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Assessment of Mixing Performance and Power Consumption of a Novel Polymerization Reactor System
By Mark A. Schaffer, E. Keith Marchildon, Kimberley B. McAuley, and Michael F. Cunningham* A melt-phase polymerization reactor with the novel geometry of two helical solid-tube impellers rotating within a tank, consisting of two intersecting cylinders, was designed and constructed. In order to evaluate the performance of the system, mixing times and power consumption were measured using a viscous Newtonian model fluid (glucose syrup) in place of the polymer melt. The mixing regime was laminar in all runs. The mixing time at various impeller speeds was estimated by injection of a tracer dye (crystal violet), followed by fluid sampling and visible spectrophotometric analysis. A dimensionless mixing time of km = 104 36 was obtained. The power draw required to move each impeller through the fluid at various impeller speeds was measured, and a power constant of kp = 1156 70 was obtained. The system appeared to outperform the conventional single helical ribbon impeller in terms of mixing time, but was less energy-efficient, as indicated by the larger power constant. The power constant value lies between values previously reported in the literature for conventional helical impellers and values reported for other types of polymerization reactors with different geometries.

1 Introduction
A lab-scale reactor system was designed and constructed for the purpose of studying the kinetics of polymerization and thermal degradation reactions of condensation polymers in the melt phase. The equipment was designed to hold molten polymer for extended periods of time within a 5 L stainless steel batch stirred tank. The geometry of the tank is two intersecting cylinders, which produces a figure-eight cross section. The melt is stirred by a pair of helical impellers corotating about parallel vertical axes. A twin screw continuously pumps polymer from the bottom of the vessel, through an external recirculation loop and back into the vessel. Avalve in this loop is opened in order to sample the molten polymer for subsequent analysis. This equipment is similar in principle to finisher reactors described in the patent literature [13] that are used industrially as the final stage in continuous processes for the production of condensation polymers such as nylon 66. Unlike conventional helical ribbon impellers, the impellers considered here were constructed from circular steel rods formed into a helix or spiral, and so have a circular cross section. This shape is intended to minimize zones of stagnation on the rear surfaces of the impellers. Other distinctive features of the impellers are that they enter the vessel from the bottom and their relatively high pitch ratio (2:1), which gives a large downward component of fluid motion at the wall and achieves high circulation and mixing in the vessel. Wiping of fluid from the inner wall of the vessel is ensured by the close clearance between the impellers and the wall, which also possibly enhances heat transfer. The two impellers do not wipe each other, although they do approach each other closely. Crossbracing of the impellers is not required because the rod diameter is sufficiently large that the spiral does not deflect
[*] M. A. Schaffer, Prof. K. B. McAuley (author to whom correspondence should be addressed), Prof. M. F. Cunningham, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6; Dr. E. K. Marchildon, DuPont Canada Incorporated Research and Business Development Centre, 461 Front Road, P.O. Box 5000, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 5A5.

excessively due to the force it encounters when moving through the fluid. Advantages of this impeller design are the elimination of points of stagnation, low cost, simplicity and clear space within the spirals for instrumentation and/or heating and cooling coils. Although the equipment described here was designed for experimental studies on polymerization reactions, it could also be employed for low intensity blending of other viscousliquids,in thepresenceorabsence of chemicalreactions. Characterization of the mixing behavior of the system is required so that this can be allowed for in the interpretation of experimental data from planned kinetic studies. It is also desired to verify the absence of stagnation points. Visual inspection of the reactor interior will not be possible during runs with molten polymer in the vessel due to high operating temperatures (in excess of 260 C) and the necessity for a stainless steel lid. Evaluations of the reactor mixing quality and power draw at room temperature were therefore undertaken as part of the commissioning of the system. A highly viscous Newtonian model fluid (glucose syrup) was used to simulate the molten polymer, and a transparent plexiglass lid permitted observation of the reactor interior. Estimates of the mixing time at various impeller speeds were obtained using a dye tracer method, and the effective power transmitted to the fluid was calculated using torque and rotational speed measurements from the drive system. Power measurements from molten-polymer mixing equipment are useful because they can be used to infer the melt viscosity [4]. Viscosity is a very important property in polymerization processes because it can affect diffusion-controlled reaction kinetics and transport phenomena; viscosity is a function of both operating conditions (temperature and pressure) and polymer properties (average molecular weight and chain branching) [5].

