A SIMULATION OF A MOTIONLESS MIXER

Continuous laminar mixing in segmented twisted-tape motionless mixers is considered. A solution to the steady isothermal creeping flow of a Newtonian fluid in a twisted-tape mixer has been obtained via two-dimensional numerical procedures. The developed flow within a section of the mixer has been solved in a helical coordinate system by an iterative scheme. The resulting solution is rigorously correct in the absence of entrance and exit flows at the junction between sections. An algorithm is presented for the modelling of these junction flows via two-dimensional procedures. Simulated cross-sectional mixing patterns have been generated for comparison with experimental results

The performance of twisted-tape mixers is simulated for various designs, beginning with the particular geometry of the Kcnics Static Mixer, and for different operating conditions Results suggest that the rate of mixing as a function of the total twist per section is optimized with respect to pressure drop when sections contain 80 degrees of twist. The capability for rational improvement in other design and operating parameters is illustrated. The mechanisms of laminar mixing are discussed and quantified; of primary importance is the tendency for interfacial area to assume an orientation within each section which is favorable to mixing in subsequent sections.     

Residence Time and Concentration Distribution in a Kenics Static Mixer

Static mixers, often referred to as motionless mixers, are in-line mixing devices that consist of mixing elements inserted into a length of pipe. Most of the experimental works in this field have concentrated on establishing design guidelines and pressure drop correlations. Due to experimental difficulties, few articles have been published on the investigation of the flow and mixing mechanisms. In this work, a Kenics KMX static mixer was utilized to study concentration and residence time distribution (RTD) and effect of Reynolds number on mixing. The static mixer had six mixing elements arranged in-line along the length of the tube, and the angle between two neighboring elements was 90°. The length of the mixer was 0.98 m with internal and external diameters of 5.0 cm and 6.0 cm, respectively. The main continuous fluid was water, and NaCl solution was used as a tracer. All experiments were conducted with three replications at three Reynolds numbers, Re = 1188.71, 1584.95, and 1981.19. A dispersion model was used to model the RTD data. The experimental results were compared with the model results and reasonable agreement was achieved.     

Improving mixing performance by curved-blade static mixer

This article addresses design modification to a flat-blade static mixer to enhance mixing performance. The static mixer elements used in this work consist of four blades with curvature made to intensify turbulent-like flow, while reducing the pressure drop. The blades were mounted on a cylindrical housing with 45° rotation relative to the axial direction. The mixer assembly was used in three different arrangements of 8, 10, and 14 elements for a range of Reynolds number between 600 and 7,000. The coefficient of variance (COV) of samples was used to measure the mixing quality. The curved-blade mixer provides considerable improvement in mixing quality compared with the flat-blade mixer and comparable to the SMX mixer. Compared with the flat-blade static mixer, the new design reduces the COV by up to about 50%. This effect is more pronounced when the number of mixing elements increases. Furthermore, the friction factors for the modified mixer, obtained at a wide range of Reynolds number, were apparently smaller than those for the flat-blade, SMX, and SMV mixers. The correlation presented for the friction factor, when all mixer arrangements and aspect ratios were considered, supports the experimental data with ±15% deviation.     

Ross LPD型静态混合器内湍流传热与混合强化特性

在湍流状态Re=2640~17600下,采用恒热通量传热实验与数值模拟相结合的方法,系统研究Reynolds数Re和交错角对Ross LPD型静态混合器内湍流流动与传热性能影响,采用Nusselt数、Darcy摩擦系数、综合传热系数、速度场与温度梯度和压力梯度协同角等参数评价混合器内传热强化性能;基于CFD与LPT相耦合分析混合器内流体微元拉伸率。研究结果表明：SST k-ω模型预测Ross型静态混合器湍流阻力及传热结果与实验结果具有很好一致性;Ross混合器流场内形成与流场尺度较为接近的纵向涡,其涡心在圆形截面与半圆形截面中心间周期性迁移,横截面内湍流分散混合效率是Kenics的3.36~1.72倍;当Re>7040时,Ross LPD综合传热性能明显优于KSM;当叶片夹角为30°时,综合传热性能系数具有最大值;Ross LPD内插件具有高效低阻的技术优势和结构改进潜力。     

