Agitator Design and Selection Guide

Agitator Design and
Selection
Standard Engineers
vineet.shroff@gmail.com
Food for Thought
You wanted to STIR THINGS UP But, your MIXING

gave only AGITATION.
Theres many a slip between the Plant and the Lab.
The Mixing arena is the Boxing ring where Chemist
and Chemical Engineer fight
In the work done for synthesising a Chemical
molecule, what % is the mass transfer, reaction and
mixing and what % is separation
Mixing can be demystified
Lecture Flow
Single
duty Agitator
Multi duty Agitator
Films showing some Interesting Mixing
systems
Two Types
Single
Multi
Duty Agitator
Duty Agitator
Agitator Selection & Design

Process
Impeller Type
Impeller Diameter
Impeller Speed
Mechanical
Power
Shaft
Process Imp. Type Selection

OOWW
L
FFL
L
IAIAL
X
AAX
OOWW
L
FFL
L
IAIAL
D
RRAAD
Flow (Axial)
Hydrofoil
Axial Flow Turbine
Helical
Propeller
Shear (Radial)
Cowles
Rushton Turbine
Stator Rotor
Parabolic Disc Turbine
Suspension
Homogenisation
Heat Transfer
Dispersion
Physical Duty
Liq-Liq & Liq-Sol Reaction

Dissolution
Process Duty
Blending
Liq-Liq & Liq-Gas-Sol Reaction

Emulsification
Dispersion
Axial Flow Hydrofoils

High Discharge Hydrofoil
High Suction Hydrofoil
High Pitch Hydrofoil
High Solidity Hydrofoil

High Shear Impellers

High Shear Cowles
High Shear Stator-Rotor
Gas Induction Disperser
Parabolic Disc Turbine
Impellers with combined Flow

and Shear
UDIF or InterMig
Multi Stage
Large D/T
Flow and Shear
Process Imp. Diameter

D/T
Single
Impeller v/s Multi Impeller

Bottom Clearance
Impeller Spacing
Baffling
Process Imp. Speed

Tip
Speed = .r = 2..N.r = .N.D

High for Processes needing high Shear
Low for Processes need low Shear
Small diameter = Higher speed
Larger diameter = Lower speed
Agitator Design - Power

Power
= .K.N3.D5
Low Power = Lower Cost ???
High Power = Higher Energy dissipated
Speed variation with constant Power
VFD and Power Issues
Agitator Design - Mechanical

Motor
Gearbox
Seal
Shaft
Impeller
Multi-duty mixer or Universal Mixer
Any
Mixing Task requiring Flow or Shear

Any Unit Process or Any Unit Operation
From violent Dispersions to gentle
Crystallisation
All in same Reactor

When is it Needed?
Change
in Product Specifications
New R&D Results
Change of Product
New Regulations
There
are many unknowns in

modern day operations
Need 1
Change in Prod. Specs

Customers (Internal as well as External) are a Demanding Lot
Change in Particle Size (Increase / Decrease)

Different PSD
Higher Purity (bigger crystals with less ML)
Different Physical characteristics (colour, shape,
solution, emulsion, dispersion)
Additional step from downstream Processing
Different output Temperature
n
w
o
n
Many others
Unk
Need 2
New R&D
Competiton, Cost Reduction and New Technologies
(ionic solvents, super acids, Green Chemistries,
surfactants, nanotechnologies) throw radical
possibilities of Process Intensification for
Higher
Yield / Conversion
Reduced by-Product formation
Reduced Utility consumption
Reduced batch cycle times
now
k
n
U
Need 3
Change of Product
Campaign based Production cycles demand
flexibility in capabilities
New Product
Different Process
Different operating conditions
w
nkno
New Product Developed in the Lab or Pilot Plant

needs to be Produced on plant scale
Unexpected scale-up considerations

Process modifications based on IP / quality
Need 4
New Regulations
Banned raw materials, stringent disposal norms
can impose variabilities
Recipe
Change
Change in operating conditions
Change in Process
n
w
o
n
n k wn
U nkno
U
Process Capabilities
What must it Have?
WHAT
Range of Sp. Gr.
Large solids loading
Range of Viscosities
Range of Duties from
gentle crytallisation to
violent Gas Dispersion
Th.dynmcs 1 Temp.
Th.dynmcs 2 Press.
Th.dynmcs 3 pH
HOW
Surplus motor Power
Large Pumping
Large D/T, multistage
Significant Variation in
Speed with reserve
power
Good Reynolds No.
Mech. Sealing
Exotic MOC
Mech. Capabilities
What must it Have?

