THE GROWTH OF CAVERNS FORMED AROUND ROTATING IMPELLERS DURING THE MIXING OF A YIELD STRESS FLUID

The growth of caverns, formed around rotating impellers in a yield stress fluid during mixing in a stirred vessel, has been studied by observing impeller speeds at which fluid motion was first observed at the vessel's wall and base, and at the free liquid surface. The effect of impeller geometry has been studied with a disk turbine (DT), a two bladed paddle (2BP), a pitched blade turbine (PBT) and a marine propeller (MP).

The presence of four baffles (10%) was found to increase the impeller speed at which the cavern reaches the vessel wall by 9% on average over that observed without baffles. After the cavern has reached the vessel walls, impeller type had a small effect upon the vertical expansion of the cavern with increasing impeller speed. Radial flow impellers (DT and 2BP), on average, performed better than an axial flow impeller (MP), with a mixed flow impeller (PBT) in between. Baffles significantly reduce the rate of this vertical expansion of the cavern. Clearance of the impeller from the vessel base had little effect upon the growth of the cavern above the impeller.     

The effect of hydrodynamic parameters on the production of Pickering emulsions in a baffled stirred tank

Pickering emulsions are potential industrial scale alternatives to surfactant-based emulsions. The stability of Pickering emulsions depends on the physicochemical nature of the liquid–particle interface and the hydrodynamic conditions of the production process. This article investigates the effect of hydrodynamic conditions on the drop size of concentrated Pickering emulsions in baffled stirred tanks. Oil in water emulsions composed of silicon oil, water, and hydrophilic glass beads as stabilizing particles were produced. Two impellers were used at different sizes: Rushton turbine (RT) and pitched blade turbine. The effects of power per mass, Reynolds number, tip speed, and Weber number on the droplet sizes were studied. The energy dissipated around the impeller and the size of the impeller high shear zone were found to be critical to the emulsion droplet sizes. The breakup and droplet-particle contact mechanism of the RT was found to be more favorable for the production of the Pickering emulsions.     

THE GROWTH OF CAVERNS FORMED AROUND ROTATING IMPELLERS DURING THE MIXING OF A YIELD STRESS FLUID

The growth of caverns, formed around rotating impellers in a yield stress fluid during mixing in a stirred vessel, has been studied by observing impeller speeds at which fluid motion was first observed at the vessel's wall and base, and at the free liquid surface. The effect of impeller geometry has been studied with a disk turbine (DT), a two bladed paddle (2BP), a pitched blade turbine (PBT) and a marine propeller (MP).

The presence of four baffles (10%) was found to increase the impeller speed at which the cavern reaches the vessel wall by 9% on average over that observed without baffles. After the cavern has reached the vessel walls, impeller type had a small effect upon the vertical expansion of the cavern with increasing impeller speed. Radial flow impellers (DT and 2BP), on average, performed better than an axial flow impeller (MP), with a mixed flow impeller (PBT) in between. Baffles significantly reduce the rate of this vertical expansion of the cavern. Clearance of the impeller from the vessel base had little effect upon the growth of the cavern above the impeller.     

Design rules for suspending concentrated mixtures of solids in stirred tanks

This study examines complete off-bottom suspension conditions for slurries containing mixtures of solids at a wide range of concentrations. Binary combinations of five different particles; bronze, two sizes of glass beads, ion exchange resin, and nickel were tested with two impellers: the Lightnin A310 and the down pumping 45° PBT. The effect of particle size ratio and density ratio of the two solid phases on N_js was investigated. Solids loadings were varied from 3 to 56 wt% (weight percent) with water as the liquid phase. The results showed that the highest particle N_js in a mixture of solids is not a sufficient design specification to ensure suspension of the mixture. For one of the cases studied, the particle–particle interactions became significant at high loadings and resulted in a decrease in N_js. Different behaviours were observed for the other mixtures. The performance of the two impellers was also compared. The A310 impeller consumes significantly less power at N_js than the PBT. Both impellers showed an effect of off-bottom clearance on N_js, but the effect of off-bottom clearance depended on both the solids concentration and on the solids used.     

