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Energy 93 (2015) 1980e1988

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Energy efficiency of different impellers in stirred tank reactors


Houari Ameur*
^ma, 45000, Algeria
Institute of Science and Technology, University Center Ahmed Salhi, Naa

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

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

1. Introduction absorber. El-Askary et al. [9] investigated the hydrodynamics


characteristics of the hydrogen-generation process through elec-
The efficient mixing of liquids is very important in most in- trolysis. Jin et al. [10] explored the fluid flow and heat transfer
dustrial technologies. When designing a stirred system it is desir- characteristics in a solar air heater duct having multi V-shaped ribs
able to provide the required transport characteristics (i.e. mixing on the absorber plate. Modlinski [11] performed numerical simu-
intensity, heat and mass transfer, gas hold-up, etc.) at the lowest lations of flow with combustion in a coal-fired grate boiler. Ma et al.
possible energy consumption. The performance of such systems [12] studied the feasibility of using longitudinal vortex generators
depends on many variables, such as the geometry of the equip- to enhance the heat transfer in a thermoelectric power generator.
ment, physical properties of the liquid and operating conditions [1]. Ye et al. [13] explored numerically the effects of the blade tip
With the development of computer performance in the last grooving on the efficiency on an axial flow fan.
decades, many researchers have turned to CFD (computational fluid For stirred tank reactors, Achouri et al. [14] simulated numeri-
dynamics) for several applications. Yu et al. [2] described, with CFD cally the fluid flows in a in a vessel stirred by a PBT (Pitched Blade
simulations, the suspension and settling in the bio-waste particles Turbine). For a Newtonian fluid, Ammar et al. [15] achieved a nu-
flow in a bioreactor. Baigmohammadi et al. [3] studied numerically merical investigation of turbulent flows generated in baffled stirred
the behavior of methane-hydrogen/air pre-mixed flame in a micro vessels equipped with three different turbines in one and two-
reactor. Benajes et al. [4] studied the exhaust gas recirculation and stage systems. Aided by CFD simulations, Ameur and Bouzit [16]
miller cycle strategies for mixing-controlled low temperature developed a new correlation for predicting the power required
combustion in a diesel engine. Hashimoto and Shirai [5] performed for stirring shear thinning fluids by two-blade impellers in cylin-
numerical simulations of mixed combustion of bituminous and drical tanks. For Newtonian fluids, Rao and Sivashanmugam [17]
sub-bituminous coals. Sharma et al. [6] predicted syngas compo- presented experimental and simulation investigations on the po-
sition in a continuous stirred-tank reactor by using extents of major wer consumption for a new energy saving turbine agitator. These
reaction. Zhang et al. [7] studied the mixing phenomena in a authors performed modifications by introducing single and double
fermenter of starch to bio-ethanol. Isfahani et al. [8] studied the rectangular and V cuts in the conventional turbine agitator. Bao
effect of micromixing on the performance of a membrane-based et al. [18] established correlations for calculate the mixing time and
the power consumption for mixing CMC (Carboxy Methyl Cellu-
lose) solutions by four coaxial mixers. They combined with either
* Tel.: þ213 770343722. Pfaudler or CBY turbine as the inner stirrer, and helical ribbon or
E-mail address: houari_ameur@yahoo.fr. anchor as the outer one. Liu et al. [19] studied the power

