AGITATED LIQUIDS

 Introduction and Definition

 Purpose of Agitation & Mixing

 Agitated Equipment

 Types of Impeller

 Flow Pattern in Agitated Vessel

 Standard turbine design

 Blending
 LEARNING OUTCOME:

 1. Identify the purpose of agitation.

 2. Determine the working mechanism of mixing tank.

 3. Apply the concept to determine the flow pattern of fluid.

 4. Analyze the difference of various mixing impellers.

 5. Applying the basic concept in designing a mixing vessel.

 6. Apply the techniques for scale-up.

 AGITATION & MIXING OF FLUID

DEFINITIONS
• Agitation:
It refers to the induced motion of a “homogenous” material in a
specified way, (eg: in a circulatory pattern in some container) to
aid mixing and dispersion.

• Mixing:
It is the random distribution, into and through one another, of
two or more initially separate phases to reach uniformity.

PURPOSES OF AGITATION
• Suspending solid particles. (catalytic hydrogenation of a liquid, solid
catalyst particles and hydrogen bubbles are dispersed in the liquid)
• Blending miscible liquids. (mythyl alcohol and water)
• Dispersing a gas through the liquid
• Dispersing a second liquid to form an emulsion or suspension
• Promoting heat transfer between the liquid and a coil/jacket
AGITATION AND MIXING
AGITATION AND MIXING
AGITATION AND MIXING
AGITATION AND MIXING
 INTRODUCTION TO MIXING
 Mixing is one of the most common operations carried out in the chemical,
processing and allied industries.

 The term "mixing" is applied to the processes used to reduce the degree of non-
uniformity, or gradient of a property in a system such as concentration,
viscosity, temperature and so on.

 Mixing is achieved by moving material from one region to another. It may be of

interest simply as a means of achieving a desired degree of homogeneity but it
may also be used to promote heat and mass transfer, often where a system is
undergoing a chemical reaction.
 If mixing is to be carried out in order to produce a uniform mixture, it is necessary
to understand how liquids move and approach this condition.

 In liquid mixing devices, it is necessary that two requirements are fulfilled:

1. There must be bulk or convective flow so that there are no dead (stagnant) zones.
2. There must be a zone of intensive or high-shear mixing in which the
inhomogeneities are broken down.
MIXING MECHANISMS

 Both these processes are energy-consuming and ultimately the mechanical

energy is dissipated as heat; the proportion of energy attributable to each varies
from one application to another.

 Depending upon the fluid properties, primarily viscosity, the flow in mixing
vessels may be laminar or turbulent, with a substantial transition zone in
between the two, and frequently both flow types will occur simultaneously in
different parts of the vessel.
Laminar mixing.

 Laminar flow is usually associated with high viscosity liquids (in excess of 10 N
s/m2) which may be either Newtonian or non-Newtonian.
 In laminar flow, mixing process occurs when the liquid is sheared between two
rotating cylinders. During each revolution, the thickness of the fluid element is
reduced, and molecular diffusion takes over when the elements are sufficiently
thin.
 This type of mixing is shown schematically in Figure 7.3 in which the tracer is
pictured as being introduced perpendicular to the direction of motion.
 Finally, mixing can be induced by physically slicing the fluid into smaller units
and re-distributing them. In-line mixers rely primarily on this mechanism,
which is shown in Figure 7.4.
 Thus, mixing in liquids is achieved by several mechanisms which gradually
reduce the size or scale of the fluid elements and then redistribute them in the
bulk.
LAMINAR FLOW
TURBULENT FLOW

Turbulent mixing.

 For low viscosity liquids (less than 10 mN s/m2), the bulk flow pattern in
mixing vessels with rotating impellers is turbulent.

 The inertia imparted to the liquid by the rotating impeller is sufficient to

cause the liquid to circulate throughout the vessel and return to the impeller.