The effects of impeller characteristics in the hydrogenation of aniline on Ru/C catalyst

Effects of impeller characteristics have been studied in the hydrogenation of aniline on Ru/C catalyst. Dual impellers were employed and the experiments were performed at 300 rpm using a lab-scale reactor. Reaction with disk turbines (DT) resulted in the higher cyclohexylamine (CHA) selectivity and higher reaction rate compared to that with pitched blade turbines (PBT). When a combination of PBT and DT impellers was employed, high product selectivity and reaction rate were obtained and the selectivity was maintained constant. Changes in the product selectivity with the impeller geometry were explained in terms of the relative rates of the side reactions depending on the hydrogen concentration in the reaction mixture.     

Numerical and experimental analyses of a stirred vessel for a large volumetric flow rate of sparged air

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental analyses of some of the basic characteristics of air sparging in a tall stirred vessel equipped with a three-stage impeller are presented. The impeller was assembled from a radial ABT impeller as the lower, a turbine 6PBT45 as the middle and an axial Scaba-type 3SHP1 impeller as the upper. All the impellers were of the same diameter, i.e., 225 mm, while the vessel diameter was 450 mm. The impeller's rotational speed was 178 r·min^-1. The aeration regime was established with an air volumetric flow rate of 28.3 m³·h^-1. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to consider the very high gassing rate by means of CFD in a tank stirred by three-stage axial/radial impellers. The numerical simulation was performed using the ANSYS Fluent (R17.2, 2016) code for solving the governing equations of fluid dynamics in single- and multi-phase systems. While discussing the bubble size distribution, a discrete population balance model (PBM) was used. Adopting CFD, the stirring power and the total void fraction (the total gas holdup) were calculated. The results were in good agreement with the measured values using a laboratory experimental device.     

Turbulence damping above the cloud height in suspensions of concentrated slurries in stirred tanks

Poor mixing in the clear liquid layer above the cloud height has been reported by several authors. This study uses LDV measurements to quantify turbulence above the cloud using a liquid level of 1.5 T to remove the barrier of a free surface at H = T. A D = T/3, down-pumping PBT was used at an off-bottom clearance of C = T/3. Three slurries were tested at impeller speeds 0.8, 1, and 1.2N_js. The change in turbulence was quantified using the normalized root mean square (RMS) of the fluctuating velocity summed and averaged over each radial traverse. A significant difference between the fluctuating values of the cloud height—minimum, average, and maximum—was observed. The turbulence decays until the maximum cloud height. Beyond that, it remains constant and near zero. The effects of both particle size and solids concentration prove to be important.     

运用粒子图像测速仪研究双层桨搅拌槽内流体流动

The flow fields in a dual Rushton impeller stirred tank with diameter of 0.48 m （T） were measured by using Particle Image Velocimetry （PIV）. Three different size impellers were used in the experiments with diameters of D = 0.33T, 0.40T and 0.50T, respectively. The multi-block and 360° ensemble-averaged approaches were used to measure the radial and axial angle-resolved velocity distributions. Three typical flow patterns, named, merging flow, parallel flow and diverging flow, were obtained by changing the clearance of the bottom impeller above the tank base （C1） and the spacing between the two impellers （C2）. The results show that while C1 is equal to D, the parallel flow occurs as C2≥0.40T, C2≥0.38T and C2≥0.32T and the merging flow occurs as C2≤0.38T, C2≤0.36T and C2≤0.27T for the impellers with diameter of D=0.33T, 0.40T and 0.50T, respectively. When C2 is equal to D, the diverging flow occurs in the value of C1≤0.15T for all three impellers. The flow numbers of these impellers were calculated for the parallel flow. Trailing vortices generated by the lower impeller for the diverging flow were shown by the 10° angle-resolved velocity measurements. The peak value of turbulence kinetic energy （ k/V^2tip = 0.12-0.15 or above） appears along the center of the impeller discharging stream.     