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

consumption of a coaxial mixer formed by an outer wall-scraping


frame and double inner turbines. Their predicted results indi-
cated that the power consumption of the outer frame increases in
counter-rotation mode and decreases in co-rotation mode.
A new impeller design called Maxblend (see Fig. 2), is one of the
most promising new generation wide impellers due to its good
mixing performance, lower dissipation rates and simple geometry.
However, only few studies have been performed and reported in
the literature, especially for the agitation of shear thinning fluids
with yields stress.
The majority of non-Newtonian fluids are naturally opaque;
therefore, visualizing the flow fields of these fluids inside a mixing
vessel is a challenging task. Patel et al. [20] interested to the
Rushton turbine and the Maxblend impeller and demonstrated an
efficient method to visualize the non ideal flows such as dead zones
in stirred tank reactors.
Fontaine et al. [21] studied with experiments the flow dy-
namics of Newtonian, shear thinning and viscoelastic fluids in a
Maxblend impeller system. They reported that elasticity in the
laminar regime produces a reversal flow and a solid body rotation
in the bottom region of the tank. With Newtonian fluids, Iran-
shahi et al. [22] investigated experimentally and numerically the
flow and mixing in a vessel equipped with a Maxblend impeller in
Fig. 2. Characteristics of the stirred system.
the laminar and transition regimes for baffled and unbaffled
configurations. Ameur et al. [23] performed 3D numerical simu-
lations of a Maxblend impeller system with viscoplastic fluids different large impellers indicated that the Maxblend technology
possessing yield stress. They focused on the effect of fluid makes a better use of the mixing power in the upper part of the
rheology, impeller rotational speed, impeller clearance from the laminar regime and in the low turbulent regime. The power con-
tank bottom and impeller blade size on the fluid flow and power sumption was found almost identical as that of an anchor but far
consumption. lower than that of a double helical ribbon impeller.
Devals et al. [24] performed a CFD characterization of the hy- Aided by numerical simulations, Iranshahi et al. [26] investi-
drodynamics of the Maxblend impeller with viscous Newtonian gated and compared the mixing characteristics of the Ekato Para-
and non-Newtonian inelastic fluids. They found that the bottom visc with those of an anchor and a double helical ribbon. For
clearance plays a significant role on the power consumption, and Newtonian and shear thinning fluids, they found that the Paravisc
that the value of the Reynolds number and the power law index mixer characteristics lie between that of the other impellers at low
strongly affect the axial pumping efficiency and the shear rate Reynolds number.
profile. The best performance was obtained when the impeller For shear thinning fluids possessing yield stress, Patel et al. [27]
Reynolds number is superior to 10. showed by experiments that the Maxblend impeller is more effi-
Physical investigations have been carried out by Fradette et al. cient than the axial-flow impeller (Lightnin A320), radial-flow
[25] to characterize the power consumption and the mixing time in impeller (Scaba 6SRGT), and close-clearance impeller (anchor) in
a vessel equipped with a Maxblend impeller. These authors inves- terms of reducing the extent of dead zones inside the mixing vessel
tigated laminar, transitional and turbulent flow regimes using with a lower power consumption.
viscous Newtonian and non-Newtonian shear-thinning fluids. Stobiac et al. [28] investigated the accuracy of the extrapolation
Based on data from the literature, a comparison with many method for the lattice Boltzmann simulation of Newtonian fluid

Fig. 1. Geometries of all impellers studied.


1982 H. Ameur / Energy 93 (2015) 1980e1988

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]

where j is a non-dimensional parameter dependent on impeller


and tank diameters and locations of the impeller(s).
The significance of h is that the increase of h yields higher flow
velocity per unit power input. Thus, the energy efficiency of various
impeller designs for a given vessel size should be compared in 10
terms of this coefficient (h) [32].

