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Article history: The flow energy efficiency of different impellers for stirring rheologically complex fluids (yield stress
Received 20 February 2015 fluids) in cylindrical tanks has been investigated in this paper. Four impellers have been used: a Max-
Received in revised form blend, an anchor, a gate and a double helical ribbon impeller. Our investigations were achieved via
19 October 2015
numerical simulations with the help of a CFD (computational fluid dynamics) computer program CFX
Accepted 21 October 2015
13.0. It was found from the predicted results that the Maxblend impeller gives the best performance. The
Available online xxx
effects of some design parameters on the flow energy efficiency and the power consumption have been
also studied; it concerns the Maxblend impeller: its grid size and its paddle curvature.
Keywords:
Energy efficiency
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Maxblend impeller
Yield stress fluid
CFD simulations
Stirred tank
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.10.084
0360-5442/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H. Ameur / Energy 93 (2015) 1980e1988 1981
flows in a Maxblend impeller system. Their results showed that the 3. Theoretical considerations
standard bottom clearance is not optimum in the transitional
regime. Shear thinning fluids with yield stress were modeled in this
Stobiac et al. [29] examined numerically the pumping mecha- work, the Xanthan gum solution was considered. Rheological
nisms generated by the Maxblend impeller for Newtonian fluids properties of the materiel simulated are summarized on Table 1,
(Re ¼ 2 e 140) and strongly shear-thinning fluids (Reg ¼ 0.1 e 50). which are based on measurements conducted by Galindo and
Their results indicate a small pumping capacity in the deep laminar Nienow [33]. It's rheology can be described by the Herchel Bulkkley
regime followed by its sharp increase in the transitional regime. In model [34]:
the case of the strongly shear thinning fluids, the flow fields and so-
called pumping volumes revealed, similarly to the Newtonian case, :n
t ¼ ty þ Kg (1)
a change in the structure of the axial and (secondary) radial flow
when the Reynolds number is increased. where ty is the yield stress, K is the consistency index, g_ is the shear
Guntzburger et al. [30] introduced a new experimental method rate and n is the flow behavior index.
to determine the global pumping capacity of four impellers, According to the Metzner and Otto's correlation [35], the
namely: a Maxblend impeller, a RT (Rushton turbine), a three-blade average shear rate can be related to the impeller speed by:
HP (hydrofoil propeller) and a four PBT (pitched blade turbine).
Their results showed that the Maxblend impeller performs better :
gavg ¼ Ks N (2)
than the other three turbines in the transitional regime, and it has a
similar pumping capacity than that of the RT and the PBT in the The average shear rate can be used to evaluate the apparent
turbulent regime. viscosity (h) of the solution, which is a HerscheleBulkley fluid.
Liu et al. [31] investigated the micro mixing characteristics of a
novel LDB (Large-Double-Blade) impeller based on Maxblend and t t ty þ KðKs NÞn
FZ (Fullzone) impellers. They compared the performance of LDB h¼ : ¼ ¼ (3)
gavg ks N Ks N
impeller with that of FZ and DHR (double helicon ribbon) impellers.
The LDB stirrer is found to be the most efficient for the same power The Reynolds number can be given as:
consumption per unit volume.
It is often advantageous to increase fluid flow velocities at the Ks N 2 D2 r
tank walls or in the bulk flow in order to improve the heat transfer, Rey ¼ (4)
ty þ KðKs NÞn
to reduce the rate at which scale grows at the tank wall surface, and
to increase the metal extraction rate [32]. The best challenge is to The impeller pumping flow rate could be expressed as (refer to
increase fluid flow velocities within constraints of the available Wu et al. [36]):
power input, as it is expensive to alter larger scale motors to obtain
an additional power. Therefore, it seems important to improve the ! 1=3
NQ P 4
impeller flow energy efficiency. Q¼ D (5)
P0
1=3 r
From our search in the literature, it was found that most studies
focused on the flow structure, the mixing time and turbulence
parameters, with less attention to the flow energy efficiency. where Q is the flow rate, r the fluid density and P the power
Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to study the flow en- consumption.
ergy efficiency of different impellers for stirring shear thinning The power number Np is determined according to this equation:
fluids possessing yield stress. The impellers considered are: a
Maxblend, an anchor, a gate and a DHR (double helical ribbon). P
NP ¼ (6)
Some design parameters of the Maxblend impeller are also inves- rN 3 D5
tigated. The four impellers studied belong to the same kind, is that
The flow number NQ is calculated as:
of the close clearance impellers. These stirrers are widely used for
mixing highly viscous and non-Newtonian fluids. But, which is best
mixer? Q
NQ ¼ (7)
ND3
2. Stirred system The factor NQ/P1/3
0 is defined as the impeller flow efficiency index
[32]:
The mixing system used in this paper is a flat-bottomed cylin- Based on Eq. (5), the averaged velocity at impeller exit can be
drical unbaffled vessel equipped with a rotating impeller. Four calculated as:
impellers are used: a Maxblend (Fig. 1a), an anchor (Fig. 1b), a gate
(Fig. 1c) and a double helical ribbon impeller (Fig. 1d). ! 1=3
4 NQ 2=3 P 4
We note that the following parameters are taken with all geo- V¼ D D (8)
metric configurations: the vessel diameter D ¼ 130 mm, the vessel p P 1=3 r
0
height H/D ¼ 1, the impeller clearance from the tank bottom c/
To estimate the velocities at the tank walls at a given power
D ¼ 0.2, the impeller blade height h/D ¼ 0.6, impeller blade diam-
input, we may normalize Eq. (8), to obtain a non-dimensional ef-
eter d/D ¼ 0.6, the shaft diameter ds/D ¼ 0.4. For the Maxblend
ficiency coefficient h:
impeller (Fig. 2), the paddle height is h1/D ¼ 0.23 and the grid
height is h2/D ¼ 0.38.