Transitional Mixing of Shear‐Thinning Fluids in Vessels with Multiple Impellers

The mixing efficiency of shear‐thinning fluids was evaluated using carboxymethylcellulose sodium salt (Na‐CMC) aqueous solutions of varying mass concentrations and three types of impellers (Rushton turbine (RT), six‐flat‐blade turbine (FBT), six‐pitched‐down‐blade turbine (PBT)) which were mounted on a common shaft in combinations of three, four, and five impellers. The mixing time proved to be dependent on the number of impellers as well as on the distance between. The Reynolds number has a significant influence on the mixing time for all studied systems. The results of power consumption allowed to choose the impeller system with the best efficiency.     

Impeller power draw during turbulent operation in solid‐liquid suspensions

Experimental measurements with six impeller types in solid‐liquid suspensions indicate that impeller power draw in the turbulent regime is approximately proportional to the solid‐liquid suspension density when the solids are distributed throughout the liquid; however, the accuracy of this approach is limited and there are clear differences in the behaviours of the various impellers. In general, power draw increases are less than suspension density increases for impellers with large blade‐trailing vortices, while power draw increases are equal to or greater than suspension density increases for impellers with smaller blade‐trailing vortices. The power draw data is well‐described using linear relations between the impeller power number and the density difference correlating parameter proposed by Micheletti et al.,^[9] with the slope of the relation being dependent on impeller type. More extensive testing with a pitched‐blade turbine, using a greater variety of solids, found that the relation between the impeller power number and the density difference correlating parameter is independent of particle size for particles as large as 1 mm (1000 microns). For particles larger than 1.7 mm (1700 microns), in addition to suspension density, the solid volume fraction affects the pitched‐blade turbine power number; however, it is difficult to determine if this effect exists at all scales or if it is a result of the large particle size relative to the impeller dimensions in the experimental system. For large particles, the power draw is increased by the addition of neutrally‐buoyant particles that do not change the suspension density, with the magnitude of the increase being dependent on impeller type.     

Effect of Ultrasonication on Droplet Size in Biodiesel Mixtures

Biodiesel fuels have become more attractive recently because of their environmental benefits and cost competitiveness compared to diesel fuel. Many processing improvements have been proposed to increase the conversion rates and the yields of vegetable oil in order to lower production costs and improve biodiesel product quality. In conventional biodiesel production chemistries, alkaline transesterifications of alcohol/oil dispersions should occur primarily near the interface. Ultrasonic mixing has already been shown to increase overall conversion rates for alcohol/vegetable oil mixtures. Our data show that ultrasonic mixing produced smaller droplet sizes than conventional agitation, leading to more interfacial area for the reaction to occur. Droplet size distributions have been measured for conventional impeller and ultrasonic mixing systems using methanol/soybean oil as a model system. The dispersions were stabilized by surfactant in order to obtain droplet size distribution for mixture samples. Ultrasonic mixing produced dispersions with average droplet sizes 42% smaller than those generated using standard impellers.     

EFFECT OF IMPELLER DESIGN ON LIQUID PHASE MIXING IN MECHANICALLY AGITATED REACTORS

Liquid phase mixing time (θ_mix) was measured in mechanically agitated contactors of internal diameter 0.57 m, 1.0 m and 1.5 m. Tap water was used as the liquid phase. The impeller speed was varied in the range of 0.4-9.0 r/s. Three types of impellers, namely disc turbine (DT), pitched blade downflow turbine (PTD) and pitched-blade upflow turbine (PTU) were employed. The ratio of impeller diameter to vessel diameter (D/T) and the ratio of impeller blade width to impeller diameter (W/D) were varied over a wide range. The effects of impeller clearance from the tank bottom (C), the blade angle (φ), the number of blades (n_b), the blade thickness (k) and the total liquid height (H/T) were studied in detail. Mixing time was measured using the conductivity method.

Mixing time was found to have a strong dependance on the flow pattern generated by the impeller. Mixing time was found to decrease by decreasing the impeller clearance in the case of DT and PTU. However in the case of PTD it increases with a decrease in the impeller clearance. Similar trend of the effect of impeller clearance on θ_mix, was observed for all the other PTD impellers with different diameter, number of blades and blade angle (except 60^° and 90^°). All the impeller designs were compared on the basis of power consumption and on this basis optimum design recommendations have been made. For PTD impellers, a correlation has been developed for the dimensionless mixing time.     

