Experimental Characterisation and Modelling of Homogeneous Solid Suspension in an Industrial Stirred Tank

Abstract

In this work, we study the conditions needed to reach homogeneous distribution of aluminium salts particles in water inside a torispherical bottom shaped stirred tank of 70 L equipped with a Pfaudler RCI type impeller and three equispaced vertical baffles. The aim of the present study is to develop a CFD model describing the quality of particle distribution in industrial scale tanks. This model, validated with experimental data, is used afterwards to develop scale-up and scale-down correlations to predict the minimum impeller speed needed to reach homogeneous solid distribution Nhs. The commercial CFD software Fluent 14 is used to model the fluid flow and the solid particle distribution in the tank. Sliding Mesh approach is used to take the impeller motion into account. Assuming that the discrete solid phase has no influence on the continuous liquid phase behaviour, the fluid flow dynamics is simulated independently using the well-known k-∊ turbulence model. The liquid-solid mixture behaviour is then described by implementing the Eulerian Mixture model. Computed liquid velocity fields are validated by comparison with PIV measurements. Computed Nhs were found to be in good agreement with experimental measurements. Results from different scales allowed correlating Nhs values to the volumetric power consumption.