Computational Fluid Dynamics Studies in Complex

Flow Fields of Solvent Extractors

Guide

Dr. U. Kamachi Mudali,

Head Reprocessing Research and Development Division
Reprocessing group
IGCAR kalpakkam
Technology Adviser

Sri Shekhar Kumar

Head Process Development and Equipment Section
RRDD / Reprocessign Group
IGCAR-kalpakkam
by
Abhishek Singh
Enrolment No : ENGG202201001033
SO/C PDES ,RRDD, RPG

Solvent extraction
Liquidliquid extraction is a unit operation

which involves mass transfer in which one

or more solutes present in a liquid are
removed to an appreciable extent by
bringing it in contact with another
immiscible liquid termed the solvent.
The principle performance objectives in

the design of mass transfer equipment

may be identified as
a)

Large
mass
transfer
coefficient,
interfacial area and driving force,

b) Maximum

permissible throughput for

each phase per unit cross sectional area
and

c) Minimum axial dispersion to preserve the

character of piston flow.

Prototype Taylor-Couette Contactor Developed at RR&DD

Description

This is one of the simplest of the mechanically agitated

contactors, and it has been developed for possible application to
fuel reprocessing.

Taylor-instability vortices generated in the annulus promote

dispersion and interfacial area.

In the Taylor-Couette Contactor shown here, the organic and

aqueous phases flow countercurrently by gravity in the annular
space between a rotating inner cylinder and a stationary outer
cylinder.

Design Specification
Rotor radius (ri): 11 mm
Outer radius of annulus (ro): 12.5 mm
Length of mixing section(L) : 250 mm
Annular Gap(d) : 1.5 mm
Radius Ratio ( = ri / ro ) = 0.88
Aspect ratio (L/d) : 166.667
Volume of annulus (V) : 27.6853 cm3
Area of Annular gap : 1.1074 * 10-4 m2

Objective of the project

Outline of the Work

Taylor couette phenomenon

Types of flows :

a. Poiseuille flow : Pressure driven flow.

b. Couette flow : Boundary driven flow.

What is taylor couette flow ?

Taylor number =

Critical Taylor number =

Critical Taylor number characterizes transition between
laminar and laminar vortex flow regimes.

Governing Equations and BC

Boundary Conditions
Navier Stokes Equations

Governing Equations and BC

Cylindrical Couette flow becomes unstable
as the rotational speed of the inner cylinder
increases resulting in pairs of counterrotating, axisymmetric, toroidal vortices
that fill the annulus superimposed on the
Couette flow.

Each

pair of vortices has a wavelength of

approximately2d,whered=roriis
the
gap between the cylinders.

The

origin of the
centrifugal instability.

Lord

vortical

flow

is

Rayleigh argued that if the value

for(r2)2decreases in the radial direction,
as it does for an inner rotating cylinder and
a fixed outer cylinder, the flow should be
unstable always. This is not true if the
viscous force is large enough to dampen
the effect of centrifugal force.

Types of Taylor vortex flow

Transition Behaviour of Taylor Vortex flow

Usually
done when
a complete
velocity
distribution
map is not
available .

Prototype Taylor-Couette Contactor Developed at RR&DD

SCHEMATIC OF EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

4

5
8
3
10

9
1. Water tank

4. Regulator

7 . pH meter

2. Peristalitic
pump

5. Electric motor

8.Constant
head

3. Pump

6 . Taylor couette

9 . Outlet tank

10. Tracer
injector

Experimental procedure
1.

Demineralised water was used as a testing fluid and a standard 4 N nitric acid as the tracer
respectively.

2.

The bottom settling zone was filled with CCl 4 so that there was no introduction of the testing fluid in
that part.

3.

The mixing zone was filled with the testing fluid at a constant flow rate till a steady state was
achieved.

4.

It was checked that the pH measured at the outlet should match the pH of the testing fluid.

5.

Then the first series of experiments were conducted for 0 rpm inner cylinder rotation rate and the
axial flow rate was varied from 10 and 20 ml/min respectively.

6.

Once the flow became stable and the value in the pH meter becomes steady, 2ml of 4N HNO 3 was
introduced from the top opening and a stop watch was started.

7.

The readings in the pH meter were noted down at an interval of 30 sec.

8.

The experiment was stopped when the pH meter reading becomes steady again and reaches
approximately the initial pH of the testing fluid.

9.

Keeping all the parameters same a set of experiments was conducted for 100 ,200 ,400 ,600, 800 rpm
respectively keeping the outer cylinder fixed and the pH readings were noted down for the 10 and 20
ml/min inlet flow rates respectively.