Development of mixing time correlation for a double jet mixer

BACKGROUND: Jet mixing is one of the simplest methods to achieve mixing. There have been a number of experimental studies concerned with jet mixing; some of these studies report empirical correlations. The existing correlations are not useful where there are significant deviations from the idealized conditions. Most correlations reported in the literature deal with liquid flow with single or multiple jets, whereas the effect of radial angle on mixing time was not studied. This present study investigates the effect of operating parameters on experimental mixing time in a double jet mixer. Nozzle configuration for jet1 was fixed based on earlier studies (2/3rd position, nozzle angle 45° and nozzle diameter 10 mm). Mixing times were estimated for different jet2 configurations of jet angle (30°, 45° and 60°), radial angles (60°, 120°, 180°), jet diameter (5 mm and 3 mm) and located at different tank heights (2/3rd and 1/3rd from the bottom of the tank). RESULTS: A mixing time correlation was developed in terms of all the parameters using dimensional analysis. The constants and powers of the parameters involved in the correlation developed were estimated using a least square method to calculate the straight line that best fitted the mixing time data obtained during the experiments. The effects of change in angle of inclination of jet2 (θ₂), radial angle of jet2 with respect to jet1 (Φ₂) and diameter of jet2 (d₂) on mixing time were analyzed and compared with the experimental mixing time. CONCLUSION: The correlation developed based on the dimensional analysis and least square method predicts the mixing time for a double jet mixing tank. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Ross LPD型静态混合器内湍流传热与混合强化特性

在湍流状态Re=2640~17600下,采用恒热通量传热实验与数值模拟相结合的方法,系统研究Reynolds数Re和交错角对Ross LPD型静态混合器内湍流流动与传热性能影响,采用Nusselt数、Darcy摩擦系数、综合传热系数、速度场与温度梯度和压力梯度协同角等参数评价混合器内传热强化性能;基于CFD与LPT相耦合分析混合器内流体微元拉伸率。研究结果表明：SST k-ω模型预测Ross型静态混合器湍流阻力及传热结果与实验结果具有很好一致性;Ross混合器流场内形成与流场尺度较为接近的纵向涡,其涡心在圆形截面与半圆形截面中心间周期性迁移,横截面内湍流分散混合效率是Kenics的3.36~1.72倍;当Re>7040时,Ross LPD综合传热性能明显优于KSM;当叶片夹角为30°时,综合传热性能系数具有最大值;Ross LPD内插件具有高效低阻的技术优势和结构改进潜力。     

Experimental study on energy consumption characteristics of rotational–perforated static mixers

An ideal static mixer can achieve efficient mixing at low pressure drops. Owing to the excellent performance of the tridimensional rotational flow sieve tray (TRST) in a gas–liquid two-phase system, the TRST structure was modified into a rotational–perforated static mixer (RPSM) to enhance mixing in multicomponent liquid systems. The energy consumption characteristics of the RPSM were experimentally studied based on Reynolds numbers in the range of 986–7892, gap L = 0–80 mm, and relative angle γ = 0–45°. The effects of the element installation method, number, gap, relative angle, fluid Reynolds number, fluid properties, and other parameters on the RPSM pressure drop were also investigated. An interaction analysis of each factor was performed using the factorial design method and an empirical model of the RPSM Z-factor was established. Additionally, pressure drop in the RPSM was compared with those of other commonly used static mixers. Results show that, when the element is backward-installed, the pressure drop is higher than that in the forward direction because the fluid is constantly twisted. Moreover, the pressure drop increases with increasing element gap, and the average increase is 43.64% and 19.28% for the forward and backward installations, respectively. The influence of the relative angle on the pressure drop is mainly reflected when the gap L = 0. Subsequently, the degree of influence of each factor was determined, and the Z-factor was calculated and found to be consistent with the experimental values (relative error of less than 15%).     

