FLUID MECHANICS OF MIXING:

MODELLING, OPERATIONS AND EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES

FLUID MECHANICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS

Volume 10
Series Editor:

R. MOREAU
MADYLAM
Ecole Nationale Superieure d' Hydraulique de Grenoble
Boite Postale 95
38402 Saint Martin d' Heres Cedex, France

Aims and Scope of the Series

The purpose of this series is to focus on subjects in which fluid mechanics plays a
fundamental role.
As well as the more traditional applications of aeronautics, hydraulics, heat and
mass transfer etc., books will be published dealing with topics which are currently
in a state of rapid development, such as turbulence, suspensions and multiphase
fluids, super and hypersonic flows and numerical modelling techniques.
It is a widely held view that it is the interdisciplinary subjects that will receive
intense scientific attention, bringing them to the forefront of technological advancement. Fluids have the ability to transport matter and its properties as well as
transmit force, therefore fluid mechanics is a subject that is particulary open to
cross fertilisation with other sciences and disciplines of engineering. The subject of
fluid mechanics
be highly relevant in domains such as chemical, metallurgical,
biological and ecological engineering. This series is particularly open to such new
multidisciplinary domains.

will

The median level of presentation is the first year graduate student. Some texts are
monographs defining the current state of a field; others are accessible to final year
undergraduates; but essentially the emphasis is on readability and clarity.

For a list of related mechanics titles, see final pages.

Fluid Mechanics of Mixing:

Modelling, Operations and Experimental
Techniques

edited by

R. King

SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.

ISBN 978-90-481-4156-2
ISBN 978-94-015-7973-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-7973-5

Printed an acid-free paper

AII Rights Reserved

1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1992
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1992
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
inc\uding photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This volume contains selected papers presented at the 7th European Congress on Mixing,
September 1991, Brugge, Belgium.

Organized on behalf of the Working Party on Mixing of the European Federation of Chemical
Engineering (EFCE) by the Royal Flemish Society of Engineers (KVIV) and the Belgian Branch
of the Societe de Chimie Industrielle.

CONTENTS
Preface

Xl

SECTION 1: MODELLING OF MIXING PROCESSES

Effect of macromixing on a competitive/consecutive reaction in a semi-batch stirred
reactor : Paul's iodination experiments interpreted by networks-of-zones
R Mann, A M EI-Hamouz

The variation of flow pattern and mixing time with impeller spacing in stirred vessels
with two Rushton impellers
S M Mahmoudi, M Yianneskis

11

Development of transitional flow mixing impeller

R J Weetman

19

Distribution of turbulence characteristics in agitated systems with axial high-speed

impeller and baffles
I Fort, M Vozny, B Forstova

27

A computational study on dispersing gas in a stirred reactor

A Bakker, H E Van Den Akker

37

Measurements and modelling of flow in gas sparged, agitated vessels

G K Patterson

47

Simple performance correlations for agitated vessels

J M Smith

55

Gradients in production scale bioreactors

J Feijen, J J Hofmeester

65

Solid distribution in slurry reactors stirred with multiple impellers : continuous flow
systems
M Nocentini, F Magelli

73

SECTION 2: MIXING OPERATIONS

The mixing of miscible liquids with large differences in density and viscosity
S S Burmester, C D Rielly, M F Edwards

83

Power input and gas hold up in gas liquid dispersions agitated by axial flow impellers
V Machon, C M McFarlane, A W Nienow

91

Improving Xanthan fermentation performance by changing agitators

Z Xueming, A W Nienow, C A Kent, S Chatwin, E Galindo

99

Determination of the mean specific power input in stirred vessels with suspensions
R K Geisler, C Buurman, A B Mersmann

107

A comparison of the efficiency of five agitator designs for solids suspension duties
at high solids concentrations
N I Heywood, S Rehman, R G Whittemore

117

The design of agitated dissolution tanks

P Did, F Rieger, I Rousar

131

Modelling and control of multistage mixer extractors

C Tsouris, L L Tavlarides

139

Local measurements of liquid and solid velocities and of particle sizes in stirred
suspensions with a phase doppler particle analyser
P Guiraud, J Costes, J Bertrand, J Bousquet

145

Hydrodynamic characteristics of a gas-inducing impeller

G M Evans, C D Rielly, J F Davidson, K J Carpenter

153

Heat transfer in mechanically stirred gas-liquid system

J Karcz, F Strek

163

Heat and mass transfer efficiencies of multi-impeller gas-viscous liquids contactors

H Linden, H Desplanches, Y Gaston-Bonhomme, J L Chevalier, M Bruxelmane,
V Dufour

173

SECTION 3: EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES

Measurement of concentration fluctuations during mixing in a stirred tank and in
a channel flow by laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy
C Andre, R David, J N Gence, J Villermaux

183

Reynolds stresses and stirring regimes of a Rushton turbine

M Mahouast

191

Micrornixing behaviour in a batch vessel with several impellers using alkali-fluorescent

dye system
Y Hirofuji, T Inoue, Y Nagase

197

An experimental study of micromixing using two parallel reactions

J R Bourne, S Yu

207

LDA measurements of flow in stirred gas-liquid reactors

V P Mishra, J B Joshi

217

A study of ventilated gas cavities on disc-turbine blades

S A Manning, G J Jameson

225

Numerical particle tracking in a turbine agitated vessel

K A Kusters, J G Wijers, D Thoenes

233

Residence time distribution of solid and liquid phase in a stirred tank reactor
L Guo, S Yang

247

Local wall heat transfer coefficients using surface calorimeters

J B Fasano, R S Brodkey, S J Haam

253

PREFACE
This volume is a selection of the material presented at the 7th European Mixing Congress.
It is concerned exclusively with mixing in circular section vessels, using centrally mounted
paddles or similar impellers.
The contents are arranged under three classifications: Modelling of Mixing Processes, Mixing
Operations and Experimental Techniques. The classifications result in the original material
appearing in a different order to that of the Congress. This arrangement is intended to assist
the reader in identifying the topic area by function or application, rather than by technology.
In this book the section on Modelling contains papers which focus on the representation of
the mixing process, whether by equation, scale-up criteria, or fluid dynamic simulation.
Similarly, Mixing Operations are concerned with the application or function of the mixing
process, such as mass transfer, heat transfer or mixing time.

Experimental Techniques addresses the tools the researcher needs to use at the data gathering
experimental stage. It collects together advances made in the various methods used by some
of the foremost researchers, and indicates those areas still in need of additional instrumentation
or methods of data reduction.
The book is intended for researchers, designers and users of mixing equipment, and for those
planning research and development programmes and who wish to keep up to date with advances
in the basic technology and its applications.
It is published with the full permission of the Royal Flemish Society of Engineers.