 Mixing is most rapid in the region of the impeller because of the high shear
rates due to the presence of trailing vortices, generated by the impeller.
 TYPE OF MIXING

 Single-phase liquid mixing

 Mixing of immiscible liquids

 Gas-liquid mixing

 Liquid-solids mixing

 Gas-liquid-solids mixing

 Solids-solids mixing
INTRODUCTION TO MIXING

1. Single-phase liquid mixing:

 Two or more miscible liquids must be mixed to give a

product of a desired specification.

 This is the simplest type of mixing as it involves neither

heat nor mass transfer, nor indeed a chemical reaction.

 Example:
1. The use of mechanical agitation to enhance the rates of heat
and mass transfer between the wall of a vessel, or a coil, and
the liquid (brine solution= HCl+H2O).
2. In the blending of petroleum products of different viscosities.
MIXING
2. Mixing of immiscible liquids:
 When two immiscible liquids are stirred together, one phase
becomes dispersed as tiny droplets in the second liquid which
forms a continuous phase.
 Example: Liquid-liquid extraction, a process using successive
mixing and settling stages.

 The liquids are brought into contact with a solvent that will
selectively dissolve one of the components present in the mixture.
 Vigorous agitation causes one phase to disperse in the other and,
if the droplet size is small, a high interfacial area is created for
interphase mass transfer.
 When the agitation is stopped, phase separation takes place, but
care must be taken to ensure that the droplets are not so small
that a diffuse layer appears in the region of the interface; this can
remain in a semi-stable state over a long period of time and
prevent effective separation from occurring.
MIXING

3. Gas-liquid mixing:
 Numerous processing operations involving chemical reactions,
such as aerobic fermentation, wastewater treatment,
oxidation of hydrocarbons, and so on, require good contacting
between a gas and a liquid.
 The purpose of mixing here is to produce a high interfacial
area by dispersing the gas phase in the form of bubbles into
the liquid.
 Generally, gas-liquid mixtures or dispersions are unstable and
separate rapidly if agitation is stopped.
MIXING

4. Liquid-solids mixing:
 Mechanical agitation may be used to suspend particles in a liquid
in order to promote mass transfer or a chemical reaction.
 The liquids involved in such applications are usually of low
viscosity, and the particles will settle out when agitation ceases.

5. Gas-liquid-solids mixing:
 In some applications such as catalytic hydrogenation of
vegetable oils, slurry reactors, froth flotation, evaporative
crystallization, and so on, the success and efficiency of the
process is directly influenced by the extent of mixing between
the three phases.
MIXING

6. Solids-solids mixing:
 Mixing together of particulate solids, sometimes referred to as
blending, is a very complex process in that it is very dependent,
not only on the character of the particles — density, size, size
distribution, shape and surface properties.
 Mixing of sand, cement and aggregate to form concrete
and of the ingredients in gunpowder preparation are examples of
the mixing of solids.
 Other industrial sectors employing solids mixing include food,
drugs, and the glass industries.
MIXING

Miscellaneous mixing applications:

 Mixing equipment may be designed not only to achieve a
predetermined level of homogeneity, but also to improve heat
transfer.
 For example, the rotational speed of an impeller in a mixing
vessel is selected so as to achieve a required rate of heat
transfer, and the agitation may then be more than sufficient
for the mixing duty.
 Excessive or over mixing should be avoided as it is not only
wasteful of energy but may be detrimental to product quality.
 It is therefore important to appreciate that over mixing may
often be undesirable because it may result in both excessive
energy consumption and impaired product quality.
AGITATED VESSELS
 DESIGN
 In mixing, there are two types of problems to be considered
— how to design and select mixing equipment for a given
duty, and how to assess whether a mixer is suitable for a
particular application. In both cases, the following aspects of
the mixing process should be understood:

(i) Mechanisms of mixing.

(ii) Scale-up or similarity criteria,
(iii) Power consumption,
(iv) Flow patterns.
(v) Rate of mixing and mixing time.
(vi) The range of mixing equipment available and its
selection.
A BASIC STIRRED TANK DESIGN

 Amount of energy required for achieving a needed amount of

agitation or quality of mixing are based on;
 Size of vesel
 Dimensions and arrangement of impellers, baffles and other
internals factors.