2 Theory and Background

Tatterson [6,7] gives a comprehensive review of mixing and power consumption in agitated vessels in the laminar mixing regime. Only a brief review of the definitions and equations
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Full Paper required for this study is given here. The impeller Reynolds number, Re, defined in Eq. (1) characterizes the flow regime in a mixing process1): (1) Low values of Re denote laminar mixing and high values denote turbulent mixing. The transition from the laminar to the turbulent regime varies greatly from process to process, and can occur in the range Re = 1 to 10,000 [6]. Since momentum transfer is relatively poor in laminar mixing, impellers with diameters approaching the tank diameter are required in order to bring motion to the contents of the entire vessel. Single or double helical ribbon and helical screw impellers are therefore considered to be superior to open impellers, such as the Rushton impeller, curved or pitchedblade turbines or propellers in applications involving highly viscous fluids, such as those typically encountered in polymerization reactors [8,9]. Mixing tests involve the addition of a quantity of fluid that differs from the bulk fluid in the tank in some property, such as color, temperature, refractive index, electrical conductivity or acidity. The time required for a specified degree of uniformity (in terms of the property measured) to be reached is called the mixing time, tm. This definition is arbitrary in nature, not only because of the variety of measurement techniques used, but also due to the necessity for selection of a sufficient degree of uniformity to consider the tank well mixed. Various experimental methods for measuring mixing times have been reviewed [1013]. Several studies of mixing of viscous (10 to 80 Pa s) fluids using helical ribbon and/or helical screw impellers have been performed using the dye addition method, where a colored tracer is added to the vessel, and the time required for dispersion of the tracer throughout the vessel is determined visually [1417] or using visible spectrophotometry [12]. Mixing times three to six times shorter than those obtained with analytical methods are typically obtained using the visual method, which has been criticized because of its subjective nature [10]. A more objective analytical method, such as visible spectrophotometry, is therefore preferred. The mixing time can be made dimensionless by multiplying by the impeller rotational speed. (2) The dimensionless mixing time km (also referred to as the homogenization or blending number) may be interpreted as the number of revolutions of the impeller required to achieve the specified degree of uniformity [7]. Lower values of km indicate better mixing performance. The dimensionless mixing time has been found to be independent of impeller rotational speed, fluid viscosity and impeller Reynolds number for helical ribbon and helical screw impellers in the laminar mixing regime [5,6,9,11,17]. Hence, km is normally a
1) List of symbols at the end of the paper. WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH, D-69469 Weinheim, 2001

