Numerical optimization for blades of Intermig impeller in solid–liquid stirred tank

The multiphase flow in the solid-liquid tank stirred with a new structure of Intermig impeller was analyzed by computational fluid dynamics(CFD).The Eulerian multiphase model and standard k-ε turbulence model were adopted to simulate the fluid flow,turbulent kinetic energy distribution,mixing performance and power consumption in a stirred tank.The simulation results were also verified by the water model experiments,and good agreement was achieved.The solid-liquid mixing performances of Intermig impeller with different blade structures were compared in detail.The results show that the improved Intermig impeller not only enhances the solid mixing and suspension,but also saves more than 20% power compared with the standard one.The inner blades have relatively little influence on power and the best angle of inner blades is 45°,while the outer blades affect greatly the power consumption and the optimized value is 45°.     

Critical impeller speeds for a gas-inducing stirring tank loaded with solid particles

The influence of solid particles size,density and loading on the critical gas-inducing impeller speed was investigated in a gas–liquid–solid stirring tank equipped with a hollow Rushton impeller.Three types of solid particles,hollow glass beads with diameters of 300 μm,200 μm,100 μm,and 60 μm,silica gel and desalting resin,were used.It was found that the adding solid particles would change the critical impeller speed.For hollow glass beads and silica gel,whose relative densities were less than or equal to 1.5,the critical impeller speeds increased with the solid loading before reaching the maximum values,and then decreased to a value even lower than that without added solids.The size of the solids also had apparent influence on the critical impeller speed,and larger solid particles correspond to a smaller critical impeller speed.The experimental data also showed that the gasinducing was beneficial to the suspension of the solid particles.     

Numerical Simulation of Macroscopic Mixing in a Rushton Impeller Stirred Tank

The macroscopic mixing in a stirred tank with different tracer injection locations, impeller speeds and impeller positions is simulated numerically by solving the transport equation of the tracer based on the whole flow field in the baffled tank with a Rushton disk turbine numerically resolved using the improved inner-outer iterative procedure. Predicted mixing time is compared well with the literature correlations. The predicted residence time distribution of the stirred tank is very close to the present experimental results. The effect of the installation of a draft tube on the mixing time and residence time distributions is addressed.     

Large Eddy Simulations of Mixing Time in a Stirred Tank

Large eddy simulations （LES） of mixing process in a stirred tank of 0.476m diameter with a 3-narrow blade hydrofoil CBY impeller were reported. The turbulent flow field and mixing time were calculated using LES with Smagorinsky-Lilly subgrid scale model. The impeller rotation was modeled using the sliding mesh technique. Better agreement of power demand and mixing time was obtained between the experimental and the LES prediction than that by the traditional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes （RANS） approach. The curve of tracer response predicted by LES was in good agreement with the experimental. The results show that LES is a reliable tool to investigate the unsteady and quasi-periodic behavior of the turbulent flow in stirred tanks.     

下沉颗粒气-液-固搅拌槽内微观混合特性研究（英文）

The parallel-competing iodide–iodate reaction scheme was used to study the micromixing performance in a multi-phase stirred tank of 0.3 m diameter. The impeller combination consisted of a half el iptical blade disk tur-bine below two down-pimping wide-blade hydrofoils, identified as HEDT+2WHD. Nitrogen and glass beads of 100μm diameter and density 2500 kg·m?3 were used as the dispersed phases. The micromixing could be improved by sparging gas because of its additional potential energy. Also, micromixing could be improved by the solid particles with high kinetic energy near the impeller tip. In a gas–solid–liquid system, the gas–liquid film vibration with damping, due to the frequent collisions between the bubbles and particles, led to the decrease of the turbulence level in the liquid and caused eventual y the deterioration of the micromixing. A Damping Film Dissipation model is formulated to shed light on the above micromixing performances. At last, the micromixing time tm according to the incorporation model varied from 1.9 ms to 6.7 ms in our experiments.     