 The internal arrangements depend on the objectives of the

operation: whether it is to maintain homogeneity of a reacting
mixture or to keep a solid suspended or a gas dispersed or to
enhance heat or mass transfer.

 A basic range of design factors, however, can be defined to cover

the majority of cases, for example as in Figure 7.5.
A BASIC STIRRED TANK DESIGN
 A BASIC STIRRED TANK DESIGN

THE VESSEL:

 A dished bottom requires less power than a flat one. When a single impeller is to
be used, a liquid level equal to the diameter is optimum (DT=H), with the impeller
located at the center for an all-liquid system.
 These are often vertically mounted cylindrical tanks, up to 10 m in diameter,
which typically are filled to a depth equal to about one diameter, although in
some gas-liquid contacting systems tall vessels are used and the liquid depth is up
to about three tank diameters; multiple impellers fitted on a single shaft are then
frequently used.
 The base of the tanks may be flat, dished, or conical, or specially contoured,
depending upon factors such as ease of emptying, or the need to suspend solids,
etc., and so on.
 For the batch mixing of viscous pastes and doughs using ribbon impellers and Z-
blade mixers, the tanks may be mounted horizontally.
BAFFLES:

 Baffles are needed to prevent vortexing and rotation of the liquid mass as a
whole. A baffle width one-ten the tank diameter, WB = DT/10; a length
extending from one half the impeller diameter, D/2, from the tangent line at the
bottom to the liquid level.
 To prevent gross vortexing, which is detrimental to mixing, particularly in low
viscosity systems, baffles are often fitted to the walls of the vessel.
 These take the form of thin strips about one-ten of the tank diameter in width,
and typically four equi-spaced baffles may be used.
 In some cases, the baffles are mounted flush with the wall, although
occasionally a small clearance is left between the wall and the baffle to facilitate
fluid motion in the wall region.
 Baffles are, however, generally not required for high viscosity liquids because
the viscous shear is then sufficiently great to damp out the rotary motion.
Sometimes, the problem of vortexing is circumvented by mounting impellers
off-centre.
IMPELLERS:

 Typically, impeller is placed from the bottom vessel with ZA= D. A basic
classification is into those that circulate the liquid axially and those that achieve
primarily radial circulation.
Figure 7.20 shows some of the impellers which are frequently used.
 Propellers, turbines, paddles, anchors, helical ribbons and screws are usually
mounted on a central vertical shaft in a cylindrical tank, and they are selected for a
particular duty largely on the basis of liquid viscosity.
 Propellers, turbines and paddles are generally used with relatively low viscosity
systems and operate at high rotational speeds.
 By and large, it is necessary to move from a propeller to a turbine and then, in
order, to a paddle, to an anchor and then to a helical ribbon and finally to a screw
as the viscosity of the fluids to be mixed increases. In so doing the speed of
agitation or rotation decreases.
 A typical velocity for the tip of the blades of a turbine is of the order of 3 m/s, with
a propeller being a little faster and the paddle a little slower.
AGITATION AND MIXING
TYPES OF IMPELLERS
 A rotating impeller in a fluid imparts flow and shear to it, the
shear resulting from the flow of one portion of the fluid past
another.
 The flows are in the axial or radial directions so that impellers
are classified conveniently according to which of these flows is
dominant.
 Those generate currents parallel with the axis of the impeller
shaft are called axial-flow impeller and those that generate
currents in a radial or tangential direction are called radial
flow impeller.

 The three main types of impeller (low to moderate viscosity) are :

1. Propellers,
2. Turbines,
3. High – efficiency impeller.

For high viscosity= Helical impellers and anchor agitators

1. Propeller:
 A propeller is an axial-flow, high speed impeller for liquids of low
viscosity.
 The direction of rotation is usually chosen to force the liquid
downward, and the flow currents leaving the impeller continue
until deflected the floor of the vessel.
 Because of the persistence of the flow currents, propeller agitators
are effective in very large vessels.
 For deep tank- two or more maybe mounted on the same shaft.

