Early detection of foam formation in bubble columns by attractor comparison

Van Ommen et al. (2000) recently developed a monitoring method that was successfully used for the early detection of agglomeration in fluidized beds. This article shows that this monitoring method is more generic and can also be applied for early detection of foam formation in bubble columns. Knowing that dilute alcohol solutions simulate reasonably well the liquid-phase behavior in bioreactors (Bukur and Patel, 1989), and can also leads to foaming (Pugh, 1996), the system water/ethanol was chosen as a model system. Experiments were carried out in the homogeneous and the heterogeneous regime.