Numerical simulation of hydrodynamics in an uncovered unbaffled stirred tank

Computational Fluid Dynamics Study of a Pharmaceutical Full-Scale Hydrogenation Reactor

The pharmaceutical industry has been quite successful in developing new hydrogenation processes, and the chemistry of hydrogenation is currently well understood. However, it is a complex process to scale and optimize due to its high exothermicity, use of expensive catalysts and solvents, and its mass transfer requirements. Therefore, the aim of this work is to develop a CFD model to be able to describe the mass transfer, hydrodynamics, and mixing with respect to changes in rotational speed for a full-scale pharmaceutical hydrogenation reactor. In the first stage, a simple CFD model is used to predict the development of the surface vortex, and it is validated against literature data. In the second stage, the CFD model is tested on a full-scale configuration equipped with a Rushton turbine and a bottom kicker to study the formation of the surface vortex. Simulation results show the ability to predict the development of the surface vortex. These results are used to estimate the liquid height and mixing time as a function of several rotational speeds, allowing us to propose novel process correlations for this particular configuration. Although modelling the complete hydrogenation process would be challenging, this work is seen as a first step towards developing models that demonstrate the use of CFD at such large reactor scales.

CFD Simulation of a New Dynamic-Static Stirred Model and Its Application in the Leaching Process of Chromite

In the liquid phase oxidation leaching process of chromite salt, a new dynamic-static combined stirred mode is proposed. That is, a static cylindrical baffle is fixedly installed at a certain radius from the stirred blade to control the vicinity of the blade. The CFD numerical simulation method is mainly used to investigate the effect of dynamic-static combined mode on the flow field distribution. Meanwhile, the velocity distribution and trailing vortex near the blade are analyzed. Finally, the differences between traditional stirred blade and dynamic-static combined stirred blade in the oxidation leaching process of chromite are compared. The results show the new dynamic-static combined stirring mode can effectively improve the flow field distribution, reduce the occurrence of “dead zones” in the flow, and increase the chromite leaching efficiency. The leaching time can be reduced from 300 to 240 min, and the chromium-leaching rate has reached up to 99%.

CFD Study on the Flow Field and Power Characteristics in a Rushton Turbine Stirred Tank in Laminar Regime

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was performed to study the hydrodynamics characteristics in a Rushton turbine stirred tank in laminar regime. The effects of operating condition, working medium and geometrical parameter on the flow field and power number characteristics were investigated. It is found that the two-loop flow pattern is formed in laminar regime when the impeller is not very close to tank bottom, while its shape and size vary with Reynolds number and impeller diameter. For a given geometrical configuration, the flow pattern, power number and dimensionless velocity profile are mainly depended on Reynolds number, and do not change with working medium and scale-up for a constant Reynolds number. When impeller off-bottom clearance is too low and Reynolds number is relatively high, the fluid flow would transit from two-loop flow pattern to sing-loop flow pattern as that occurs in turbulent regime. Power number falls for larger impeller in laminar regime. Surprisingly, in laminar regime, power number in the baffled tank with small impeller is almost identical to that in the unbaffled tank.