 T Type: Standard 3-blade marine

propeller with square pitch (common
in used).
-four blade, toothed/other designed.


2. Turbines.
 3 types;

Type 1: The turbine with flat vertical blades extending to the

shaft is suited to the vast majority of mixing duties up to 100,000
CP or so at high pumping capacity. The currents it generates
travel outward to the vessel wall and then flow either upward or
downward. Such impellers are sometimes called paddles.

Type 2/3: Create zones of high shear rate.

Good in dispersing gas in a liquid (gas is
forced at high shear rate to flow
radially to the blade tips)
3. High- efficiency impeller.
 Variations of the pitched-blade turbine have been developed to
provide more uniform axial flow in addition to radial flow for
better mixing, as well as to reduce the power required for a given
flow rate.
 These impeller are widely used to mix low or moderate viscosity
liquids, but they are not recommended for very viscous liquids or
for dispersing gases.

 Eg: A310 fluid foil impeller

 Highly viscous liquids impeller.
 Use for liquid with viscosities more than 20 Pa.s

 -diameter helix approximately to inner diameter of tank

 Provide good agitation near the floor of the tank;

- No vertical motion

- Promotes good heat transfer to/from the vessel.

a) Double-flight helical-ribbon impeller b) Anchor impeller

AGITATION AND MIXING
Radial Flow Axial Flow

50 Pa.s

Increasing
viscosity

<1 Pa.s
 Propellers are frequently of the three-bladed marine type and are used for
in-tank blending operations with low viscosity liquids, and may be
arranged as angled side-entry units, as shown in Figure 7.22.

 For large vessels, and when the liquid depth is large compared with the
tank diameter, it is a common practice to mount more than one impeller
on the same shaft. With this arrangement the unsupported length of the
propeller shaft should not exceed about 2 m.
 In the case of large vessels, there is some advantage to be
gained by using side- or bottom-entry impellers to avoid the
large length of unsupported shaft, though a good gland or
mechanical seal is needed for such installations or
alternatively, a foot bearing is employed.

 Despite a considerable amount of practical experience, foot

bearings can be troublesome owing to the difficulties of
lubrication, especially when handling corrosive liquids.
 In comparing propellers and turbines, the following features
may be noted:

Propellers:
(a) are self-cleaning in operation,
(b) can be used at a wide range of speeds,
(c) give an excellent shearing effect at high speeds,
(d) do not damage dispersed particles at low speeds,
(e) are reasonably economical in power, provided the pitch is
adjusted according to the speed,
(f) by offset mounting, vortex formation is avoided,
(g) if horizontally mounted, a stuffing box is required in the
liquid, and they are not effective in viscous liquids.
Shrouded turbine
(a) are excellent for providing circulation,
(b) are normally mounted on a vertical shaft with the stuffing box
above the liquid,
(c) are effective in fluids of high viscosity,
(d) are easily fouled or plugged by solid particles,
(e) are expensive to fabricate,
(f) are restricted to a narrow range of speeds, and
(g) do not damage dispersed particles at economical speeds,

Open impellers
(a) are less easily plugged than the shrouded type,
(b) are less expensive, and
(c) give a less well-controlled flow pattern.
FLOW PATTERN
 The way a liquid moves in an agitated vessel depends on;

a) the type of impeller;

b) the characteristics of the liquid, especially its viscosity;
c) the size and proportions of the tank, baffles and impeller.