function only of the vessel and impeller geometry for highly viscous fluids. Power consumption in agitated vessels is often correlated using the impeller power number Np, defined as: (3) In the turbulent mixing regime, the power number is generally a constant for a given impeller and tank geometry. However, for laminar mixing in a fixed geometry, Np is generally not constant, but varies inversely with the impeller Reynolds number so that the product of the power number and the impeller Reynolds number is a constant, designated as kp. (4) Lower values of kp indicate lower power consumption, and hence greater energy efficiency. Tatterson [6] provides several derivations and other motivations for Eqs. (3) and (4). Rearrangement of Eq. (4) and substitution of Eqs. (1) and (3) to yield Eq. (5) shows how the viscosity of the process fluid can be related to power consumption measurements. (5) Several previous studies of circulation, mixing time and/or power consumption in laminar mixing [1220] have involved single or double helical ribbons, helical screws or combinations of helical ribbons and screws all on a single shaft. Power consumption in polymerization reactors in particular has also been studied previously [1821]. Sychev et al. [18] measured the power draw of horizontal reactors with several types of rotor mixer using a model fluid for a polymer melt with viscosities in the range of 100 to 500 Pa s. For the case of a completely filled reactor, which Sychev et al. claim would be analogous to a vertical reactor, kp values in the range of 500 to 1500, depending on the reactor geometry, were obtained. The power consumption of a model section of a horizontal, twoshaft melt-phase polymer reactor with paddle agitators was investigated by Muhlhaus et al. [19] using model fluids with viscosities in the range of 370 to 1400 Pa s. In the completely filled case, they obtained a kp value of 2539 for the range of Reynolds numbers of 0.002 to 0.016. Maruko and Kusumoto [20] studied the power draw of a lattice-type two-shaft agitator in a horizontal polymerization reactor and used a combination of theory and experiments to obtain expressions for the power constant as a function of geometry and degree of filling. Values of kp in the range of 48 to 87 were obtained. Dubois et al. [21] measured the power consumption of a vertical mixer with the complex geometry of two intermeshing double helical ribbons in a dual conical housing. Corn syrup was used as the working fluid. Their experimental kp value of 2029 154 agreed well with virtual finite element numerical model predictions. Mixing times were not measured in any of these four studies, although Dubois et al. evaluated the extent of axial flow in their mixer with buoyant tracer particles. The geometries of
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Full Paper these polymerization reactor systems differ considerably from the one considered here. The present mixing system geometry has not been extensively investigated. The only similar system described in the literature is one considered by Jensen and Talton [22] in a study of the performance of various mixing geometries. Their system consisted of two intermeshing double helical ribbon blades rotating in a vessel made of two intersecting cylinders. Jensen and Talton found intermeshing blades to be more effective mixers than single blades, and recommended vessel configurations employing intersecting cylinders or cones in order to enhance mixing. Although the vessel geometry used by Jensen and Talton is similar to the present system, the impellers differ considerably. Other researchers have used highly viscous model fluids, such as corn syrup, in place of polymer melts for the purpose of flow visualization in processing equipment [2,1826]. Glucose syrup has been used in studies of other types of mixers [13,23]. The viscosity measurements of Shackleton and Green [27] support the claim that glucose syrup behaves as a Newtonian fluid. diameter and rise height of the impeller helix are 114 mm and 191 mm, respectively. The clearance between the impellers and the vessel wall is approximately 1.3 mm. Both shafts turn counterclockwise when viewed from above, so that the helical impellers push material down at the wall, and the extruder screws pump material downwards and through the recirculation channel (F). The interior of the vessel is in the shape of two intersecting cylinders, each of diameter 117 mm, with a center-to-center distance of 37 mm. The extruder section (B) is composed of two intermeshing trilobal screws, each 40 mm in diameter and 120 mm in length, that co-rotate in a barrel of the same length. The gearbox (C) gives a 34:1 speed reduction. The electric drive (D) is a 3.7 kW Allen-Bradley 1336 Impact AC variable-speed drive system that can operate using either speed or torque control. In these experiments, the former mode was used, where a rotational speed setpoint is maintained. Analog signals (0 to 5 volts) corresponding to the drive torque and rotational speed were converted to digital signals by a data acquisition system (National Instruments Fieldpoint) interfaced with a personal computer (National Instruments Labview software) to log the data. The sample valve (E) is a threaded shaft that, when opened, permits material to exit from the sampling port rather than being pumped upwards through the recirculation channel. The recirculation channel is 13 mm in diameter. The reactor lid (G) is constructed from plexiglass to permit visual observation of the vessel contents while keeping the operator safely isolated from rotating parts.

3 Materials
Glucose syrup was obtained from Van Waters and Rogers Limited (Toronto, Ontario) and used as received. The syrup is water-soluble and its viscosity, l, measured by a falling-ball technique, is 232 4 Pa s. The closeness of the viscosity and density values in Tab. 1 indicate that glucose syrup should be a satisfactory low-temperature model liquid for molten nylon 66, which is one of the condensation polymers to be used in the reactor in planned kinetic studies.
Table 1. Comparison of properties of fluids. Fluid nylon 66 melt at 280 C [28] glucose syrup at 23 C l [Pa s] 191 232 r [kg m3] 960 1390

Crystal violet dye (CV), also known as basic violet 3, gentian violet or hexamethylpararosaniline chloride, was obtained in powdered form as a 95 wt.-% solid from Sigma-Aldrich Canada Limited and used as received. The molecular formula of CV is C25H30N3Cl, and the molecular weight is 408 g mol1. Crystal violet is soluble in water up to a concentration of 4 g L 1 , and aqueous solutions absorb visible light most strongly at 590 to 593 nm [29,30].

4 Experimental Apparatus
A general schematic of the experimental apparatus and a photograph of the interior of the reactor vessel are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively. Fig. 3 shows a dimensional drawing of one of the two identical helical impellers (A). The crosssectional diameter of each impeller is 19 mm and the outer
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Figure 1. Experimental apparatus. Dimensions shown are in mm (not to scale). A helical impellers, B extruder section, C gearbox, D electric drive, E sampling valve, F recirculation channel, G transparent vessel lid, L distance from reactor top to liquid level. 0930-7516/01/0404-0403 $ 17.50+.50/0

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5 Experimental Procedures
5.1 Visible Spectrophotometry All absorbance measurements were taken at a wavelength of 593 nm on a Varian Carey 100 UV-visible spectrophotometer using deionized water as the blank. The cuvets used were rectangular, teflon-stoppered quartz cells with a path length of 10 mm. The spectrophotometer was re-zeroed with deionized water in both cells after every reading.

