Water-sparged aerocyclone (WSA) is a new gas-liquid mass transfer equipment

which takes the advantage of coupling effect of air cyclone and liquid jet fields. In order to improve its mass transfer performance and establish design principles

the effect of diameter (De) and length (S) of the vortex finder in the WSA on its mass transfer performance and air pressure drop in air stripping of ammonia was investigated and optimized. A new concept

mass transfer efficiency per gas pressure drop

ηp

and its calculation equation were put forward. The WSA with smaller De and longer S showed higher mass transfer efficiency than that with larger De and shorter S in air stripping of ammonia. However

this kind of WSA had higher air pressure drop

which would consume more energy. Calculation of ηp

which was a comprehensive indicator considering energy consumption and mass transfer efficiency

showed that it increased with the increase of De/D and S/H

but it deceased a little when S/H increased from 0.71 to 0.93. The optimal De/D and S/H should be 0.43 to 0.53 and 0.70

respectively. These results could be used as a guide for the design of WSA with good mass transfer performance.