10. The resultant data was converted to concentration scale and then the numerical analysis for RTD was
performed.

Computational mesh
generation
2 D Mesh Generation
Domain Extents:
x-coordinate: min (m) = 0.000000e+000,
max (m) = 2.500000e001
y-coordinate: min (m) = 1.100000e-002,
max (m) = 1.250000e002
Face area statistics:
minimum face area (m2): 7.142729e-005
maximum face area (m2): 7.542856e005
Mesh Quality:
Applying quality criteria for quadrilateral
cells.
Maximum cell squish = 1.30803e-005
Maximum aspect ratio = 1.45727e+000
Mesh Size
Level Cells Faces Nodes Partitions
0 70000 143520 73521
1

Computational mesh
generation

3 D Mesh
Generation

Domain Extents:
x-coordinate: min (m) =
-1.250000e+001,
max (m) =
1.250000e+001
y-coordinate: min (m) =
-1.249915e+001,
max (m) =
1.249915e+001
z-coordinate: min (m) =
0.000000e+000,
max (m) =
2.5.000000e+002
Volume statistics:
minimum volume (m3):
1.405174e-002
maximum volume (m3):
4.950891e-002
total volume (m3):
1.107414e+004
Face area statistics:
minimum face area (m2):
4.378500e-002
maximum face area (m2):
1.649396e-001
Mesh Quality:
Applying quality criteria for
hexahedra cells.
Maximum cell squish =
1.44671e-001
Maximum aspect ratio =
2.70281e+000
Mesh Size
Level Cells Faces Nodes
Partitions
0 395271 1268918
478622
1

Domain Extents:
x-coordinate: min (m) = -1.250000e+001,
max (m) = 1.250000e+001
y-coordinate: min (m) = -1.249915e+001,
max (m) =
1.249915e+001
z-coordinate: min (m) = 0.000000e+000,
max (m) =
2.5.000000e+002
Volume statistics:
minimum volume (m3): 1.405174e-002
maximum volume (m3): 4.950891e-002
total volume (m3): 1.107414e+004
Face area statistics:
minimum face area (m2): 4.378500e-002
maximum face area (m2): 1.649396e-001
Mesh Quality:
Applying quality criteria for hexahedra
cells.
Maximum cell squish = 8.67791e-004
Maximum aspect ratio = 3.03801e+000
Mesh Size
Level Cells Faces Nodes Partitions
0 504000 1576440 568620
1

MESH GEOMETRY FOR THE LOWER SECTION

Cells

797720

Faces

1620588

Nodes

145688

Maximum aspect
ratio

2.72393e+001

Maximum cell
skewness

8.52635e-001

Calculation of Taylor Number for the mixing section

Taylor number calculations
Taylor
number

20

Radians per
second
(rad/sec)
2.09

40

4.19

1208

Annular gap width = 2d

70

7.33

3700

Dynamic viscosity = = 1.003 * 10-3 kg/m.s

100

10.47

7550

Density = = 998.2 kg/m3

200

20.94

30200

Kinematic viscosity = = / = 1.0049 * 10-6 m2/s

400

41.89

120800

Inner cylinder rotational speed = i = radians / sec

600

62.83

271800

Taylor number =Ta= 68.85 i2

800

83.77

483190

Volumetric flow rate = V = 0.167 * 10-6 m3/sec for (

1000

104.72

754990

10 ml per min)

1200

125.66

1087200

1400

146.61

1479800

1600

167.55

1932800

Inner Radius = ri = 1.1 * 10-2 m

Outer Radius = ro = 1.25 * 10-2 m
Annular gap = d = 1.5 * 10-3 m

V = 0.334* 10-6 m3/sec for

( 20 ml per min)
Area of annulus =
Critical Taylor number =
Axial Reynold number =

= 1.11 * 10 -4 m2

Revolution per
min (rpm)

Flow Rate (ml/min)

0
10
15
20

302

Critical Taylor Number

1708
2252.5
2988.3
3886.1

Solver Basics
Solver :
Segregated implicit solver method : For solving
momentum equations

Courant number

Discretization scheme :
For the Momentum equation : Second order upwind
For pressure velocity coupling : The Pressure-Implicit with
Splitting of Operators (PISO) pressure-velocity coupling
scheme, part of the SIMPLE family of algorithms, is
based on the higher degree of the approximate relation
between the corrections for pressure and velocity.
For the pressure equation : PREssure Staggering
Option (PRESTO) scheme was used. This uses a discrete
continuity balance for a staggered control volume about
the face to compute the staggered pressure.
For Turbulance :

K epsilon model

Time step used was : 0.1 sec

Convergence Criteria used to terminate
simulation were :
For continuity : 1 * 10-4
For velocity and turbulant quantities : 1*10-5

the

Courant number is <=1 : Fluid particles move

from one cell to another within one time step (at
most).
>1 :Fluid particles moves
through two or more cells at each time step and
this can affect convergence negatively.
Robust systems and fine solvers, as
OpenFOAM, easily deals with large Courant
numbers way into the hundreds .