5.2 Preparation of Calibration Curve A solution containing 20 ml of deionized water per gram of glucose syrup was prepared. This solution, hereafter referred to as aqueous glucose solution, was used for preparation of standard CV solutions. Eight standards with concentrations of 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10 mg CV per L of aqueous glucose solution were prepared. The absorbances of three aliquots of each standard were measured. The entire procedure, including the preparation of the standards, was performed twice, giving a set of six absorbance values corresponding to each concentration value. The averages and standard deviations of each set of six absorbance measurements were calculated and were used to calculate 95 % confidence intervals for the true average absorbance at each concentration. The resulting calibration curve, a plot of absorbance versus CV concentration, is shown in Fig. 4. The plot appears quite linear, and hence the standards can be said to obey the Beer-LambertBouger law reasonably well. The uncertainty in absorbance measurements increases with concentration as indicated in Fig. 4. This is a common result in visible spectrophotometry, and likely occurs because the lower intensity of light transmitted through highly absorbing samples is more difficult to measure precisely. The absorbance range giving minimum variation for most modern instruments is A= 0.1 to 1.2 [31]. Based on these results, a working range of 0 to 5 mg L1 (and hence A = 0 to 1) was adopted for the later analyses of reactor samples. Linear regression was performed using the average absorbance values for each concentration, and forcing the intercept to be zero. The resulting regression equation is: A = 0.2033c (6)

Figure 2. Photograph of reactor vessel interior viewed from the top, showing figure-eight cross section and helical solid tube impellers (reactor is empty).

Figure 3. Dimensional drawing of one of the two identical helical solid tube impellers. Dimensions shown are in mm (not to scale).

Eq. (6) is shown as the straight line in Fig. 4. The coefficient of determination, R2 = 0.9994, indicates a high degree of correlation between the observed absorbance values and those predicted from Eq. (6). The coefficient in Eq. (6) gives a molar absorption coefficient value of e = 8.29 104 L mol1cm1, which is typical of a species to be analyzed using visible spectrophotometry [31]. The complete visible spectra of several of the standards were also collected. In all cases, the wavelength of maximum absorption was 593 nm, as expected.
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Full Paper level was 130 mm. The impeller Reynolds number was varied in the range of 0.01 to 0.044 by varying the impeller speed N from 0.1 to 0.6 s1. Varying the viscosity of the fluid can also be used as a means of varying Re, but this was not done in this study. Torque and rotational speed measurements were acquired at a rate of one data point per second for approximately four minutes for each setting of the rotational speed. The average torque and the average rotational speed over this time period were then calculated. In a second set of experiments, torque and rotational speed measurements were acquired in the same manner and at the same rotational speeds as in the first experiments, but only enough glucose to fill the extruder section and the recirculation channel was placed in the reactor. This was done so that the power draw with the reactor empty could be subtracted from the power draw with the reactor full, in order to determine the power actually delivered by the impeller blades to the fluid. Since the extruder section also consumes some power, it was ensured that it was filled in both sets of experiments so that this contribution to the power draw could be subtracted.

Figure 4. Calibration curve for absorbance at 593 nm of crystal violet dye in aqueous glucose solutions. Error bars show 95 % confidence intervals for the true average absorbance of each standard. The straight line is Eq. (6).

5.3 Mixing Experiments A 3 g L1 solution of crystal violet in the aqueous glucose solution was prepared. Four mixing experiment runs were performed, each at a different impeller rotational speed. For each run, the drive was started and allowed to come to the setpoint speed. One sample of the glucose in the reactor was taken before dye injection in each run. Approximately 20 ml of the 3 g L1 CV in aqueous glucose solution was then injected using a syringe into the middle of the reactor, at the surface of the liquid. The time for injection was less than two seconds. Six more samples were then taken at various times after the injection by opening the sample valve and collecting the extrudate in a 200 ml Erlenmeyer flask. When a sample was not being taken, the sample valve was closed and the material allowed to recirculate. The mass of each sample was measured, and each sample was dissolved with thorough stirring in 20 ml of deionized water per gram of sample. The masses of the samples varied, but were usually near 10 g. The absorbances at 593 nm of three aliquots of each diluted sample were then measured using the spectrophotometer, and the absorbance values were averaged. Concentration values in mg L1 were then obtained by substitution of each average absorbance value into Eq. (6). Since the same fluid was used for all four mixing experiment runs, the tank contents became progressively darker in color as more dye was injected in each run.

