Mixing Pipeline mixer

Pipeline Mixers used as Reactors for Fast C/C Reactions. Taylor (1996) and colleagues (1998) conducted a study to determine scale-up procedures for fast C/C reactions in pipeline mixers. They used the fourth Bourne reaction, which is the acid catalyzed hydrolysis of dimethoxypropane (DMP) to acetone and methanol. This is an extremely rapid reaction when catalyzed by HCl. The competitive reaction scheme, which is a unique one, is one in which NaOH reacts practically instantaneously with the HCl to remove the catalyst for the hydrolysis reaction. A water/ethanol solution of NaOH and DMP was fed as a main stream to a Kenics helical element mixer and an aqueous side stream containing slightly greater (abour 5% greater) than equimolar amount of NaOH was fed as the side stream. The product was analyzed by GC for methanol and acetone. For extremely rapid mixing, essentially no hydrolysis occurred however, for slow mixing, essentially all the DMP is hydrolyzed because acidic conditions cause very rapid hydrolysis of the DMP. 

Mixing equipment vessels, rotor-stators, and pipeline mixers... 

S.I.L. uses standard concrete transit mixer trucks modified to provide gas or propane heat to the mix drum to prepare mixes for both precast and poured-in-place work. Since 1977 several poured-in-place field trials have been completed and numerous projects in the Calgary area have now been constructed. Precast products that have been marketed include parking curbs, pipeline weights, sewer pipe, median barriers, and sidewalk slabs. 

Air and gaseous S02 in the required ratio enter Mixer 6 to mix fully with each other, and the resulting pseudo flue gas is divided into two equal streams to enter Absorber 7. The air flow rate is adjusted by a butterfly valve in the pipeline and measured with a Pitot tube-pressure difference meter and that of S02 by the rotameter 5. The total gas flow rate is also monitored by a wind velocity meter of DF-3 type at the gas outlet of the reactor. For each run, gas-samplings are made at both inlet and outlet of the reactor, and the S02 concentrations in the samples are measured with the Iodine-quantitative method, a standard and authentic method of determining the integral amount of S02 absorbed in the reactor. 

FIGURE 35 Pipeline flow showing that time-interval mixing normally must have a volume for retention time, compared to radial flow with usual static mixer elements. 

Static mixers are widely used in situations where continuous in-line or pipeline mixing is required. Table 9.17 shows that applications span the entire spectrum from laminar to turbulent flow regimes, and they cover a wide variety of mixing processes involving the blending of gas-gas... 

As the term implies, unlike dynamic mixers described in previous chapters which turn with the screw, static mixers have no moving parts. These mixers are not specific to plastics extrusion but are versatile chemical engineering devices used for pipeline fluid mixing over a wide viscosity range. They can also be used for chemical reactions at very high flow rates. 

When the flow is laminar, either single or multiphase, there is only one design class option static or motionless mixers. Other pipeline mixing devices described for turbulent flow are not usable for even the simplest mixing applications in the laminar regime. All rely on turbulence and cannot function at low Reynolds numbers. The only alternative technology is in-line dynamic mixers, which include extruders, rotor-stator mixers, and a variety of rotating screw devices. None of these has the benefits of simplicity and the little or no maintenance characteristic of static mixers. In-line mechanical mixers are discussed briefly later in the chapter. 

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