Various Profiles Obtained For the Taylor Column at 600 rpm

Fig 1a: Radial velocity profile (m/s)

Fig 1b: Radial velocity graph from inner

surface to outer surface

Fig 2a: contours of velocity

magnitude(m/s)

Fig 3a : contours of axial velocity (m/s)

Fig 2b: velocity magnitude graph

Fig 3b : graph for axial velocity magnitude

Velocity profiles in Literature of GRETCHEN BAIER

Fig 4a: Contours of Swirl Velocity(m/s)

Fig 4b: Swirl velocity magnitude graph

Fig 5a: Contours of Total Pressure(pascal)

Fig 6a: Contours of static pressure(pascal)

Fig 5b: Total pressure graph

Fig 6b: Static Pressure

Velocity vectors at 600 rpm and 0 inlet flow rate

Effect of axial flow rates on the taylor vortices formation at various rotational speeds

Axial flow tries to stabilize the

taylor couette flow and the critical
taylor number is modified by the
chandrashekhars equation.
Turbulance starts at around :
Ta > = 1000 Tacr
Turbulance limits for our flow
rates
a)For 10 ml per min = 2252500
b)For 15 ml per min = 2988300
c)For 20 ml per min = 3886100
Maximum rotational
turbulance :

speed

for

a)For 10 ml per min = 1727.3 rpm

b)For 15 ml per min = 1989.5 rpm
c) For 20 ml per min = 2268.7 rpm

3D Flow profiles obtained at 100 rpm

3D Flow profiles obtained at 200 rpm

3D Flow profiles obtained at 800 rpm

Total velocity profile for 600 rpm and 20 ml per min flow rate (scale 1 unit = 0.01
m/sec

Z velocity profile at 600 rpm and 20 ml per min (scale 1 unit = 0.01 m/sec)

Total velocity vectors at 600 rpm and 20 ml per min (scale 1 unit = 0.01 m/sec

Two Phase study using

OpenFoam

Solver : InterFoam is a solver for 2

incompressible fluids, which tracks the
interface and includes the option of mesh
motion.
VOF Method :
a)Free surface
b)A scheme to locate the surface
c)An algorithm to track the surface as a sharp
interface moving through a computational grid
d)A means of applying boundary conditions at
the surface

Validation of CFD result at 0 ml/min inflow

Validation of CFD result at 10 ml/min inflow

Validation of CFD result at 20 ml/min inflow

Residence time distribution analysis by CFD

CFD is capable of predicting the complete velocity distribution map for the fluid in a vessel
hence it provides an alternative and simpler means of determining the RTD . IN addiction , the
RTD curves are useful tools that can be used to compare the CFD results

There are multiple approaches available for predicting the residence time distribution with
FLUENT . The tracer fluid can be treated as a continuum by solving a transport equation for the
tracer species. Two common methods for solving the tracer species are :
1.) Species transport model
2. )User defined scalar (UDS) transport model.

RTD Calculations Using the species Transport model

In this approach, the tracer will be modeled as a species. If the properties of the tracer and
background liquid are identical, the concentration of the tracer will not have any significant
effect on the flow field. The fluid flow (i.e., the momentum equations and turbulence model, if
applicable ) and species equations will be solved sequentially. The fluid flow equations are first
solved using a steady state approach. Next , the species equation is solved as an unsteady
simulation using the computed fluid flow solution. The area-weighted-averaged concentration of
the traver at the outlet ( 0r any marked location) is monitored with time to obtain the RTD.
The two commonly used approaches for calculating residence time using tracer analysis are the
pulse method and the step method.
The Pulse method : In this approach, the tracer is injected from the inlet at time t= 0. In the
CFD simulation, the species concentration at the inlet will be increased to C= Cmax for first
time step, and then be reset to zero for the second and subsequent time steps.
A plot of tracer concentration versus time at outlet will provide the residence time distribution.