Accessing multidimensional mixing via 3D printing and showerhead micromixer design

We present a 3D metal printing showerhead mixer to blend effectively two reagent streams into a confined mixing volume. Each stream is predistributed to multiple channels to increase the contact area in the mixing zone, which enables high mixing performance with smaller pressure drop. The showerhead mixer shows excellent mixing performance owing to its ability to intersperse rapidly the two streams as characterized by the diazo coupling reactions and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Experimental results demonstrate superior performance of the showerhead mixer compared to two common commercial micro T-mixers, especially in low Reynolds number regime. CFD results are employed to (a) help understand the mixing mechanism, (b) reproduce the experimental observations, and (c) inform the design specifications for optimal performance. Good agreement between experiments and simulations is achieved. The final design includes multiple side-fed inlets for improved mixing performance of the showerhead mixer, as suggested by the validated CFD models.     

The numerical simulation of a new double swirl static mixer for gas reactants mixing

For the nitrogen oxide removal processes, high performance gas mixer is deeply needed for the injection of NH₃ or O₃. In this study, a new type of double swirl static mixer in gas mixing was investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The results obtained using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) correlated well with the results obtained from simulation. The comparisons in pressure loss between the experimental results and the simulation results showed that the model was suitable and accurate for the simulation of the static mixer. Optimal process conditions and design were investigated. When L/D equaled 4, coefficient of variation (COV) was < 5%. The inlet velocity did not affect the distributions of turbulent kinetic energy. In terms of both COV and pressure loss, the inner connector is important in the design of the static mixer. The nozzle length should be set at 4 cm. Taking both COV and pressure loss into consideration, the optimal oblique degree is 45°. The averaged kinetic energy changed according to process conditions and design. The new static mixer resulted in improved mixing performance in a more compact design. The new static mixer is more energy efficient compared with other SV static mixers. Therefore, the double swirl static mixer is promising in gas mixing.     

Chaotic mixing in a barrier‐embedded partitioned pipe mixer

Inspired by the partitioned pipe mixer (PPM), a barrier‐embedded partitioned pipe mixer (BPPM) is designed and analyzed using a numerical simulation scheme. The BPPM is a static mixer, composed of orthogonally connected rectangular plates with a pair of barriers, which divide, stretch, and fold fluid elements, leading to chaotic mixing via the baker's transformation. The aspect ratio of the plate (α) and the dimensionless height of the barrier (β) are chosen as design parameters to conduct a parameter study on the mixing performance. The flow characteristics and mixing performance are analyzed using the cross‐sectional velocity vectors, Poincaré section, interface tracking, and the intensity of segregation. The results indicate that several designs of the BPPM significantly enhance the PPM's mixing performance. The best BPPMs are identified with regard to compactness and energy consumption. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 717–729, 2018     

Numerical investigation of blade shape in static mixing

The mixing performance of the KMX and SMX static mixers have been compared using 3D high-resolution computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Although these mixers have a similar design composed of layers of blades, their blade shape is different: curved for the KMX and flat for the SMX. The flow of a Newtonian fluid in steady laminar regime has been considered as the benchmark of the study. The simulation was first validated by assessing the pressure drop vs. the number of mixer elements and the results were found to be in good agreement with experimental data. To evaluate the mixing quality, cross-section stream function, extensional efficiency, mean shear rate, residence time, intensity of segregation, stretching, and Lyapunov exponent have been selected. Analysis of the flow pattern and mixing parameters shows differences between the mixers and it appears that the curved blade is more efficient than the flat blade design at the expense of a slightly higher pressure drop. In practice, the KMX mixer should provide a higher mixing rate at high viscosity ratio than the SMX mixer. © 2004 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 51: 44–58, 2005     

液-液快速混合设备研究进展

在分析了液-液混合机理的基础上,对几类常用的液一液快速混合设备及其混合过程机理方面的研究进行了全面的综述。在结合大量专利所涉及的工业混合设备分析的基础上,总结了射流喷射混合器、撞击流混合器、静态混合器、动态混合器等4类液-液快速混合设备的混合机理及各类混合设备的优缺点,并展望了工业液-液快速混合设备的研究前景。     

