ABSTRACT
The presence of two phases, namely gas and liquid, is characteristic to noncatalytic or homogeneously catalyzed reaction systems. Components in the gas phase diffuse to the gasliquid interface, dissolve in the liquid phase, and react with components in the bulk liquid phase. The liquid phase may also contain a homogeneous catalyst. Some of the product molecules desorb from the liquid phase to the gas phase, and some product molecules remain in the liquid. The processes taking place in a gas-liquid reactor are displayed in Figure 7.1 [1]. The figure is based on the simplest way of describing the gas-liquid contact, namely the film model. If the catalyst is heterogeneous, the process is dramatically altered, as the reactions take place on the surface of the heterogeneous catalyst and the reactor is obviously a three-phase one (Chapter 6).
