Agitation Liquids

Agitation, mixing and blending Whats the

difference?

Mixing
Objective: Homogeneity, promoting heat and mass

transfer where a system is undergoing a chemical reaction Reduce the degree of non-uniformity; for eg: concentration, viscosity, temperature Achieved by moving the material from one region to another

Types of Mixing
Single phase liquid mixing

Mixing of immiscible liquid

Gas-liquid mixing Liquid-solid mixing Gas-liquid-solid mixing Solid-solid mixing

Single phase liquid mixing

2 or more miscible liquids mixed together

Simplest type of mixing no heat/mass transfer,

no chemical reaction Example: Blending of petroleum product with different viscosities,

Mixing of immiscible liquid

2 immiscible liquids stirred together, one phase

dispersed as tiny droplets in the second liquid which forms a continuous phase Example: Liquid-liquid extraction (solvent extraction and partitioning)
a method to separate compounds based on their

relative solubilities in two different immiscible liquids, usually water and an organic solvent separation of a substance from a mixture by preferentially dissolving that substance in a suitable solvent by this process, a soluble compound is usually separated from an insoluble compound

Gas-Liquid Mixing
Objective: produce a high interfacial area by dispersing the gas phase in the

form of bubbles into the liquid

Gas-liquid mixtures are unstable and separate rapidly if agitation stopped

and foam did not formed

Stable foam is needed can be formed by injecting gas into a liquid which is

rapidly agitated, ofen in the presence of a surface active agent

Eg: Wastewater treatment, aerobic fermentation, oxidation of hydrocarbons

Liquid-solid mixing

Mechanical agitation is used to suspend particles in a liquid to promote

mass transfer or chemical reaction

Liquid involved usually of low viscosity and the particles will settle out

when agitation ceases

Example: formation of composite materials fine particles must be

dispersed into a highly viscous Newtonian or non-Newtonian liquid

Gas-liquid-solid mixing

Eg: catalytic hydrogenation of vegetable oils, slurry

reactors, froth flotation, evaporative crystallization

Efficiency of the process is affected by the extent of

mixing between the three phases

Solid-solid mixing
Referred as blending Very complex process and dependent on the character of particles (density,

size distribution, shape and surface properties)

Eg: mixing of sand, cement and aggregate to form concrete, food, drugs and

glass industries

Mixing Applications
Homogeneity and improve heat transfer The rotational speed of an impeller in a mixing vessel is selected to achieve

a required rate of heat transfer

Overmixing should be avoided, because it is a wasteful of energy and may

be detrimental to product quality

Eg: in biological operations, excessive high impeller speed/energy input

increase shear rates which damage the micro-organisms present

 In mixing, there are 2 major problems need to be

clarified: 1. How to design and select mixing equipment for a given duty 2. How to assess whether a mixer is suitable for a particular application In other to understand this, the following aspects should be understood: Mechanisms of mixing Scale-up similarity criteria Power consumption Flow patterns Rate of mixing and mixing time The range of mixing equipment available and its selection

Mixing Mechanisms
In liquid mixing device, 2 requirements must be fulfilled: There must be a bulk/convective flow so that there are no

dead/stagnant zones There must be a zone of intensive or high shear mixing in which inhomogeneities are broken down Both of these processes are energy consuming, mechanical energy dissipated as heat The flow in mixing vessel can be either laminar or turbulent with transition zone in between the two depending on the properties of the liquid (viscosities)

Mixing Mechanism
Laminar mixing Associated with high viscosity liquids (>10 Ns/m2), either Newtonian or non-Newtonian The inertial forces tend to die out quickly, mixer impeller must cover significant proportion of the cross section of the vessel to impart sufficient bulk motion Velocity gradient close to the impeller is high, the fluid elements deform and stretch, repeatedly elongate and become thinner each time the fluid elements pass through the high shear zone

Mixing Mechanism
Elongational flow occurs simultaneously as a result of

the convergence of the streamlines and increased velocity in the direction of flow Figure 7.2 shows the process of thinning and flattening of fluid elements The process of shear and elongation increase stresses in the liquid and effect the droplet size and interfacial area which means the desired homogeneity is achieved Remember that: Ultimate homogenisation of miscible liquid can only be achieved through molecular diffusion

 A similar mixing process can occur when the liquid is sheared between two rotating

cylinders
During each revolution, the thickness of the fluid element is reduced and molecular

diffusion takes over when the elements are sufficiently thin

This type of mixing is shown in figure 7.3 Mixing can be induced by physically splicing the fluid into smaller units and re-

distributing them inline mixers rely on this mechanism

Lets watch a video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3YZ5veN_Bg

Turbulent mixing
For low viscosity liquids (less than 10mNs/m2)

The bulk flow pattern in mixing vessels with rotating impellers

is turbulent The inertia imparted to the liquid by the rotating impeller is sufficient to cause the liquid to circulate throughout the vessel and return to the impeller

7.3 Scale up of Stirred Vessel

Problem in designing mixing equipment is to

deduce the most satisfactory arrangement for a large unit from experiments with small units In order to achieve the same kind of flow pattern in two units, geometrical, kinematic and dynamic similarity and identical boundary conditions must be maintained It is convenient to relate the power used by agitator to the geometrical and mechanical arrangement of the mixer

 A typical mixer arrangement:

 Froude number

Weber number

DN G

DN
3 2

7.4 Power Consumption in Stirred Vessel

Most important parameter in the design of stirred

vessel is power consumption Due to different flow pattern and mixing mechanism involved, it is convenient to consider power consumption in low and high viscosity system

Low Viscosity System

Typical equipment for low viscosity liquids consists of

a vertical cylindrical tank, with a height to diameter ratio of 1.5 to 2, fitted with an agitator For low viscosity liquids, high-speed propellers of diameter one-third that of the vessel are suitable, running at 10-25 Hz

Low Viscosity System

Froude number is usually important when gross

vortexing occurs It can be neglected if the value of Reynolds number is less than 300 Thus, in a plot of Power number, Np against Re with Froude number as parameter, all data fall on a single line for values of Re < 300, indicating that in this region Fr has no significant effect on Np

High Viscosity System

Mixing in highly viscous liquids is slow due to low

diffusivity and poor bulk flow The fluid in the immediate vicinity of the impeller is influenced by the agitator and the flow is laminar For mixing of highly viscous, non-Newtonian fluids, it is necessary to use specially designed impellers involving close clearances with the vessel walls

 The prediction of power consumption for agitation of

a given non-Newtonian fluid in a particular mixer at a desired impeller speed may be evaluated by the following procedures:
Estimate the average shear rate from equation 7.18 Evaluate the corresponding apparent viscosity, either

from a flow curve or by means of the appropriate flow model Estimate the value of the Reynolds number as and then the value of the Power number and hence P from figure 7.8