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.     

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.     

Developing mechanistic understanding of granular behaviour in complex moving geometry using the Discrete Element Method: Part B: Investigation of flow and mixing in the Turbula® mixer

As a consequence of increasing computer power and more readily useable commercial codes, the Discrete Element Method is being used in an increasing range of applications to simulate increasingly complex processes, often for evaluation of machinery prototypes. This presents the additional challenge of analysis of results, in particular to extract flow and mixing mechanisms with a view to improving design or operation.The Turbula mixer is a laboratory scale mixer, which is widely used in industry for the development or testing of new granular products. It comprises a simple vessel geometry (cylinder) that moves with a complex, yet regular, 3D motion giving rise to rapid and thorough mixing of the contents. The mixer presents an ideal system for evaluation of the power of DEM to simulate complex processes and to develop protocols for processing the results of the simulation. Initial results of this investigation, presented in this paper, show that mixing behaviour changes non-monotonically as a function of mixer speed. For the system of monodisperse glass spheres it is shown that mixing rate (in terms of number of mixer revolutions to achieve complete mixing) initially decreases with increasing speed and subsequently increases. The behaviour is suggestive of a transition in the flow process and is the subject of further investigation.     

Epoxy resins: Effect of extent of mixing on properties

Inhomogeneities observed in cured epoxy resins by several workers appear to be related to the effectiveness of mixing the reactants. This mixing effectiveness also has an effect on the softening temperature T_g, of DETA cured resins, of as much as 10°C. Improved mixing of both DETA and Versamid 140 cured systems resulted in substantial ultimate strength improvement, in agreement with other recent results. Samples were mixed by hand, by a concentric cylinder mechanical mixer, and by application of an electrical filed between the cylinders of the mechanical mixer while mechanical mixing was in progress.     

Production of commercial dyes via impingement-sheet mixing: Part I. Testing of a device suitable for industrial application

Impingement-sheet mixing is a proven technique for the rapid mixing of liquids on the laboratory scale. In this paper a practical mixer design for use on the industrial scale is presented. The industrial impingement-sheet mixer was tested at flow rate ratios typical of commercial applications and, compared with earlier laboratory results, only a slight loss in mixing speed was noted. At flow rates of the order of liters/minute and pressure drops up to 1.5 bar, the micromixing times of the industrial impingement-sheet mixer are of the order of tens of milliseconds for reactant stoichiometric ratios near 1.00. If one of the reactants is present in at least a 10% excess, then the micromixing time of the limiting reagent is reduced to several milliseconds.     

Method of analyzing and quantifying the performance of mixing sections

In this article, the performance of three different mixing elements on color dispersion in high‐density polyethylene and linear low‐density polyethylene polymer stream during extrusion is studied. Two similarly designed Maddock mixers and a Stratablend II mixer are used as the last part of a general purpose single screw. Moreover, an inline melt camera is used for the quantification of mixing quality by visualization of grayscale of the color dispersion and thus mixing. The Stratablend II mixer produces the lowest and most uniform standard deviation. Both the Maddock mixers showed the same trend but higher values of standard deviation. All results are then compared with a full 3D finite element method simulation. Simulations clearly indicate that the Stratablend II mixer has the best mixing abilities and that these are mainly given by its unique design with high average value of shear stress. The role of elongational stress does not appear to have a high influence on mixing for these mixers. The results also suggest that the key factor for achieving better mixing is the frequency by which a large fraction of the material passes through the high shear stress regions of the mixer. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers     

液滴行为与液-液混合设备

总结了液-液非均相混合过程中的液滴运动速率计算模型,分析了液滴破碎及合并的机理。在结合各种工业应用的基础上,总结了搅拌釜、射流混合器、静态混合器、撞击流混合器及纤维液膜混合器等五种混合设备的混合原理及研究现状。展望了液-液混合设备的研究前景。     

Characterization of continuous convective powder mixing processes

The Process Analytical Technology (PAT) initiative has encouraged the development of new technology to improve upon the current manufacturing paradigm. As a result substantial attention has recently focused on continuous processing due to the ability to control disturbances online, avoiding the loss of processing materials and enabling effective process scale-up. In this paper, a pharmaceutical formulation is blended using a continuous flow “high shear” mixer utilizing different operating and design parameters. The mixing efficiency is characterized by extracting samples at the discharge of the blender, and analyzing them using Near Infrared Spectroscopy to determine compositional distribution. Operational conditions such as the inclination angle of the mixer and impeller rotation rate were investigated and showed to affect the mean residence time. The effects of mixer angle, agitation speed, number of blades, blade angle, number of passes through the mixer on the mixing performance of a powder continuous convective mixer are also examined and shown to affect mixing performance whereas the cohesive properties of the material did not significantly affect the mixing operation.     