6 Results and Discussion

6.1 Visual Observations Since the fluid in the tank became more colored with each successive mixing run, visual observations were most easily made in the first run where the fluid was initially uncolored. No dead zones (uncolored or less-colored regions) were observed after injection of the dye, although only the top surface of the fluid was clearly visible. Strong axial pumping and a high degree of surface renewal were apparent from the rapid turnover rate at the surface and the observation of zones where the fluid was moving upwards and downwards from the surface.

6.2 Mixing Times CV concentration data were obtained as a function of time for four runs at different impeller rotational speeds, but in order to calculate mixing times, a degree of uniformity after which the vessel can be considered well mixed must be specified. In a recent study, Hayes et al. [12] investigated mixing in a vessel using a single helical ribbon impeller with CV as tracer dye in solutions of poly(ethylene glycol) in water. Rather than sampling the liquid, they used a spectrophotometric probe to continuously monitor concentration changes. This approach was not feasible for our study because our more viscous model fluid was not transparent, and so sampling of the glucose syrup, dissolution in water and subsequent analysis were necessary. The concentration-time response traces of Hayes et al. show oscillations that decay in amplitude to a steady-state value. We expect that much more
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5.4 Power Draw Experiments In one set of experiments, the reactor was filled with glucose syrup so that the distance, L, from the vessel top to the fluid
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Full Paper frequent sampling might have produced similar data in our study, had the collection of more data points been possible. Hayes et al. defined the mixing time as the time at which the concentration of CV remained within 5% of the final value. Ryan et al. [23] used a similar criterion, as did Delaplace et al. [13], although the latter authors used measurements of conductivity and temperature, rather than of concentration. We chose a similar criterion to that used by Hayes et al. and calculated (c cinitial)/(cfinal cinitial) 100 % for each concentration value, c, within a run. This quantity is the change in CV concentration from the initial (start of run) value to the present concentration value, expressed as a percentage of the final (end of run) change in CV concentration. The mixing time is then taken as the time corresponding to the first data point that lies within the interval 95 % to 105 % that also has all subsequent data points falling within this interval. This approach was adopted because the same glucose syrup was used for all four runs in this study, and therefore cinitial was not always zero, but increased as more runs were carried out. In this way, all of the concentration data are easily presented in a single plot of relative concentration change versus time, shown in Fig. 5. significantly greater than 104, indicating that the mixing system considered here outperforms the single helical ribbon impeller in terms of mixing times.
Table 2. Mixing time data for reactor system. N [s1] 0.122 0.245 0.491 0.613 tm [s] 747 404 282 145 km [] 91 99 138 89

6.3 Power Consumption The power of a rotating shaft is the product of its angular velocity and torque. Power losses in the gearbox were assumed to be negligible, and the observed power draw was assumed to be divided equally between the two impellers. Dubois et al. also made the second assumption in their investigation of a two-shaft mixer [21]. The power transferred from one impeller to the fluid was calculated using Eq. (7), which is the difference between the power draws for one impeller with fluid in the reactor and with the reactor empty. (7) The torques Tf and Te are measured by the drive at a point before the gearbox, and hence the rotational speed used in Eq. (7) is that of the drive shaft, which rotates 34 times faster than the impellers due to the speed reduction ratio of the gearbox. This approach to estimating the power actually delivered to the fluid by the impellers is recommended by Tatterson [7] and a similar approach was also used by Dubois et al. [21]. The Reynolds number and the power number at each value of the rotational speed were calculated using Eqs. (1) and (3) respectively, and Np was plotted versus Re on a log-log plot, shown in Fig. 6. If Eq. (4) is valid and the product of Np and Re

Figure 5. Relative concentration change versus time for glucose syrup in reactor at various impeller rotational speeds.

The mixing time results at each impeller rotational speed and the corresponding dimensionless mixing times calculated using Eq. (2) are shown in Tab. 2. The dimensionless mixing time value obtained by averaging these data and calculating a 95 % confidence interval for the true mean is km = 104 36. This result is near the center of the range of previously reported [6,7,13] km values for single and double helical ribbon impellers of 25 to 150, which suggests that the mixing performance of this system is comparable to that of more traditional impellers. Delaplace et al. [13] emphasized the difficulty in making precise comparisons between dimensionless mixing time values obtained using different measurement methods and criteria of homogeneity. Of the previous studies reported, the experimental techniques and criteria used by Hayes et al. [12] are most similar to those used here. Hayes et al. obtained km values in the range of 150 to 170, which are 406
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Figure 6. Power number versus Reynolds number for mixing system. The straight line is the equation kp = 1156. Chem. Eng. Technol. 24 (2001) 4

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Full Paper is a constant, then a log-log plot of Np vs. Re should have a slope of 1. Linear regression of the data in Fig. 6 gives a slope of 1.2, which is fairly good agreement. Examination of Fig. 6 reveals that at higher values of Re, the power number is smaller than would be predicted by Eq. (4). One possible explanation is that at higher rotational speeds, viscous dissipation of heat causes the temperature of the glucose syrup to increase and the viscosity to decrease, so that the apparent Reynolds number is not correct and a lower power draw corresponding to the (actual) higher value of Re is observed. Unfortunately, the reactor system was not equipped with a cooling system to prevent this. With these considerations in mind, linear regression was again performed using all of the data in Fig. 6 except the three points corresponding to the highest Re values. The new slope was 1.1, which shows better agreement with Eq. (4). The power constant value, kp = 1156 70, was calculated by averaging all the values of the products of Np and Re (disregarding the three values at the highest Reynolds numbers), and calculating a 95 % confidence interval for the true mean value. The line corresponding to kp = 1156 is shown in Fig. 6. Tatterson [6,7] states that kp values for laminar mixers may vary from 20 to 4000, with 300 being an average value and much larger values being typical of large mixers, such as those used in the rubber industry. The value obtained in this study is considerably larger than values typically obtained for traditional helical ribbon or helical screw type impellers, which are in the range of 200 to 500 [6,7,1316]. The result obtained here lies between those for helical ribbon or helical screw impellers and those for the twin intermeshing conical helical mixer [21] and horizontal polymerization reactors of various geometries [18,19], suggesting that the power constant value obtained is a reasonable one. rotational speed N; the power consumption increases with the second power of N, whereas the mixing time tm decreases only as the first power of N. These results will be useful in later work on the kinetics of melt-phase reactions because they define the time after which the reactor can be considered well mixed, and they show that the viscosity of the melt can be estimated using power consumption measurements.

Acknowledgements
Financial support for this work was provided by DuPont Canada Inc. and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The invaluable contributions of Vic Matthews, John Kendall and Jeff Montgomery of DuPont Canada to the design and construction of the reactor system are gratefully acknowledged. Donation of glucose syrup by Van Waters and Rogers Limited is greatly appreciated.
Received: September 13, 2000 [CET 1295]

Symbols used
A c D km kp L N Np P Re T tm [] [mg L1] [m] [] [] [mm] [s1] [] [W] [] [N m] [s] absorbance at 593 nm of CV in aqueous glucose solution concentration of CV in aqueous glucose solution impeller diameter (outer diameter of helix) dimensionless mixing time, Ntm power constant, NpRe distance from top of reactor vessel to glucose fluid level impeller rotational speed impeller power number, P/D5N3r power draw for one impeller impeller Reynolds number, D2Nr/l torque mixing time

7 Conclusions
Evaluation of the mixing performance of a novel viscous liquid mixing system was performed using a Newtonian model fluid for a polymer melt, and a tracer dye method. Sampling of the vessel contents and visible spectrophotometric analysis gave a dimensionless mixing time of km = 104 36. The mixing performance of the system is at least comparable to that of other helical impeller systems, and appears to be superior to the single helical ribbon impeller used by Hayes et al. [12]. The power consumption was measured at various impeller Reynolds numbers by varying the impeller rotational speed. A power constant value of kp = 1156 70 was obtained. This value indicates that the power consumption characteristics of this mixing system are intermediate between those of traditional helical impellers and larger mixers used in polymerization reactors. Since low power consumption is not as important as rapid mixing in this lab-scale equipment, the tradeoff of achieving a relatively low value of km by tolerating a relatively high value of kp is desirable in this application. More rapid mixing can be achieved, at a cost, by increasing the impeller
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Greek symbols e l r [L mol1cm1] molar absorption coefficient at 593 nm of CV in aqueous glucose solution [Pa s] fluid viscosity [kg m3] fluid density

Subscripts e f m p with reactor empty, except for extruder section and recirculating channel with fluid in reactor mixing power
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