Improving the Homogenization of the Liquid-Solid Mixture Using a Tandem of Impellers in a Baffled Industrial Reactor

Abstract

The paper explores a tandem configuration of three-blade impellers in a stirred reactor. The working fluid is a liquid-solid mixture and the stirring mechanism fitted with the two impellers must prevent the sedimentation of solid particles while homogenously dispersing them in the bulk liquid. The present numerical investigation, performed with the expert software Ansys® Fluent, Release 16, employs the Eulerian multiphase model along with the RNG k–ε turbulence model to simulate the free-surface liquid–solid flows in the baffled stirred reactor. A sliding mesh approach is used to model the impellers rotation. The tandem configuration is clearly superior to a single impeller, while the existing electrical motor that drives the stirring mechanism still provides the necessary power.