Chemical and Process Engineering: New Frontiers

This study is concerned with liquid flow induced by a disk which rotates steadily around its axis and touches the free surface of liquid contained in a cylindrical vessel. It is a simplified model of the flow in the inlet part of a vertical cooling crystallizer where a rotary distributor of inflowing solution is situated above the free surface of solution contained in the crystalliser. Numerical simulations of flow phenomena were conducted and the simulation results were interpreted assuming an analogy with Kármán’s theoretical equations. In a cylindrical coordinate system, the components of flow velocity were identified as functions of distance from the surface of the rotating disk. The experimental setup was developed to measure velocity fields, using digital particle velocimetry and optical flow. Conclusions concerning the influence of disc rotation on liquid velocity fields were presented and the experimental results were found to confirm the results of numerical simulation. On the basis of simulation data, an approximation function was determined to describe the relationship between the circumferential component of flow velocity and the distance from the disk.

An optical tomograph in which a tested object is illuminated from five directions has been presented in the paper. The measurements of luminous intensity after changing into discrete signals (0 or 1) in the detectors equipped with 64 optical sensors were subjected to reconstruction by means of the matrix algorithm. Detailed description of the measuring sensor, as well as the principles of operation of the electronic system, has been given in the paper. Optical phenomena occurring at the phase boundary while transmitted through the sensor wall and phenomena inside the measuring space have also been taken into account. The method of the sensor calibration has been analysed and a way of technical solution of the problem under consideration has been discussed. The elaborated method has been tested using objects of the known shape and dimensions. It was found that reconstruction of the shapes of moving bubbles and determination of their main parameters is also possible with a reasonable accuracy.

Gas-liquid microreactors find an increasing range of applications both in production, and for chemical analysis. The most often employed flow regime in these microreactors is Taylor flow. The rate of absorption of gases in liquids depends on gas-side and liquid-side resistances. There are several publications about liquid-side mass transfer coefficients in Taylor flow, but the data about gas-side mass transfer coefficients are practically non existent. We analysed the problem of gas-side mass transfer resistance in Taylor flow and determined conditions, in which it may influence the overall mass transfer rate. Investigations were performed using numerical simulations. The influence of the gas diffusivity, gas viscosity, channel diameter, bubble length and gas bubble velocity has been determined. It was found that in some case the mass transfer resistances in both phases are comparable and the gas-side resistance may be significant. In such cases, neglecting the gas-side coefficient may lead to errors in the experimental data interpretation.

This paper extends knowledge about flow in an agitated batch with pitched blade multi-stage impellers. Effects of various geometrical parameters (blade number, distance between impellers) of pitched blade multi-stage impellers on pumping ability have been investigated. Axial velocity profiles were measured by LDA (Laser Doppler Anemometry). Axial pumping capacities were obtained by integration of measured axial velocity profiles in outflow from impellers. Main attention was focused on the effect of the distance between impellers in multi-stage configurations, on their pumping capacity and flow in the mixing bath in comparison with an independently operating pitched blade impeller with the same geometry. In case of a relatively close distance between impellers H3/d = 0.5 - 0.75, the multi-stage impeller creates only one circulation loop and the impellers itself behave identically as pumps in series. However for relative higher distance of impellers than H3/d = 1.25, the multi-stage impeller creates two separated circulation loops.

The main topic of this study is the experimental measurement and mathematical modelling of global gas hold-up and bubble size distribution in an aerated stirred vessel using the population balance method. The air-water system consisted of a mixing tank of diameter T = 0.29 m, which was equipped with a six-bladed Rushton turbine. Calculations were performed with CFD software CFX 14.5. Turbulent quantities were predicted using the standard k-ε turbulence model. Coalescence and breakup of bubbles were modelled using the homogeneous MUSIG method with 24 bubble size groups. To achieve a better prediction of the turbulent quantities, simulations were performed with much finer meshes than those that have been adopted so far for bubble size distribution modelling. Several different drag coefficient correlations were implemented in the solver, and their influence on the results was studied. Turbulent drag correction to reduce the bubble slip velocity proved to be essential to achieve agreement of the simulated gas distribution with experiments. To model the disintegration of bubbles, the widely adopted breakup model by Luo & Svendsen was used. However, its applicability was questioned.