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.     

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.     

Experimental characterization and multi-scale modeling of mixing in static mixers

Mixing in static mixers is studied using a set of competitive-parallel chemical reactions and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in a wide range of operating conditions. Two kinds of mixers, a wide angle Y-mixer and a two jet vortex mixer, referred to as Roughton mixer, are compared in terms of reaction yields and mixing times. It is found that the Roughton mixer achieves a better mixing performance compared to the Y-mixer. The effect of flow rate ratio on mixing in the Roughton mixer has been studied as well and it is shown that the mixing efficiency is not affected by the flow rate ratio. Moreover, experimental results and model predictions are in good agreement for all mixer geometries and operating conditions. CFD is used to calculate absolute mixing times based on the residence time in the segregated zone and it is shown that mixing times of less than 1 ms can be achieved in the Roughton mixer. In addition, CFD provides insight in local concentrations and reaction rates and serves as a valuable tool to improve or to scale-up mixers.     

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.     

Mechanism of mixing in internal mixer and energy-based modelling

In this paper, differences between mill mixing and internal mixer operation are discussed, the experimental results of the energy balance during mixing with an internal mixer are presented, and then an energy-based modelling of the mechanism of mixing in the internal mixer is proposed.     

Experimental evaluation of gas mixing with a static microstructure mixer

Mixing plays an important role in chemical reaction engineering. In the last years several types of static microstructure mixers have been developed. The characterization of microstructure mixing is difficult to perform as the dimensions are too small for conventional methods. Therefore, we report a method to characterize the mixing of two gases directly by measuring the concentration of the gases at the outlet of the mixer. The experiments have been carried out up to gas flows of 5000 ml/min STP per passage. The mixing degree and mixing length were determined as well as the mixing time was calculated. These values depend on the properties of the gases and other parameters as temperature and gas velocity. Thus complete mixing is achieved after a mixing length, i.e., the distance to the microchannel outlet, of only 300-800 μm. Corresponding mixing times are just 100-600 μs. Furthermore, discontinuities in the mixing characteristic can be explained with the results obtained. Also design parameters for a further improvement of the mixer geometry individually for various applications could be set up.     

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     

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     

旋转流化床粉体混合机混合效果数值模拟和实验验证

为了对旋转流化床粉体混合机进行优化设计,采用CFD-DEM联合仿真的方法,对旋转流化床粉体混合机内球形颗粒的混合过程进行数值模拟,通过Lacey指数具体评价颗粒的混合效果,研究了进气管倾斜角度、进气管布置方式、进气方式对球形颗粒混合效果的影响,并进行球形颗粒混合实验验证。结果表明,进气管最合适的倾斜角度应保证气流作用区域面积恰好为底部颗粒物料区域面积的一半。进气管水平布置时能够保证很好的混合质量及较快的混合速率。脉冲及连续方式进气均能实现均匀混合,脉冲进气方式比连续进气方式耗气量更低。颗粒混合实验有很好的混合效果,与数值模拟的结果具有较高的一致性,从而获得了一种混合效果优越的结构形式,进气管倾斜角度α=35°,水平布置。     

HF串联密炼机炼胶工艺技术研究

串联密炼机在能源消耗与胶料性能改善方面有突出优点,它采用啮合型转子结构对胶料进行剪切混炼,混炼效果好,冷却效果良好,适合白炭黑混炼的热履历炼胶控制、转子转数控制等。本文对HF串联密烁机的产量、胶料的性能和动态粘弹性能进行了实验研究,并与普通密炼机进行了对比,结果表明：HF串联密炼机炭黑宏观分散度高,微观分散效果也比一般密炼机好,混炼的胶料扯断强度和扯断伸长率高,胶料在60℃时的动态滞后损失要低于F370混炼的胶料,因此,HF串联密炼机适合绿色环保轮胎高混炼的要求。