Design and characterization of a Low-pressure-drop static mixer

Four-blade static mixer was designed for inline mixing of Newtonian fluids at Reynolds numbers from 700 to 6800. The mixer consists of four equally spaced blades mounted on cylindrical housing with 45° rotation relative to the circumference. It was tested in three different compartments of 6, 8, and 10 mixing elements; each element rotated 45° relative to the adjacent one. Multipoint sampling was used to measure concentration downstream the mixer. The mixing quality was measured by the coefficient of variance (CoV). The CoV decreases as the energy input per unit mass increases. This effect is more pronounced when the number of mixing elements increases. For the case of 10 mixing elements, a good mixing performance (typically more than 95% mixedness or CoV < 0.05) achieved, although a marginally good mixing performance could also be achieved by eight mixing elements. The friction factors were correlated as f = C₁/Re + C₂/Reⁿ with an average deviation of ±10% from experimental data. Furthermore, experimental friction factors were compared with existing models. For a wide range of Reynolds numbers, the friction factors are apparently smaller than those from SMV, KMX, and baffle-type static mixers. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 65: 1126–1133, 2019     

Characterization of mixing in an optimized designed T-T mixer with cylindrical elements

Passive micromixers are preferred over active mixers for many microfluidic applications due to their relative ease in integration into complex systems and operational flexibility. They also incur very low cost of manufacturing. However, the degree of mixing is comparatively low in passive mixers than active mixers due to the absence of disturbance in the flow by external forces and the inherent laminar nature of microchannel flows. Various designs of complex channel structures and three-dimensional geometries have been investigated in the past to obtain an efficient mixing in passive mixers. But the studies on mixing enhancement with simple planar geometries of passive mixers have been few and limited. The present work aims to investigate the possibility of mixing enhancement by employing simple planar type designs, such as T-mixer and T-T mixer with cylindrical elements placed in the mixing channel. The mixing performance has been evaluated in the Reynolds number range of 6 to 700. Numerical results have shown that T-T mixer with cylindrical elements performed significantly well and obtained very good mixing quality over basic T-mixer for the entire range of Reynolds number (6 to 700). The device has also shown better mixing as compared to basic T-T mixer and T-mixer with cylindrical elements. A larger pair of vortices formed in the stagnation area due to the presence of a cylindrical element in the junction. Cylindrical elements downstream caused significant enhancement in mixing due to splitting and recombining action. The size of the cylindrical element in the T-T mixer has been optimized to obtain better mixing performance of the device. Remarkable improvement in mixing quality by T-T mixer with cylindrical elements has been obtained at the expense of small rise in pressure drop as compared to other passive designs considered in this study. Therefore, the current design of T-T mixer with cylindrical elements can act as an effective and simple passive mixing device for various micromixing applications.     

Effects of blade rake angle and gap on particle mixing in a cylindrical mixer

Performance optimization of a mixer is an issue of great significance in many industrial technologies dealing with particulate materials. By means of Discrete Element Method (DEM), this work examines how the mixing performance of a cylindrical mixer is affected by the two design parameters: blade rake angle and blade gap at the vessel bottom, extending our previous work on particulate mixing. The flow and mixing performance are quantified using the following: velocity fields in vertical cylindrical sections, Lacey’s mixing index, inter-particle forces in vertical cylindrical sections through the particle bed and the applied torque on the blade. Simulation results show that the mixing rate is the fastest for a blade of 90° rake angle, but inter-particle forces are large. Conversely, the inter-particle forces are small for a blade of 135° rake angle, but the mixing rate is slow. The simulation results also indicate that the force applied on particles, velocity field and mixing are interrelated in that order.     