4. Numerical simulation

Simulations were performed by using the computer code (CFX


1
13.0) which is based on the finite volume method to solve the 1 10 100 Rey
equations of momentum and energy. Since the stirred tank is not
provided with baffles, a RRF (rotating reference frame) approach Fig. 4. Power number for the anchor impeller.
was used. Here, the impeller is kept stationary and the flow is
steady relative to the rotating frame, while the outer wall of the
vessel is given an angular velocity equal and opposite to the ve- Both numerical and experimental results for the power number are
locity of the rotating frame. This technique has been used by other depicted on Figs. 3 and 4; the comparison shows agreement.
researchers [37,38] for different mixing systems and accurate re-
sults were found. For solving the equations of momentum and to 5.1. Flow energy efficiency of the four impellers
perform pressureevelocity coupling, a pressure-correction method
of the type SIMPLEC (Semi Implicit Method for Pressure Linked The ability of an impeller to convert its power input to the fluid
Equations Consistent) is used. flow is referred to as its hydraulic efficiency h. The higher this
Geometries of the mixing systems were realized with the help of quantity, the higher the energy transferred by the impeller to the
the preprocessor (Ansys ICEM CFD 13.0). The flow domain was agitated material, resulting in higher intensity of the flow [39].
divided into tetrahedral meshes. When creating meshes, an As a comparison, the energy efficiency of four impellers oper-
increased mesh density was performed near the impeller and the ating in viscoplastic fluids with yield stress is considered. For a
tank walls to capture the flow details. Mesh tests were performed Reynolds number Rey ¼ 100 and an angular position q ¼ 90 (i.e. the
by checking that the numerical results were grid independent. plane orthogonal to the impeller), simulation results of the flow
Mesh density was increased until the additional cells did not energy efficiency along the tank wall surface are depicted on Fig. 5.
change the energy efficiency and the power consumption in regions We note that the origin of the angular position (q ¼ 0 ) is taken at
with high gradients by more than 2.5%. the prolongation of the blade for each impeller. We remark from
Calculations were run in a platform with Core i7 CPU 2.20 GHz this figure that the flow energy efficiency profiles follow the same
with 8.0 GB of RAM. Numerical results were considered converged trend for the anchor, the gate and the Maxblend impellers. How-
when the residual target drop below 107. Most simulations ever, the maximum is reached with the Maxblend agitator. For the
required 2500e3000 iterations and 5e6 h for convergence. double helical ribbon impeller (DHR), we remark that the
maximum of h is reached in the area swept by the blade arms but
with small amplitude when compared with the Maxblend.
5. Results and discussion
On Fig. 6 we present the variations of the coefficient h along the
vessel radius for two locations: (a) Z* ¼ Z/D ¼ 0.075 near the vessel
First, we have checked the validity of our numerical results by a
base, (b) Z* ¼ 0.83 near the free surface of liquid. For more visibility,
comparison with the experimental data given by Patel et al. [27].
we present on Figs. 7 and 8 the spatial distribution of the flow
energy efficiency on horizontal cross section planes for different
vertical positions.
Np Exp [27]
100 Num [Present work]
*
Z Anchor impeller
Gate impeller
1.0 Helical ribbon impeller
Maxblend impeller
0.8

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

η Anchor impeller η Anchor impeller


0.12 Gate impeller Gate impeller
0.18 Helical ribbon impeller
0.11 Helical ribbon impeller
Maxblend impeller Maxblend impeller
0.10 0.16
0.09 0.14
0.08
0.12
0.07
0.06 0.10
0.05 0.08
0.04
0.06
0.03
0.02 0.04
0.01 0.02
0.00
0.00
-0.01
* *
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 R 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 R
(a) Z* = 0.075 (b) Z* = 0.83
Fig. 6. Flow energy efficiency, Rey ¼ 100, q ¼ 90 .

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

0.1 706.90 853.75 951.72 1304.73


1 71.69 84.88 95.95 130.92 25
10 7.300 8.59 9.734 13.13
24

perform efficiently the mixing process with a minimum expense of 23


energy [41].
Here, we estimated the energy consumption for the four im- 22
pellers. As shown on Fig. 9, the lower the Reynolds number, the
greater the energy required to achieve the agitation operation with 21

