1) the optimum of solid lifting particle was found in the slug flow pattern, (2) the particle diameters and volumetric flow rate of the lifted particles affect the ability of the air lift pump. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In lifting fluid and sediment by using upward force injected by gas through upriser, airlift pump has certain flow characteristics. The Airlift pump flow characteristics had been explored in the previous studies, yet those studies only focused on two phase airlift pump. For this reason, the recent study aimed at revealing the flow characteristics of three phase airlift pump. These characteristics was observed experimentally for different particle diameter by using liquid and gas as working fluid. When the airlift pump was operated by using solid material, the flow occurring in the upriser pipe was three phases. The current airlift pump experiment used a compressor to inject gas on the injector. The internal diameter of the upriser pipe of 56 mm and the total height of 3400 mm. This experiment was conducted on variable particle diameter mesh 24-20 and 16-12. The variation of air discharge given were 60 l/min, 70 l/min, and 80 l/min with atmospheric conditions. The research matrix was obtained by combining two variables. The experimental results indicated that (1) the velocity of air discharge has significant effects in lifting the particles as gas hold up occurring was greater, (2) the greater the air discharge was given, the greater gas hold up occurring in the flow, (3) the higher the air discharge was given, the higher upriser gradient, so the lifting capability became greater since the great pressure opposed the gravity, (4) the small particle diameter was used in the air lift pump system, the greater the lifting particle due to greater friction between particles and water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airlift pump can be used as an alternative to lift the sediment from the the water. The airlift pump employed in this study was a conventional type that used a compressor on the injector system. This study aimed to determine the characteristics of the airlift pump in a three-phase flow. In the experiments, the sludge used was solid spherical particles with 1.43 mm as the particle average diameters. The experiment operated upriser pipe with an inner diameter 56 mm and 3.4 m height. The submergence ratio of the upriser in water was: 0.5, 0.62, and 0.74, while the supplied air flow rate was 60 l/min, 70 l/min, and 80 l/min under atmospheric conditions. The research matrix was obtained by combined two variables, which were the submergence ratio and the airflow rate. Further, it was used to determine the effect on the flow rate of discharge solid particles, the flow rate of discharge water, and the pressure gradient. Visual observation was utilized to determine the behavior of the three-phase liquid-gas-solid flow in the pipe. The results were acquired from visual observations that depicted the flow regime occurrence, slug, churn, and annular. Moreover, the measurement results of the flow rate and pressure gradient discovered that in the submergence ratio and the injected air flow rate had a significant influence on the flow characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]