Residence time distribution analysis

(Mean residence time of the Cpulse):

Volume of Torus = r2(2 R)

Now to find the Conversion in reactors

having non-ideal flow we use the
equation given in octave Levenspiel

The number of tanks in series

Radial velocoty disturbance when

higher volume of tracer is injected

Concentration and exit age distribution profiles for the RTD by CFD

Concentration profile for 10 ml per min

Exit age distribution profile for 20 ml per min

Concentration profile for 20 ml per min

Exit age distribution profile for 20 ml per min

Results obtained from RTD by CFD

Analysis of RTD data at 20 ml per min

Analysis of RTD data at 10 ml per min

Sr no.

rpm

100rpm

Mean
Residen
ce Time
(sec)

143.11

Varianc
e
(sec2)

1663.7

1483.3

200rpm

146.20

400rpm

146.91

600rpm

148.95

1663.1
2

800rpm

168.68

1938

1632.5

Number
of Tanks
in
series

12.31

14.41

13.22

13.34

14.68

Convers
ion
using
the
tanksinseries
model

Mean
Residen
ce Time
(sec)

Varianc
e
(sec2)

82.40

738.40

Sr no.

rpm

100rpm

0.9992

200rpm

0.9994

400rpm

0.9996

600rpm

84.62

623.02

800rpm

81.98

575.57

0.9991

0.9999

83.44

82.82

688.97

625.10

Number
of Tanks
in series

9.2

10.11

10.97

11.49

11.68

Convers
ion
using
the
tanksin-series
model
0.9972

0.9977

0.9979

0.9982

0.9980

Sr no

RPM Comparison of Mean residence time at 10 ml per

min inlet flow rate
CFD lower
section
(min)
26.8330

Total from
CFD

100

Experimenta CFD mixing

l
Zone (min)
(min)
25.75
2.380

200

30.38

2.436

29.5929

32.029

400

32.56

2.448

31.9587

34.407

600

32.46

2.482

32.2183

34.700

800

29.60

2.811

30.5361

33.347

29.2035

Sr no

RPM

Variance at 10 ml per min inlet flow rate

Experimental CFD mixing
(min2)
Zone (min2)

100

192.90

0.00105

CFD lower
section
(min2)
279.8

Total
variance
from CFD
279.801

200

358.85

0.00106

357.8

357.801

400

377.83

0.00101

389.7

389.701

600

388.03

9.138* e-4

411.3

411.301

800

326.83

9.139*e-4

430.7

430.701

Sr no

RPM Comparison of the Total number of tanks in series

at 10 ml per min inlet flow rate obtained form
experiment and CFD
Experimental CFD mixing
Total tanks in Zone
series

CFD lower
section

Total tanks
in series
from CFD

100

2.92

12.31

2.5731

3.0480

200

2.69

14.41

2.4476

2.8671

400

2.94

13.22

2.6208

3.0378

600

3.44

13.34

2.5239

2.9275

800

2.77

14.68

2.1651

2.5819

Sr no

RPM Comparison of Mean residence time at 20 ml per min

inlet flow rate obtained from experiment and CFD
Experimental CFD mixing CFD lower
(min)
Zone (min) section
(min)

Total from
CFD

100

13.46

1.3733

26.2247

27.598

200

13.04

1.3906

23.8875

25.2781

400

15.69

1.3803

16.6873

18.0676

600

14.16

1.410

13.465

14.875

800

13.28

1.3663

14.4237

15.79

Sr no

RPM Variance at 20 ml per min inlet flow rate

Experimental CFD mixing
(min2)
Zone (min2)

CFD lower
section
(min2)

Total
variance
from CFD

100

738.4

0.2051

211.77

211.790

200

688.97

0.1913

177.73

177.749

400

625.10

0.0230

156.8

156.82

600

622.02

0.1730

154.4

154.57

800

575.57

0.0227

119.2

119.227

Sr no

RPM

Comparison of Total number of tanks in series at 20 ml

per min inlet flow rate obtained from experiment and
CFD
Experimental

CFD mixing
Zone

CFD lower
section

Total tanks in
series from
CFD

100

3.44

9.2

3.2475

3.2478

200

2.57

10.11

3.210

3.594

400

2.81

10.97

1.7759

2.081

600

2.72

11.49

1.174

1.4314

800

2.68

11.68

1.745

2.091

Plots of C vs t and E vs t for 10 ml per min

Plot of C vs t for 10 ml per min from actual experiment

Plot of C vs t for 10 ml per min from CFD

RTD Characteristics for 10 ml per min from CFD for full setup

Plot of C vs t for 10 ml per min via CFD

Plot of E vs t for 10 ml per min from the actual experiment

Plot of E vs t for 10 ml per min via CFD

RTD Characteristics for 20 ml per min from CFD for full setup

Conclusion
The various profiles obtained at varying taylor numbers for our
geometry show that instability starts 2252.5 and 3886.1 taylor
numbers at 10 ml per min and 20 ml per min.
The flow will turns turbulant at 1727.3 rpm and 2268.7 rpm for 10
ml per min and 20 ml per min respectively.
The number of tanks in series increases as we move towards
higher taylor numbers in both the flow.
The mean residence time remains stable for both the flows but it
is lesser for 20ml per min.
Two phase flow in a cylindrical annulus is visualized.
A two phase openfoam code with boundary conditions is written
which could be for further analysis of mixing equipments.

THANKS