Impeller characterization and selection: Balancing efficient hydrodynamics with process mixing requirements

Current literature relies almost exclusively on the power number to compare and characterize impellers. Industrial mixing requirements may rely on conditions far away from the impeller. A protocol is proposed to compare impellers designed for turbulent mixing on the basis of impeller hydrodynamic performance and mixing process objectives. A hydrofoil impeller (KPC), and a mixed‐flow impeller (45^° down‐pumping PBT), each at two diameters, were used to test the protocol. Fourteen measures were considered. Five are recommended for full characterization: power number, momentum number, and peak rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy to characterize conditions at the impeller; power at just‐suspended speed to compare the efficiency of solids suspension at the bottom of the tank; and point of air entrainment as a measure of turbulence penetration to the free surface. These five measures provide complete information about mixing performance and good differentiation between the impellers and geometries. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 2573–2588, 2012     

Experimental investigation on micromixing characteristics of coaxial mixers in viscous system

An experimental investigation into the micromixing performance of coaxial mixers in a viscous system is reported, in which the iodide-iodate reaction system is chosen to quantitatively characterize the product distributions. The effects of feeding time, feeding position, impeller speed, inner impeller configuration, and operation mode on the segregation index, Xs, are examined. It is revealed that the feeding near the inner impeller benefits micromixing and should be regarded as the preferred position. The presence of the rotating outer impeller causes the micromixing performance of the coaxial mixer to be significantly better than the single-shaft mixer. While an increase in the outer impeller speed has a limited influence on micromixing, the inner impeller speed is the dominant influencing factor, that is, the Xs decreases obviously when the inner impeller speed is increased. On the other hand, the coaxial mixers with multiple and axial inner impellers have a better micromixing performance at the same specific power consumption, P_V, than that with single and radial inner impellers. Among the configurations consisting of a Rushton impeller (RT), six-straight-blade turbine impeller (SBT), and six-pitched (45°)-blade turbine impeller (PBT), the Xs of the coaxial mixer is always the smallest at the same P_V when the PBT + RT configuration is used as the inner impeller. In addition, it is found that the difference in Xs that results from various operation modes is small in terms of power consumption; however, the co-rotation mode is still recommended for the micromixing of the coaxial mixer due to its excellent performance in general.     

LIQUID PHASE MIXING IN MECHANICALLY AGITATED VESSELS

Liquid phase mixing and power consumption have been studied in 0.3, 0.57, 1.0 and 1.5 m i.d. mechanically agitated contactors. Tap water was used as liquid phase. The impeller speed was varied in the range 2-13.33 r/s. Three types of impellers namely disc turbine (DT), pitched turbine downflow (PTD) and pitched turbine upflow (PTU) were employed. The impeller diameter to vessel diameter ratio was varied in the range of 0.25 to 0.58. The effect of impeller clearance from tank bottom was also studied. Mixing time was measured using the transient conductivity measurement.

The PTD impeller was found to be the most energy efficient for mixing in liquid phase alone. Further, PTD (T/3) was found to be most energy efficient as compared with other impeller diameters. The effect of clearance was found to be design dependent and it was found to be diameter dependent in the case of pitched turbines.

Flow patterns of different impellers have been studied by visual observations (using guide particles). These observations were supported by the measurements using Laser Doppler Velocimetry. A model has been developed for the prediction of mixing time. In the case of all the three impeller designs, a fairly good agreement was found between the predicted and experimental values of mixing time.     

Effect of double agitation on particle size in suspension polymerization of styrene with a loop reactor

Suspension polymerization of styrene was performed in the loop reactor. In order to allow wide change to the polymer particle size, a sub impeller was included within the main impeller. The sub impeller served to increase the fluid velocity and to uniformly disperse the polymer droplets during polymerization. It was investigated how the double agitation method by the main and the sub impellers affected the transient droplet diameter distribution and the final particle size distribution. The particle size could be changed widely by the double agitation method without the decrease in degree of the uniformity of the particle size.     

