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1155
Abstract: The air-lift pump is a well-established method for vertical transport of liquids and solid
liquid mixtures. The objectives of the present study are to evaluate the performance of a pump under
predetermined operating conditions and to optimize the related parameters for the use of the pump
for two-phase mixtures of air and water when a compressor is readily available.
This paper is focused on the general mathematical functions applicable to air-lift pump
installations. The effect of various design parameters on the performance of air-lift pump is
presented. A user-friendly computer program is developed on the basis of the optimization of
inuencing variables. This program will be useful for the design and installation of an air-lift pump
handling airwater mixtures. A comparative study of an air-lift pump with a centrifugal pump
handling two-phase mixtures is also discussed in the paper.
Keywords:
NOTATION
Ca
Cw
d
D
g
H
ma
mw
Pa
Ps
Qa
Qw
Va
e
Z
ra
f
immersion ratio
efciency of the pump
density of air
function
Subscripts
a
w
m
air
water
mean
# IMechE 2004
INTRODUCTION
218 Part C:
1156
Vm superficial
Vm true
Also
Vm superficial
Vm true
p
and Va = gD is the pipe ow criterion which is of the
Froude type. The efciency of the pump is evaluated on
the basis of the energy possessed by the air employed to
operate the well. Since the air expansion in the pipe is
isothermal, the input energy to the pump is the energy
required to compress the air and the output energy is the
product of the mass owrate of water and the head of
mixture developed by the pump. The expression for the
efciency of the pump is [5]
Ca
EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
mw H
ra Qa logPs =Pa
3
3.1
The most signicant geometric parameter is the diameter of the rising main which has a great effect on the
efciency of the air-lift pump. The cross-sectional area
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1157
Immersion
ratio e
Nozzle
diameter D (mm)
Discharge
Qw (l/s)
Head
H (m)
Efciency
Z %
1.5
1.5
1.5
2.5
2.5
2.5
0.54
0.54
0.54
0.74
0.74
0.74
5.26
4.00
3.80
5.26
4.00
3.80
0.28
0.21
0.19
0.46
0.13
0.12
1.05
1.17
1.35
1.83
2.48
3.32
8.46
6.79
5.71
21.86
11.45
11.02
required by air as it rises increases linearly and the crosssectional area required by water decreases. Thus the
water velocity increases as it rises. The difference
between the mean air velocity in pipe and the average
velocity of water, i.e. the relative air velocity, determines
the efciency of the pump. The higher the relative
velocity, the more air will be required from the
compressor and therefore the pump is less efcient.
The relative air velocity is greater in a narrow pipe than
in a larger-diameter pipe. Increasing the relative air
velocity means water particles are lagging the air and
discharge of the pump decreases. It is observed that the
discharge is negligible in narrow pipes. An increase in
the diameter of the pipe reduces the relative air velocity
and increases the discharge of the pump. Thus the
efciency is better for a large-diameter pipe than for a
narrow pipe. It is also evident from Table 1 that the
discharge and efciency of pump for a rising main of
2.5 in diameter are greater than for a rising main of
1.5 in diameter. These results are in conformity with the
results obtained by Stenning and Martin [2] who has
challenged the results of Pickert [1] that a narrow pipe is
better from an efciency point of view.
The functional relationship developed between the
various parameters affecting the performance of the airlift pump is Qw Va D2 fdH=D2 , Z, e. However, the
determination of the function relating the parameters
will not be discussed here as future work will focus on
this issue.
3.2
# IMechE 2004
3.3
3.4
218 Part C:
1158
3.5
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1159
Fig. 4 Effect of the immersion ratio on the efciency of the pump for two different diameters of the rising
main
# IMechE 2004
3.6
Comparative study of the characteristics of an airlift pump and a two-phase centrifugal pump
218 Part C:
1160
Fig. 5
Effect of the discharge on the head, power and efciency of a centrifugal pump
Fig. 6 Effect of the discharge on the head, power and efciency of an air-lift pump
3.7
Computer program
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CONCLUSIONS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Shri Shrikant Patil,
Director of Gajanan Shiskhan Sanstha, for nancial
C00604
# IMechE 2004
1161
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218 Part C: