Unit Operations Chapter 9.

Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Agitation (교반): the induced motion of a material in a circulatory pattern
Mixing (혼합): the random distribution of two or more separate phases

Æ 원래 정의는 다르지만 많은 경우 혼용해서 사용

Purposes of agitation:
Suspending solid particles (suspension)
Blending miscible liquids (alcohol & water)
Dispersing a gas through the liquid (bubble)
Dispersing immiscible liquids (emulsion)
Promoting heat transfer

Agitated Vessels
: cylindrical form, vertical axis, closed or open top
round bottom, equal liquid depth & tank diameter Typical agitation process vessel
Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

* Impellers

Axial-flow impellers (축류 임펠러)

Radial-flow impellers (방사류 임펠러)

Impellers for low- to moderate- viscosity liquids:

propellers, turbines & high efficiency impellers
Impellers for very viscous liquids:
helical impellers & anchor agitators

three-blade straight-blade disk turbine

propeller turbine

double-flight anchor impeller

concave-blade pitched-blade helical-ribbon
disk turbine turbine impeller
Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Standard turbine design

H : depth of liquid
Dt : tank diameter
Da : impeller diameter
L : blade length
W : impeller width
J : width of baffle
E : clearance

Typical proportions:

Da 1 H J 1 E 1 W 1 L 1
= =1 = = = =
Dt 3 Dt Dt 12 Dt 3 Da 5 Da 4

& No. of baffles: 4, No. of impeller blades: 6 or 8

Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Swirling flow pattern Prevention of swirling

off-centered impeller
side-mounted impeller
baffles

Draft tubes

Controls direction and velocity

of flow
Useful when high shear is desired
such as emulsions and suspensions
turbine propeller
Draft tubes, baffled tank
Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

* Circulation rates

Large impellers at medium speed Æ promotes flow

Smaller impellers at high speed Æ generates intense turbulence

Flow number, NQ

Volumetric flow rate through the impeller

q = V ' r 2 Ap

Eq. (9.5) area of the cylinder

∝ π Da n swept by impeller tip
= π DaW

V’2: total liquid velocity ∝ Da

V’u2: tangential velocity
⇒ q ∝ n Da 3 --- Eq. (9.7)
V’r2: radial velocity
u2: blade tip velocity rotational speed
Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

The rate of these two quantities Æ Flow number, NQ

q
NQ ≡ --- Eq. (9.8)
n Da 3

For a disk turbine: NQ=1.3

For marine propellers: NQ=0.5
For a four-blade 45o turbine: NQ=0.87

* Velocity patterns

Velocity profile and patterns in turbine agitator

Numbers indicate fractions of the velocity of the blade tip.

Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Tank Reynolds number, Re:

n Da 2 ρ Da u2 ρ Da (nDa ) ρ
Re = Re = =
µ µ µ

u2 ∝ π Da n u2: blade tip velocity

At Re < 10, laminar flow
At Re > 104, turbulent flow

* Power consumption
Power P: product of the flow rate q and the kinetic energy per unit volume Ek
ρ (V'2 ) 2
q = nDa N Q 3
Ek =
2
V '2 = α u2 = α π n Da

ρ (α π n Da ) 2
P = n Da N Q 3
2
⎛α
5⎜ π
2 2 ⎞
= ρ n Da ⎜
3
N Q ⎟⎟
⎝ 2 ⎠
Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

이를 무차원 형태(dimensionless form)로 고쳐 표현하면,

P α 2π 2
= NQ --- Eq. (9.11)
n Da ρ
3 5 2

윗 식에서 좌변 항을 Power number (동력수)로 정의함.

Power number, NP:

P
NP ≡ --- Eq. (9.12a)
n Da ρ
3 5

: ratio of drag force to momentum flow

NP is analogous to f or CD

즉, NP가 크면 동력소비가 큼.

Fig. 9.13 Plots of power number NP vs. Reynolds number Re for baffled tanks
Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Fig. 9.14 Plots of power number NP vs. Reynolds number Re for propellers and helical ribbons
Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Effect of system geometry

Da NP ↑ when baffles are few & narrow

· ↓
Dt NP ↓ when “ many & wide

E NP ↑ for a disk turbine

· ↑
Dt NP ↓ for a pitched-blade turbine

· Two turbines on the same shaft

1.9 times power of one turbine when the spacing is longer than Da
2.4 times “ “ for closely spaced turbines

· The shape of tank: little effect on NP

Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Calculation of power consumption

The power delivered to the liquid,

P = N P n3 Da 5 ρ --- Eq. (9.18) Å from Eq. (9.12a)

P
At low Re (Re < 10), NP ≡
n3 Da 5 ρ
KL
NP = for both baffled & unbaffled tanks
Re

∴ P = K L n 2 Da 3 µ --- Eq. (9.20) . 상수 KL & KT: Table 9.2

(또는 Figs. 9.13-14에서
ρ is not a factor NP 값으로 제공)

At high Re (Re > 10,000),

N P ≠ ftn (Re) for baffled tanks

= KT

∴ P = KT n3 Da 5 ρ --- Eq. (9.22)

µ is not a factor
Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Ex. 9.1) A disk turbine with 6 blades in a baffled tank 2 m in diameter

Turbine diameter of 0.67 m positioned 0.67 m above the tank bottom
Turbine blade width of 134 mm, A depth of 2 m with 50% NaOH solution
Viscosity of 12 cP, Density of 1,500 kg/m3, Impeller speed of 90 rpm
What power will be required?
90 rpm
Ans.)

n Da 2 ρ 1.5 (0.67) 2 1500 12 cP

Re = = ≈ 84,169 2m
µ 0.012 1,500 kg/m3

Re >10,000 이므로 NP=KT 사용

W=134 mm
Table 9.2에서 KT=5.75
Eq. (9.22)에서 계산하면,
2m 0.67 m
P = KT n Da ρ = 5.75 × 1.5 × 0.67 × 1,500
3 5 3 5

= 3,930 W
µ is not a factor
Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Ex. 9.2) A disk turbine with 6 blades in a baffled tank 2 m in diameter

Turbine diameter of 0.67 m positioned 0.67 m above the tank bottom
Turbine blade width of 134 mm, A depth of 2 m with a rubber-latex compound
Viscosity of 120 Pa·s, Density of 1,120 kg/m3, Impeller speed of 90 rpm
What power will be required?
90 rpm
Ans.)

n Da 2 ρ 1.5 (0.67) 2 1120 120 Pa·s

Re = = ≈ 6.3 2m
µ 120 1,120 kg/m3

Re <10 이므로 NP=KL/Re 사용

W=134 mm
Table 9.2에서 KL=65
Eq. (9.20)에서 계산하면,
2m 0.67 m
P = K L n Da µ = 65 × 1.5 × 0.67 × 120
2 3 2 3

= 5,278 W
ρ is not a factor
Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Blending and Mixing

Mixing time (혼합시간) tT : the time to reach complete mixing (99% mixing)
achieved if the contents of the tank are circulated about 5 times
5V
tT ≈
qT

n tT vs. Re

(Reynolds 수에 따른 혼합시간)
V : liquid volume in tank
qT : total liquid flow rate
n : rotational speed (r/s)

ex) For turbine in a baffled tank

with Da/Dt=1/3, Dt/DH=1
Æ ntT=36 for Re > 2,000 Fig. 9.16. Mixing times in agitated vessels.
Dashed lines for unbaffled tanks; Solid lines for baffled tanks.
Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Mixing time factor (혼합시간 인자) f t

A general correlation for turbines:

2 1/ 6
⎛ Da ⎞ ⎛ Dt ⎞1 / 2 ⎛ g ⎞
f t = nt T ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ 2 ⎟
⎜ ⎟
⎝ t ⎠ ⎝ H ⎠ ⎝ n Da ⎠
D

A helical ribbon agitator:

shorter mixing times with very viscous liquids
In a pseudoplastic liquid: blending time is much longer than in Newtonian liquids.

Ex. 9.3) Dt = 6 ft (1.83 m), 6-straight blade turbine, Da = 2 ft (0.61 m), E = Da, n = 80 rpm, H = Dt
For neutralizing a NaOH solution with HNO3 solution at 70 oF, tT = ?
Ans.) From Appendix 6 Æ ρ = 62.30 lb/ft = 62.30 (0.453kg/lb) (ft/0.305m) = 997 kg/m
3 3 3

µ = 0.982cP = 9.82 × 10 − 4 Pa ⋅ s
nDa 2 ρ
∴ Re = = 503,000
µ

From Fig. 9.16 for Re = 503,000, ntT = 36 Æ tT = 36/1.333 = 27s

Unit Operations Chapter 9. Agitation and Mixing of Liquids

Dispersion Operations

Volume (or holdup) of dispersed phase Ψ

π N D p3
Ψ= N : the number of drops or bubbles per total volume
6
Total surface area of drops per total volume a
6Ψ (실제로는 입자의 크기가 다르므로
a = π N Dp2 Dp = 평균입자경으로 정의)
a
6Ψ
Sauter mean diameter Ds (or volume-surface mean diameter D32) Ds ≡
a

* Liquid/liquid dispersion density of continuous phase

ρ c (n Da ) 2 ρ c n 2 Da 3
Weber number We We = = : kinetic energy/surface energy
σ / Da σ

− 0.6
interfacial tension
Ds / Da ∝ We We ↑ → Ds ↓

Related problems: (Probs.) 9.1, 9.3, 9.5, 9.11(a) and 9.18