In the purpose to examine the effect of impeller design, four Table 1
geometrical configurations were realized, it concerns the Maxblend Rheological properties of Xanthan gum solution.
grid size: d1/D ¼ 0.30, 0.45, and 0.60, respectively. The design of the Concentration (%) K [Pa sn] n [e] ty [Pa]
Maxblend paddle has also been modified by realizing three shapes
3.5 33.1 0.18 20.6
as will be shown later (on Fig. 2).
H. Ameur / Energy 93 (2015) 1980e1988 1983
V NQ Np
h ¼ 1=3 ¼ j 1=3 (9) Exp [27]
P rD 2 P0 100 Num [Present work]
4. Numerical simulation
10 0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
1
1 10 100 Rey 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 η
Fig. 3. Power number for the Maxblend impeller. Fig. 5. Flow energy efficiency near the vertical vessel wall, Rey ¼ 100, q ¼ 90 .
1984 H. Ameur / Energy 93 (2015) 1980e1988
Fig. 7. Contours of the flow energy efficiency for Rey ¼ 100, at Z* ¼ 0.3.
The conclusions drawn from the analysis of these figures are as Fradette et al. [25]. The front side of the paddle creates an over-
follows: pressure near the vessel base and pushes the fluid close to the wall
In the whole vessel volume, the anchor impeller is the less in the upward direction. The fluid at the upper part of the vessel is
efficient impeller (Figs. 6e8). Adding a vertical arm to this impeller sucked by the low pressure created at the bottom of the tank; the
for obtaining a gate can improve mixing in the lower part of the fluid goes downward along the impeller shaft. Mixing is achieved
vessel, but it seems insufficient for the upper part of the vessel and enhanced by axial pumping.
(Fig. 8). The anchor and gate impellers create tangential flows, as a However, the grid mounted on the Maxblend cannot provide
result, a vortex is formed at the free surface of liquid and the fluid sufficient homogenization energy near the free surface of liquid.
begins rotating with the stirrer rather than being pumped. At The DHR impeller can remedy this issue as remarked on Fig. 8 and
higher stirrer rotational speeds, the vortex increases in size and the this is due to the size of the arm blade.
rotational movement entrains the fluid in the whole vessel volume, Electric energy consumption is an important parameter for the
consequently, the pumping effect of the stirrer is reduced. stirred tank design. It is defined as the amount of the electric en-
The paddle design of the Maxblend impeller seems the best ergy necessary (in a period of time) to generate the fluid circulation
efficient in the lower vessel volume (Fig. 8). The shape of the paddle within a tank by means of mechanical agitation [40]. The costs
creates large pressure variations inside the vessel and it can be associated with power drawn contribute significantly to the overall
considered responsible for the efficient flow motion, as reported by operation costs of industrial plants. Therefore it is desirable to
Fig. 8. Spatial distribution of the flow energy efficiency for Rey ¼ 100.
H. Ameur / Energy 93 (2015) 1980e1988 1985
Np Maxblend impeller
η
14 Anchor impeller 0.40 d /D = 0.30
13 Gate impeller d /D = 0.45
Double Helical ribbon impeller 0.35 d /D = 0.60
12
11 0.30
10
9 0.25
8 0.20
7
6 0.15
5
0.10
4
3 0.05
2
0.00
1
10 20 30 40 50 60 -0.05
Rey 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 R
*
Fig. 9. Power number for vessel size ¼ 0.6. Fig. 11. Flow energy efficiency at Z* ¼ 0.75, Rey ¼ 100, q ¼ 90 .
Table 2
Values of Np in the deep laminar regime. Np
Re Maxblend Anchor Gate DHR 26
*
Z d /D = 0.30
d /D = 0.45
1.4
d /D = 0.60
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020 0.025 0.030 0.035 0.040 η
Fig. 13. The different geometrical configurations realized to examine the effect of the
Fig. 10. Flow energy efficiency near the vertical vessel wall, Rey ¼ 100, q ¼ 90 . Maxblend paddle design.
1986 H. Ameur / Energy 93 (2015) 1980e1988
In the case of the Maxblend impeller, we remarked that the flow 6. Conclusion
energy efficiency is pretty low at the top of the vessel, which cor-
responds to a quasi-solid body rotation. Devals et al. [24] reported This paper provided a 3D numerical simulation of yield stress
that the distance between the upper part of the impeller and the fluid flows generated by different impellers within cylindrical
liquid surface in the vessel must be adjusted if one wants to ensure vessels. The flow energy efficiency of four impellers is investigated,
Fig. 16. Spatial distribution of the circulation energy efficiency at Z* ¼ 0.18, Rey ¼ 100.
H. Ameur / Energy 93 (2015) 1980e1988 1987
24 Greek letters
:
gavg average shear rate (1/s)
23
r fluid density (kg/m3)
t shear stress (Pa)
22 ty suspension yield stress (Pa)
A B C Geometry
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