Robust
design of Shaft and Impellers to

deliver brute force if required
Natural Frequencies of Lateral Vibrations to
be substantially distanced from operating
speed ranges
Quick Change to be possible to handle new
conditions with minimum turn-around time
Derivation
Mixing
energy goes into Flow and Shear
Flow is Measured as Pumping (KpND3)

Good metric for Shear is Tip Speed (ND)
Universal
Mixer therefore has to

Increase or Decrease
Flow or Shear on demand
Derivation
Flow
Proportional to D3
Reynolds No. & so Heat Transfer prop to D2
Bulk motion in viscous fluids needs large D
Large D/T obviously a must for Universality
Good
homogenity in mixing
Multi impeller system advantageous

Axial flow required to prevent air curtain effects
Conventional Impellers D/T

Limit
Annulus
Up Flow
Hydrofoils and Axial Flow

turbines have a D/T Limit
At 0.7 D/T, The c/s area
of the impeller cylinder
equals the c/s area of
the Annulus
Any further increase is
counter productive
Flow is throttled leading
to back mixing and
inconsistencies
Impeller zone
Down Flow
Ideal Impeller System
D/T > 0.7

Achieved by up and down flow
on same impeller
Multiple staggered impeller
arrangement behaves as a
pseudo helix
Can be customised for
operation without baffles
The up-down throw can be
configured for different
conditions of shear and flow
Proven for Crystallisation, Gas
Dispersion as well as pretty
high viscosity blending
UDIF - Other Advantages
Large D/T = High Wall velocities = min.build-up at

vessel walls
Good for Sticky materials

Good for Crystallisation
In Gas Dispersion, further optimisation with bottom

impeller pumping up the catalyst, while top impeller
sucks and pumps down unreacted gas
2 bladed so easy to insert thru manhole w/o bolting
or split construction an allow location anywhere
along shaft
Extended Universality
If the mechanical design of

the Universal mixer is made
robust, then the same shaft
can be FITTED with
different impellers with
different speeds for
performance at both
extremes of Flow and Shear
Helical can mix viscosities
upto 100,000 cP
Parabolic or gas Induction
can do gas dispersion
Paradigm Shift
We had limited ourselves to single shaft mixers.

What about dual shaft, Co-axial systems?
Why not place the responsibility of Flow and Shear on
2 different impellers that are ideal for their respective
duties
One Impeller provides Flow, the Other Shear
Both are on different drives so that speeds and hence
magnitudes of Flow and Shear can be controlled at will
Impellers on the outer zone can be closed type Helical while inner can be hydrofoil or Cowles
operating at speeds as high as 3000RPM
Mechanical challenge, but a process marvel
Myths to be Shattered
Lower
Motor Power means lower operating
cost
Hydrofoils can do everything
D/T to be around 1/3 to 0.4
Mixer should be low capital cost.
No option to GLR
50Hz barrier
Chemist and Chemical Engineer
Conclusion
Decide
Single duty or Multi duty

If Single duty - Decide Duty driver is Flow or
Shear
Select impellers accordingly
If Multi duty, large D/T, multi impeller, variable
speed.
Ensure minimum hot spots (pH, temp.,
concentration)
Batch Crystalliser Mixer
Flow or Shear? Obviously Flow for larger crystals,

Shear for smaller
Impeller Type. Anchor is the worst
Temperature gradient
Conc. Gradient
Grinding at bottom
Impeller Diameter.
Impeller speed
Multi Impeller
Mechanical VFD.
In the end
Some
Films
Video 1: Co-rotating Co-Axial Dispertron
Thank
You
Start Again

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Agitator Design and

Food for Thought

You wanted to STIR THINGS UP But, your MIXING

Agitator Selection & Design

Process Imp. Type Selection

Liq-Liq & Liq-Sol Reaction

Liq-Liq & Liq-Gas-Sol Reaction

Axial Flow Hydrofoils

High Suction Hydrofoil

High Pitch Hydrofoil

High Solidity Hydrofoil

High Shear Impellers

High Shear Stator-Rotor

Gas Induction Disperser

Parabolic Disc Turbine

Impellers with combined Flow

Process Imp. Diameter

Impeller v/s Multi Impeller

Process Imp. Speed

Speed = .r = 2..N.r = .N.D

Agitator Design - Power

Agitator Design - Mechanical

Multi-duty mixer or Universal Mixer

Mixing Task requiring Flow or Shear

All in same Reactor

are many unknowns in

Change in Prod. Specs

Change in Particle Size (Increase / Decrease)

New Product Developed in the Lab or Pilot Plant

Unexpected scale-up considerations

What must it Have?

What must it Have?

design of Shaft and Impellers to

energy goes into Flow and Shear

Flow is Measured as Pumping (KpND3)

Mixer therefore has to

Multi impeller system advantageous

Conventional Impellers D/T

Hydrofoils and Axial Flow

Ideal Impeller System

D/T > 0.7

UDIF - Other Advantages

Large D/T = High Wall velocities = min.build-up at

Good for Sticky materials

In Gas Dispersion, further optimisation with bottom

If the mechanical design of

We had limited ourselves to single shaft mixers.

Motor Power means lower operating

Single duty or Multi duty

Batch Crystalliser Mixer

Flow or Shear? Obviously Flow for larger crystals,

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