 The liquid velocity at any point in the tank has three

components, and the overall flow pattern in the tank depends on
the variations in these three velocity components from point to
point.
 The first velocity component - radial and acts in a direction
perpendicular to the shaft of the impeller.
 The second component- longitudinal and acts in a direction
parallel with the shaft.
 The third component- tangential, or rotational, and acts in a
direction tangent to a circular path around the shaft.
FLOW PATTERN

Flow pattern from propeller mixer Radial flow pattern from

(Axial flow) disc turbine
 FLOW PATTERN

Radial impeller with baffles Axial or radial impeller

without baffles - vortexes
Axial impeller with baffles
 MIXING VS BLENDING
 MIXING : thoroughly combining two or more
materials in random distribution to achieve a
homogenous product.
 Eg: Bread making

 BLENDING: an act of combining multiple

components in gentle fashion to achieve blend
uniformity (uniform distribution of component).
Involves with solid-solid substances or bulk solid
with small amount of liquid.
 Eg: 3 in 1 mix powder
 CHAPTER 8 BLENDING AND MIXING

Often the criterion for good mixing is VISUAL;

The color change of an acid-base indicator to determine
liquid mixing time

Other criterion;
1. The rate of decay of concentration or temperature
fluctuation.
2. The variation in the analyses of small samples taken
at random from various parts of the mix.
3. The rate of transfer of a solute from one liquid phase
to another.
4. For solid-liquid mixtures, the visually observed uniformly
of the suspension.
BLENDING OF MISCIBLE LIQUIDS

 Miscible liquids are blended in relatively small process

vessels by propeller, turbines, or high-efficiency impeller;
- usually centrally mounted and
- in large storage and waste treatment tanks by side
entering propellers or jet mixers.
 In a process vessel, all the liquid is usually well agitated
and blending is fairly rapid.
 In large storage tank, the agitators may be idle much of
the time and be turned on only to blend the stratified
layers of liquid that were formed as the tank was being
filled. Stratified blending is often very slow.
STRATIFIED BLENDING
 A stratified, unblended, tank consists of a series of
strata, or layers of fluids.
 The process of blending requires breaking down the
interfaces between the various layers. The interface
between adjacent layers is a physical barrier, one that
requires energy to destroy.
 It is necessary to break down the interface by erosion,
or "turbulent entrainment".
BLENDING IN PROCESS VESSELS
 The impeller in a process vessel produces a high velocity stream,
and the liquid is well mixed in the region close to the impeller
because of the intense turbulence.
 As the stream slows down while entraining/carry along other liquid
and flowing along the wall, there is some radial mixing as large
eddies break down to smaller ones, but there is probably little
mixing in the direction of flow.
 The fluid completes a circulation loop and returns to the eye of the
impeller, where vigorous mixing again occurs.
 Calculations based on this model show that essentially complete
mixing should be achieved if the contents of the tank are circulated
about 5 times.
STRATIFIED BLENDING IN STORAGE TANK

For effective blending in a large tank,

- a side-entering propeller must be oriented precisely with regard
to both its angle with the horizontal (for top-to-bottom
circulation.
- and in the horizontal plane, the angle it makes with the tank
diameter.

For optimum results the propeller should be exactly horizontal

and make an angle with the diameter between 7-10⁰.

The time required for stratified blending depends on the

circulation rate but more importantly on the rate of erosion of the
interface between stratified liquid layers.

No general correlations are available for stratified blending.

STRATIFIED BLENDING
TYPES OF MIXER

1. Portable mixers
2. Extruders
3. Static Mixer
TYPES OF MIXER

1. Portable mixers
 For a wide range of
applications, a portable
mixer which can be clamped
on the top or side of the
vessel is often used. This is
commonly fitted with two
propeller blades so that the
bottom rotor forces the
liquid upwards and the top
rotor forces the liquid
downwards.
2. Extruders
 Mixing duties in the plastics industry are often carried out in either
single or twin screw extruders. The feed to such units usually contains
the base polymer in either granular or powder form, together with
additives such as stabilisers, pigments, plasticisers, and so on.

 During processing in the extruder the polymer is melted and the

additives mixed. The extrudate is delivered at high pressure and at a
controlled rate from the extruder for shaping by means of either a die
or a mould.
Static mixers

 In static mixers, sometimes called "in-line" or "motionless" mixers,

the fluids to be mixed are pumped through a pipe containing a
series of specially shaped stationary blades. Static mixers can be used
with liquids of a wide range of viscosities in either the laminar or
turbulent regimes, but their special features are perhaps best
appreciated in relation to laminar flow mixing.