搅拌槽内液-固两相体系的数值研究(Ⅰ)流场的数值模拟

Three-dimensional solid-liquid flow is mathematically formulated by means of the “two-fluid” approach and the two-phase k-ε-Ap turbulence model. The turbulent fluctuation correlations appearing in the Reynolds time averaged governing equations are fully incorporated. The solid-liquid flow field and solid concentration distribution in baffled stirred tanks with a standard Rushton impeller are numerically simulated using an improved “inner-outer” iterative procedure. The flow pattern is identified via the velocity vector plots and a recirculation loop with higher solid concentration is observed in the central vicinity beneath the impeller. Comparison of the simulation with experimental data on the mean velocities and the turbulence quantities of the solid phase is made and quite reasonable agreement is obtained except for the impeller swept volume. The counterpart of liquid phase is presented as well. The predicted solid concentration distribution for three experimental cases with the average solid concentration up to 20% is also found to agree reasonably with the experimental results published in the literature.     

Torque and bending moment acting on a flexible shaft agitated by disk turbines in a gas–liquid stirred vessel

The torque and bending moment acting on a flexible overhung shaft in a gas–liquid stirred vessel agitated by a Rushton turbine and three different curved-blade disk turbines(half circular blades disk turbine, half elliptical blades disk turbine, and parabolic blades disk turbine) were experimentally measured by a customized moment sensor. The results show that the amplitude distribution of torque can be fitted by a symmetric bimodal distribution for disk turbines, and generally the distribution is more dispersive as the blade curvature or the gas flow rate increases. The amplitude distribution of shaft bending moment can be fitted by an asymmetric Weibull distribution for disk turbines. The relative shaft bending moment manifests a "rising-falling-rising" trend over the gas flow number, which is a corporate contribution of the unstable gas–liquid flow around the impeller, the gas cavities behind the blades, and the direct impact of gas on the impeller. And the "falling" stage is greater and lasts wider over the gas flow number for Rushton turbine than for the curved-blade disk turbines.     

基于离散颗粒法模拟搅拌釜气含率分布

The discrete particle method was used to simulate the distribution of gas holdup in a gas-liquid standard Rushton stirred tank. The gas phase was treated as a large number of bubbles and their trajectories were tracked with the results of motion equations. The two-way approach was performed to couple the interphase momentum exchange. The turbulent dispersion of bubbles with a size distribution was modeled using a stochastic tracking model, and the added mass force was involved to account for the effect of bubble acceleration on the surrounding fluid. The predicted gas holdup distribution showed that this method could give reasonable prediction comparable to the reported experimental data when the effect of turbulence was took into account in modification for drag coefficient.     

Effects of rotational speed and fill level on particle mixing in a stirred tank with different impellers

The particle mixing was studied in a cylindrical stirred tank with elliptical dished bottom by experiments and simulations.The impeller types used were double helical ribbon(HR) + bottom HR,pitched blade ribbon + bottom HR,inner and outer HR + bottom HR,and pitched blade ribbon + Pfaudler + bottom HR labeled as impellers Ⅰ to Ⅳ,respectively.The quantitative correlations among the rotational speed,fill level and power consumption for impeller Ⅰ and impeller Ⅱ were obtained by experiments to validate the discrete element method(DEM) simulations.The particle mixing at different operating conditions was simulated via DEM simulations to calculate the mixing index using the Lacey method,which is a statistical method to provide a mathematical understanding of the mixing state in a binary mixture.The simulation results reveal that as the rotational speed increases,the final mixing index increases,and as the fill level increases,the final mixing index decreases.At the same operating conditions,impeller Ⅲ is the optimal combination,which provides the highest mixing index at the same revolutions.     

搅拌槽内的Rushton桨叶周围流场的PIV测量

In this paper, particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to measure the mean and root mean square(RMS) velocity in the stirred tank with six-flat blade Rushton turbine and with no baffles. Two types of motion patterns were studied. One was that the impeller runs at constant speed, the other was that the impeller runs at time-dependent speed and in a periodic way. The emphasis of the paper was on the comparison of mean and RMS velocity vector maps and profiles between these two types of motion patterns, and especial attention was paid to the comparison of the mean velocity, time-averaged RMS velocity, phase averaged RMS velocity between the constant 3 RPS (revolution per second) and time-dependent operation. The Reynolds number was between 763 and i527. The study explained the mechanism that time-dependent RPS is more efficient for mixing than that of constant RPS.     

Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Impeller Design Parameters on the Performance of a Multiphase Baffle‐Stirred Reactor

The turbulent gas‐liquid flow field in an industrial 100‐m³ stirred tank was calculated by using computational fluid dynamics based on the finite‐volume method. Turbulent effects were modeled with the shear stress transport model, and gas‐liquid bubbly flow was modeled with the Eulerian‐Eulerian approach using the Grace correlation for the drag force interphase momentum transfer. The relative motion between the rotating impeller and the stationary baffled tank was considered by using a multiple frames of reference algorithm. The effects of Rushton and pitched‐blade impeller design parameters such as blade geometry, location, and pumping direction on the mixing performance were investigated. It was found that a combination of Rushton turbines with up‐pumping pitched‐blade turbines provides the best mixing performance in terms of gas holdup and interfacial area density. The approach outlined in this work is useful for performance optimization of biotechnology reactors, as typically found in fermentation processes.     

γ-CT measurement and CFD simulation of cross section gas holdup distribution in a gas–liquid stirred standard Rushton tank

Cross section gas holdup distributions at 3/4 dimensionless static liquid height in a gas–liquid stirred standard Rushton tank were measured using ¹³⁷Cs γ-CT scan measuring technology at larger gas flow rates and higher impeller rotating speeds. The obtained CT scan images and digital distribution curves of gas holdup with dimensionless radius based on the CT images could explain the fluctuation changes of gas holdup distribution. The dense area of gas holdup distribution appeared in the upper space of impeller blades. Gas holdup increased both with gas flow rate and impeller rotating speed, but gas flow rate had more influence on gas holdup than impeller rotating speed. The Eulerian–Eulerian two-fluid model coupling with the bubbles' coalescence and break-up models, and the drag coefficient model were established to make CFD simulation of gas holdup distributions for the gas–liquid stirred Rushton tank under different gas flow rates and impeller rotating speeds.     

Gas-Liquid Mixing in a Grid-Disc Impeller Stirred Tank

To enhance the gas-liquid mixing performance in stirred tanks, the grid-disc impeller was designed by replacing the solid disc of the standard Rushton impeller with a grid disc. Gas-liquid hydrodynamics of the new impeller was studied by employing the Eulerian-Eulerian two-phase model coupled with the dispersed k-ε turbulence model. Rotation of the impeller was simulated with the multiple reference frame method. Flow field, gas holdup, and power consumption were investigated and compared with the standard Rushton impeller. The numerical method was validated by comparing the gas holdup with literature. The grid-disc impeller performed better than the Rushton impeller in terms of gas dispersion performance, axial pumping capacity, and energy requirement, indicating its potential for gas-liquid mixing applications.     

Measurement of gas and liquid flows in stirred tank reactors with multiple agitators

The gas flow in a 3:1 aspect ratio vessel agitated by triple Rushton turbines has been measured by an ultrasound Doppler probe and by means of residence time studies. Strong recirculation around each impeller is found which fits in well with the compartmentalisation found in earlier liquid mixing studies. Surprisingly, when two axial A315 impellers above a Rushton turbine were used, gas recirculation around each impeller was still found. Study of the liquid phase mixing by a decolourisation technique confirmed that the gas flow essentially destroyed the strong axial liquid flow expected. Indeed, even under unaerated conditions, compartmentalisation was found between each impeller.     

CFD simulation of impeller shape effect on quality of mixing in two-phase gas–liquid agitated vessel

Mixing efficiency in two-phase gas–liquid agitated vessel is one of the important challenges in the industrial processes. Computational fluid dynamics technique (CFD) was used to investigate the effect of four different pitched blade impellers, including 15°, 30°, 45° and 60°, on the mixing quality of gas–liquid agitated vessel. The multiphase flow behavior was modeled by Eulerian–Eulerian multiphase approach, and RNG k − ε was used to model the turbulence. The CFD results showed that a strong global vortex plays the main role on the mixing quality of the gas phase in the vessel. Based on the standard deviation criterion, it was observed that the axial distribution of the gas phase in the 30° impeller is about 55% better than the others. In addition, the results showed that the 30° impeller has a uniform radial distribution over the other impellers and the maximum gas phase holdup in the vessel. Investigation of the power consumption of the impellers showed that the 30° impeller has the highest power consumption among the other pitched blade impellers. Also, examine the effect of same power condition for pitched blade impellers showed that the 30° impeller has the best mixing quality in this condition.     