On the performance of static mixers: A quantitative comparison

The performance of industrially relevant static mixers that work via chaotic advection in the Stokes regime for highly viscous fluids, flowing at low Reynolds numbers, like the Kenics, the Ross Low-Pressure Drop (LPD) and Low-Low-Pressure Drop (LLPD), the standard Sulzer SMX, and the recently developed new design series of the SMX, denoted as SMX(n) (n, N_p, N_x) = (n, 2n − 1, 3n), is compared using as criteria both energy consumption, measured in terms of the dimensionless pressure drop, and compactness, measured as the dimensionless length. Results are generally according to expectations: open mixers are most energy efficient, giving the lowest pressure drop, but this goes at the cost of length, while the most compact mixers require large pressure gradients to drive the flow. In compactness, the new series SMX(n), like the SMX(n = 3) (3, 5, 9) design, outperform all other devices with at least a factor 2. An interesting result is that in terms of energy efficiency the simple SMX (1, 1, 4, θ = 135°) outperforms the Kenics RL 180°, which was the standard in low pressure drop mixing, and gives results identical to the optimized Kenics RL 140°. This makes the versatile “X”-designs, based on crossing bars, superior in all respects.     

Numerical investigation of the performance of several static mixers

The performance of six static mixer (Kenics, Inliner, LPD, Cleveland, SMX and ISG) are compared using 3D numerical simulations in laminar creeping flow regime. Numerical pressure drop results are tested against experimental ones, showing overall a good agreement. Besides pressure drop, four criteria (extensional efficiency, stretching, mean shear rate and intensity of segregation) are chosen to compare the static mixers. It appears that Kenics, Inliner, LPD and Cleveland mixers are rather similar. The ISG mixer seems better than this first group of mixers, but pressure drop is too high compared to other advantages. From our numerical results, SMX appears to be the most efficient of the six compared static mixers.     

一种水分散型多隔层混合室混合澄清萃取器的设计及操作性能

从减小液滴内传质阻力、提高两相间传质速率和改善混合室中两相的停留时间分布等方面对油分散型单混合室混合澄清萃取器(OWSMMS)的设计进行了改进,设计了水分散型多隔层混合室混合澄清萃取器(WOMMMS)以提高混合澄清萃取器的分离效率.在实验中分别应用OWSMMS和WOMMMS进行稀土分离,比较了它们的操作性能.在实验条件下,通量为1.46～2.92m~3/(m~2·h)时,轻/重稀土的相对分离效率比β_(qz)为1.426,相邻元素的相对分离效率比β_(ab)一般都大于1,说明WOMMMS的操作性能明显优于OWSMMS.     

Optimization study of obstacles in T–T mixing channel at low Reynolds numbers

In this study, numerical simulations were conducted to optimize obstacle geometry for improving mixing in T–T mixers at low Reynolds numbers (2 < Re < 100). The study considered obstacles of cylindrical and prismatic shapes and optimized their pitch and geometrical parameters for enhanced mixing. For cylindrical obstacles, the optimized configuration resulted in symmetrical recirculation zones at Re > 30, which led to larger mixing qualities of 80% and 85% for Re values above 30 and 50, respectively. However, the pressure drop increased in the optimized T–T mixer due to the larger size of the obstacles. On the other hand, in the case of prismatic obstacles, the mixing qualities of 80% and 85% were achieved only at relatively higher Re values of 70 and 90, respectively. The recirculation zone formed behind the obstacle was asymmetric due to the asymmetrical shape of the optimized prism. At higher Re, the optimized cylindrical obstacle configuration resulted in better mixing than the prismatic configuration. However, the choking effect in the former increased the pressure drop.     

Comparative analysis of different static mixers performance by CFD technique: An innovative mixer

The flow and mixing behavior of two miscible liquids has been studied in an innovative static mixer by using CFD,with Reynolds numbers ranging from 20 to 160. The performance of the new mixer is compared with those of Kenics, SMX, and Komax static mixers. The pressure drop ratio(Z-factor), coefficient of variation(CoV), and extensional efficiency(α) features have been used to evaluate power consumption, distributive mixing, and dispersive mixing performances, respectively, in all mixers. The model is firstly validated based on experimental data measured for the pressure drop ratio and the coefficient of variation. CFD results are consistent with measured data and those obtained by available correlations in the literature. The new mixer shows a superior mixing performance compared to the other mixers.