Impellers tanks, types

The pumping number is a function of impeller type, the impeller/tank diameter ratio (D/T), and mixing Reynolds number Re = pND /p.. Figure 3 shows the relationship (2) for a 45° pitched blade turbine (PBT). The total flow in a mixing tank is the sum of the impeller flow and flow entrained by the hquid jet. The entrainment depends on the mixer geometry and impeller diameter. For large-size impellers, enhancement of total flow by entrainment is lower (Fig. 4) compared with small impellers. 

Milk-of-lime transfer pumps should be of the open impeller centrifugal type. Pumps having an iron body and impeller with bronze trim are suitable for this purpose. Rubber-lined pumps with rubber-covered impellers are also frequently used. Makeup tanks are usually provided ahead of centrifugal pumps to ensure a flooded suction at all times. Plating out of lime is minimized by the use of soft water in the makeup tank and slurry recirculation. Turbine pumps and eductors should be avoided in transferring milk of lime because of scaling problems. 

Naturally, the patterns of liquid movements will vary with the type of impeller used. When marine propeller-type impellers (which often have two or three blades see Figure 7.7c) are used, the liquid in the central part moves upwards along the tank axis and then downwards along the tank wall. Hence, this type of impeller is categorized as an axial flow impeller. This type of stirrer is suitable for suspending particles in a liquid, or for mixing highly viscous liquids. 

Impellers are usually of the flat-blade turbine type, Fig. 6.36 and c, either centrally located in the vessel or nearer the bottom entry of the liquids. The impeller-tank-diameter ratio d /T is ordinarily in the range 0.25 to 0.33. 

Obviously shear rate in different parts of a mixing tank are different, and therefore there are several definitions of shear rate (/) for average shear rate in the impeller region, oc V, the proportionaUty constant varies between 8 and 14 for all impeller types (2) maximum shear rate, oc tip speed (%NU), occurs near the blade tip (3) average shear rate in the entire tank is an order of magnitude less than case / and (4) minimum shear rate is about 25% of case 3. 

The shear rate between the average velocities is called macroscale shear present in eddies of 500 p.m or larger in size. The shear rate between the fluctuating velocities, present in smaller than 100 p.m eddies, is called microscale shear. A mixing tank, therefore, has several types of shear, ie, macroscale and microscale, maximum and minimum, average in the impeller zone and in the entire tank. 

The correlation for based on experimental data has been weU researched. The pioneering work was carried out in 1958 and a correlation with different impeller types and tank sizes was developed (5) ... 

There are three types of mixing flow patterns that are markedly different. The so-called axial-flow turbines (Fig. 18-3) actually give a flow coming off the impeller of approximately 45°, and therefore have a recirculation pattern coming back into the impeller at the hub region of the blades. This flow pattern exists to an approximate Reynolds number of 200 to 600 and then becomes radial as the Reynolds number decreases. Both the RlOO and A200 impellers normally require four baffles for an effective flow pattern. These baffles typically are V12 of the tank diameter and width. 

It turns out that in low-viscosity blending the acdual result does depend upon the measuring technique used to measure blend time. Two common techniques, wliich do not exhaust the possibilities in reported studies, are to use an acid-base indicator and inject an acid or base into the system that will result in a color change. One can also put a dye into the tank and measure the time for color to arrive at uniformity. Another system is to put in a conductivity probe and injecl a salt or other electrolyte into the system. With any given impeller type at constant power, the circulation time will increase with the D/T ratio of the impeller. Figure 18-18 shows that both circulation time and blend time decrease as D/T increases. The same is true for impeller speed. As impeller speed is increased with any impeller, blend time and circulation time are decreased (Fig. 18-19). 

Axial-flow turbines are often used in blendiug pseudoplastic materials, and they are often used at relatively large D/T ratios, from 0.5 to 0.7, to adequately provide shear rate in the majority of the batch particularly in pseudoplastic material. These impellers develop a flow pattern which may or may not encompass an entire tank, and these areas of motion are sometimes referred to as caverns. Several papers describe the size of these caverns relative to various types of mixing phenomena. An effec tive procedure for the blending of pseudoplastic fluids is given in Oldshue (op. cit.). 

Using a draft tube in the tank for solids suspension introduces another, different set of variables. There are other relationships that are veiy much affected by scale-up in this type of process, as shown in Fig. 18-22. Different scale-up problems exist whether the impeller is pumping up or down within the draft tube. 

The general charac teristics of the main types of reac tors—batch and continuous—are clear. Batch processes are suited to small production rates, to long reaction times, or to reactions where they may have superior selectivity, as in some polymerizations. They are conducted in tanks with stirring of the contents bv internal impellers, gas bubbles, or pumparound. Temperature controf is with internal surfaces or jackets, reflux condensers, or pumparound through an exchanger. 

Equipment suitable for reactions between hquids is represented in Fig. 23-37. Almost invariably, one of the phases is aqueous with reactants distributed between phases for instance, NaOH in water at the start and an ester in the organic phase. Such reac tions can be carried out in any kind of equipment that is suitable for physical extraction, including mixer-settlers and towers of various kinds-, empty or packed, still or agitated, either phase dispersed, provided that adequate heat transfer can be incorporated. Mechanically agitated tanks are favored because the interfacial area can be made large, as much as 100 times that of spray towers, for instance. Power requirements for L/L mixing are normally about 5 hp/1,000 gal and tip speeds of turbine-type impellers are 4.6 to 6.1 i7i/s (15 to 20 ft/s). 

A semi-open impeller has exposed blades, but with a support plate or shroud on one side. Some people prefer the name semi-enelosed. These types of impeller are generally used for liquids with a small percentage of solid particles like sediment from the bottom of a tank or river, or crystals mixed with the liquid (Figure 6-17). 

The forces applied by an impeller to the material contained in a vessel produce characteristic flow patterns that depend on the Impeller geometry, properties of the fluid, and the relative sizes and proportions of the tank, baffles and impeller. There are three principal types of flow patterns tangential, radial and axial. Tangential flow is observed when the liquid flows parallel to the path described by the mixer as illustrated in Figure 7. 

The commonly used types of mixing equipment can be placed in the broad categories (1) mechanical agitators, (2) inline motionless mixers, (3) tank jet mixers, and (4) miscellaneous. The nature and type of agitator used depends upon the scale and type of mixing and upon the fluids being mixed. The broad classes of impellers are ... 

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