Numerical Simulation of Gas‐Liquid Flow in a Stirred Tank with Swirl Modification

Although the standard k‐? model is most frequently used for turbulence modeling, it often leads to poor results for strongly swirling flows involved in stirred tanks and other processing devices. In this work, a swirling number, R_S, is introduced to modify the standard k‐? model. A Eulerian‐Eulerian model is employed to describe the gas‐liquid, two‐phase flow in a baffled stirred tank with a Rushton impeller. The momentum and the continuity equations are discretized using the finite difference method and solved by the SIMPLE algorithm. The inner‐outer iterative algorithm is used to account for the interaction between the rotating impeller and the static baffles. The predictions, both with and without R_S corrections, are compared with the literature data, which illustrates that the swirling modification could improve the numerical simulation of gas‐liquid turbulent flow in stirred tanks.     

柔性Rushton搅拌桨混合性能的实验研究

提高混合效率是流体搅拌混合领域的重点研究内容之一。几十年来,人们在开发新型搅拌桨及研发流体混合新技术方面做了大量工作。基于刚性Rushton桨,开发了一种柔性叶片Rushton搅拌桨,并以罗丹明6G为荧光剂,采用平面激光诱导荧光法对介质为水时该桨在湍流状态下的混合性能进行了实验测试研究。结果发现,标定实验结果表明,荧光剂强度与浓度呈线性关系,可以此为基准衡量同等实验条件下的宏观混合时间。荧光剂的扩散情况表明,与刚性桨相比,柔性桨具有更好的混合性能,尤其在混合的初始阶段,混合均匀程度及混合速度均有一定的优势。与刚性桨混合时间的对比表明,柔性桨的宏观混合时间较短,有助于提高流体混合效率。研究结果为该桨的工业应用奠定了基础。     

Gas recirculation rate and its influences on mass transfer in multiple impeller systems with various impeller combinations

Both the numerical and experimental approaches were used to study the effects of the gas recirculation and non‐uniform gas loading on the mass transfer rate for each impeller in a multiple impeller system. By combining the calculated gas velocity and local gas holdup, the gas recirculation rate around each impeller was estimated. The local mass transfer coefficients for systems equipped with various combinations of the Rushton turbine impeller (R) and pitched blade impeller (P) were determined by using the dynamic gassing out method. It is found that the Rushton turbine impeller has to be served as the lowest impeller in order to have a better gas dispersion and to give a higher overall K_La for a multiple impeller gas‐liquid contactor. The upper pitched blade impeller always enforces the circulating flow around the Rushton turbine impeller just beneath it and gives a higher overall average mass transfer rate. However, the system equipped with only the pitched blade impellers results in a much lower mass transfer rate than the other systems owing to the poor gas dispersion performance of the pitched blade impeller.     

搅拌生物反应器的循环时间分布和混合结构模型

利用磁粒子流动跟踪法对搅拌生物反应器的循环时间分布进行测定,并将Rushton径向流桨和两种新型轴向流桨在不同介质粘度和转速下的循环时间分布进行比较和性能评价。建立了单桨搅拌生物反应器的混合结构模型,对循环时间分布数据进行拟合,求得模型参数,进而讨论了不同实验条件下模型参数的变化。结果表明,对于非牛顿、高粘度发酵过程,轴向流桨比Rushton桨具有更好的混合特性。     

一种新型搅拌桨多相混合性能研究

提出了一种新构型的搅拌桨一错位桨,并以空气-水-石英砂三相体系为研究对象,与传统的径流桨(Rushton桨)和轴流桨(斜叶桨)在功率消耗、混合时间、气体循环方面进行了比较.结果表明,错位桨相对于传统Rushton桨,功率消耗降低.适应气速范围广,轴向混合能力明显提升;在同等条件下与斜叶浆相比,气体分散能力强,混合时间少.这种新型桨能克服径向流叶轮在轴向混合方面能力的缺陷,有较好的潜在工业应用价值.