CRITICAL IMPELLER SPEED FOR SOLID SUSPENSION IN MULTI-IMPELLER AGITATED CONTACTORS: SOLID-LIQUID SYSTEM

The critical impeller speed for suspension of solid particles (N_js) has been measured in multi-impeller mechanically agitated contactors of 0.15 and 0.30m id and 1.0 m height. Three types of impellers, i.e. disk turbine (DT), pitched turbine downflow(PTD) and pitched turbine upflow(PTU) were used. The number of impellers used in the 0.3 m and 0.15 m id reactors were three and four, respectively. The distance maintained between two impellers was equivalent lo the tank diameter. The effect of impeller type and diameter, particle size and loading, and clearance of the bottom impeller from the reactor bottom was studied and results compared with those of single impeller agitated contactors. PTD impeller was found to be more efficient for solid suspension. The N_js values obtained in reactors with multiple impeller are essentially the same as those observed in single impeller reactor and the bottom impeller plays dominant role in determining the N_js, values. An empirical correlation has been proposed for estimation of N_js and an attempt has been made to explain the mechanism of suspension in multi-impeller agitated reactor.     

Turbulent blend times with off-centre v-mounted agitators

Experimental measurements in a flat-bottom tank with narrow-blade hydrofoil and pitched-blade impellers are used to develop guidelines for off-centre, or eccentric, placement of vertical agitators in unbaffled tanks. The guidelines are based on providing a turbulent blend time that is no more than 20% longer than that of the same impeller operating at the same rotational speed on the centreline of a baffled tank. In addition to investigating the effect of impeller type, impeller diameter and off-bottom clearance are also considered. The results support the commonly noted rule of thumb that as off-centre distance is increased, performance in an unbaffled vessel approaches that in a baffled tank. A notable exception to this axiom occurs when a large impeller is located close to the tank base (specifically, D/T = 0.40, C/T = 0.10, and O/T = 0.25). In this case, a stable impeller tip vortex forms with both impeller types, with slow exchange of material between the vortex and bulk liquid leading to long blend times. Besides blend time decreasing with increasing off-centre distance, the uncertainty or run-to-run variation in blend time also decreases dramatically. In most cases, the pitched-blade turbine requires a smaller off-centre distance than the hydrofoil impeller to approximate the blending performance provided during baffled operation.     

On the Manifestation and nature of macroinstabilities in stirred vessels

The flow variations or macroinstabilities (MIs) occurring in a vessel stirred by a pitched blade turbine (PBT) are studied through particle image velocimetry (PIV) experiments. Proper orthogonal decomposition and fast Fourier transform techniques are applied to the PIV velocity data at one vertical and nine horizontal planes below the impeller, to identify and characterize the flow structures present in the vessel. It is shown that the PBT MI is manifested as a precessional movement around the impeller axis and an oscillation in the direction of the axial mean stream around the shaft axis. The identified flow structures are similar to those previously observed in vessels stirred by Rushton impellers and are characterized by two dominant frequencies, equal to one‐tenth and one‐fifth of the impeller rotational speed. The nature and extent of these structures and their interaction with the trailing vortices emanating from the turbine blades are discussed. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011     

Effect of Various Curved-Blade Impeller Geometries on Drop Size in a Liquid–Liquid Stirred Vessel

An experimental study was performed to discuss the effects of curvature angles and central disk sizes of 6-curved-blade impellers on the mean drop size in an agitated vessel. A system with 1% oil in water in the presence of a surfactant solution was used. The effects of impeller speed on drop size were also investigated. The laser diffraction technique and RSM method were employed to measure and analyze data, respectively. Decreased curvature angles from 180° to 140° reduced the drop size up to 9%, 10%, and 10% at agitation speeds of 5, 6, and 7 rps, respectively. Moreover, a decrease in central disk size from 3/4D to 1/4D reduced the drop size up to 16%, 18%, and 22% at an agitation speed of 5, 6, and 7 rps, correspondingly. Two mathematical models were suggested and the most significant parameters of each experimental design were identified through the Analysis of Variance.