The majority of publications and monographs present investigations which concern exclusively twophase flows and particulary dispersed flows. However, in the chemical and petrochemical industries as well as in refineries or bioengineering, besides the apparatuses of two-phase flows there is an extremely broad region of three-phase systems, where the third phase constitutes the catalyst in form of solid particles (Duduković et al., 2002; Martinez et al., 1999) in either fixed bed or slurry reactors. Therefore, the goal of this study is to develop macroscopic, averaged balances of mass, momentum and energy for systems with three-phase flow. Local instantaneous conservation equations are derived, which constitute the basis of the method applied, and are averaged by means of Euler’s volumetric averaging procedure. In order to obtain the final balance equations which define the averaged variables of the system, the weighted averaging connected with Reynolds decomposition is used. The derived conservation equations of the trickle-bed reactor (mass, momentum and energy balance) and especially the interphase effects appearing in these equations are discussed in detail.

The aim of the research presented in this paper was determination of power consumption and gas hold-up in mechanically agitated aerated aqueous low concentration sucrose solutions. Experimental studies were conducted in a vessel of diameter 0.634 m equipped with high-speed impellers (Rushton turbine, Smith turbine or A 315). The following operating parameters were changed: volumetric gas flow rate (expressed by superficial gas velocity), impeller speed, sucrose concentration and type of impeller. Based on the experiments results, impellers with a modified shape of blades, e.g. CD 6 or A 315, could be recommended for such gas-liquid systems. Power consumption was measured using strain gauge method. The results of gas holdup measurements have been approximated by an empirical relationship containing dimensionless numbers (Eq. (2)).

This paper is devoted to application of adsorption process for cooling power generation in a cooling devices. Construction and working principle of a water-silica gel adsorption chiller has been presented and the basic refrigeration cycle has been discussed. The article outlines behavior of a single-stage adsorption system influenced by changes in cycle time. The effect of cycle time and inlet chilled water temperatures on the main system performance parameters has been analysed

The paper presents the summary of research on polymer melt particle motion trajectories in a disc zone of a screw-disk extruder. We analysed two models of its structure, different in levels of taken simplifications. The analysis includes computer simulations of material particle flow and results of experimental tests to determine the properties of the resultant extrudate. Analysis of the results shows that the motion of melt in the disk zone of a screw-disk extruder is a superposition of pressure and dragged streams. The observed trajectories of polymer particles and relations of mechanical properties and elongation of the molecular chain proved the presence of a stretching effect on polymer molecular chains.

The velocity field around the standard Rushton turbine was investigated by the Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements. The mean ensembleaveraged velocity profiles and root mean square values of fluctuations were evaluated at two different regions. The first one was in the discharge stream in the radial direction from the impeller where the radial flow is dominant and it is commonly modelled as a swirling turbulent jet. The validity range of the turbulent jet model was studied. The second evaluated region is under the impeller where flow seems to be at first sight rather rigorous but obtained results show nonnegligible values of fluctuation velocity.

The modelling of colloidal fouling and defouling of hollow fibre membranes in the presence of membrane oscillations is analysed by means of numerical simulations as an effect of complex coupling between hydrodynamic and surface forces. To describe the latter the Derjaguin-Landau- Vervey-Overbeek (DLVO) model has been employed. We have investigated the influence of various parameters of the process like flow rate, mean particle diameter, amplitude and frequency of the oscillations, and others, on the efficiency of the defouling process. The investigated parameters is close to that of a silica suspension in , a typical system modelling used to investigate membrane separation. On the basis of numerical simulation results e have defined an optimal set of parameters preventing membrane fouling.