any kind of impellers. The energy required diminishes continuously


20
with increasing Reynolds number. This reduction is strong in the
deep laminar regime (Re < 10), however a fairly reduction is
19
remarked in the transitional regime. 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50 0.55 0.60 d1/D
The trend of the power number curve obtained in this study is
similar to that reported in the literature [27]. It has been shown that Fig. 12. Power number for Rey ¼ 10.
the Np*Re is constant in the laminar regime and the power con-
sumption (P) changes to some extent in the transitional regime.
Fig. 3 and Table 2 show that at Re < 10, the power curve with a slope As a comparison, the Maxblend impeller seems to be the best
of 1 fits the data, which implies that Np*Re is constant and the efficient in term of power consumption. Following a descending
flow is in the laminar regime. In the transitional regime, the power order in the power consumption for the four agitators:
number changes slightly with Re. Fradette et al. [25] and Iranshahi DHR > gate > anchor > Maxblend. The DHR impeller was found to
et al. [26] reported that the laminar region ends for Re in the range be efficient to improve mixing near the free surface of liquid but
between 35 and 40 for the Maxblend and anchor impellers. with more power drawn.

*
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

* mixing in this region. In this work, we tried to examine the effect of


Z Geometry A the impeller grid diameter. For this purpose, three geometric con-
1.4 Geometry B figurations are realized and which are: d1/D ¼ 0.30, 0.45 and 0.60,
Geometry C
respectively.
1.2
Variations of the circulation energy efficiency along the tank
1.0 wall surface are followed and depicted on Fig. 10. As observed, the
maximum flow energy efficiency is h ¼ 0.037 for d1/D ¼ 0.60
0.8
compared to h ¼ 0.032 for d1/D ¼ 0.45 and h ¼ 0.029 for d1/D ¼ 0.30.
0.6 The circulation energy efficiency profiles follow the same trend for
the three geometric configurations; however this parameter (h)
0.4 spreads more in the upper part of the vessel with increasing
0.2 impeller grid size. More illustration is given on Fig. 11 where h is
presented along the vessel radius for a vertical position of Z* ¼ 0.75
0.0 (area swept by the grid). It can be said from these results that, the
higher the impeller grid size, the higher the energy efficiency with
-0.2
additional power drawn (Fig. 12).
0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020 0.025 0.030 0.035 0.040 0.045 η
Fig. 14. Flow energy efficiency near the vertical vessel wall, Rey ¼ 100, q ¼ 90 . 5.3. Effect of the Maxblend paddle design

When mixing highly viscous non-Newtonian shear thinning


η Geometry A fluids with yield stress, velocities in the tank tend to decrease with
0.7 Geometry B an increase in the viscosity and the flow behavior index. It is very
Geometry C
important to increase fluid flow velocities through impeller mod-
0.6
ifications at a constant power input, where it is often not feasible to
0.5 increase the motor power for vessels with large geometrical di-
mensions [42].
0.4 In this part of the paper, another modification to the Maxblend
0.3 impeller design is done. It concerns the impeller bottom shape.
Three geometries are realized in the purpose of maximizing the
0.2 flow energy efficiency at the lower part of the vessel (see Fig. 13).
Predicted results of the flow energy efficiency are presented
0.1
along the tank wall (Fig. 14) and along the vessel radius at a vertical
0.0 position Z* ¼ 0.22 (near the vessel base) (Fig. 15). To give a different
perspective on the type of deformations induced by the impeller,
-0.1
* we show in Fig. 16 the spatial distribution of the flow energy effi-
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 R
ciency h at an horizontal cross section corresponding to Z* ¼ 0.18 of
Fig. 15. Flow energy efficiency at Z* ¼ 0.22, Rey ¼ 100, q ¼ 90 . level. As clearly illustrated, the geometry denoted C seems to be the
best design in term of maximizing the flow energy efficiency near
the vessel walls. However, an additional power is required to ach-
5.2. Effect of the Maxblend grid diameter ieve the mixing operation in the laminar regime (Fig. 17).

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

Np Vz axial velocity (m/s)


Vq tangential velocity (m/s)
27 Vr radial velocity (m/s)
R radial coordinate (m)
26 R* dimensionless radial coordinate, R* ¼ 2R/D
Z vertical coordinate (m)
25
Z* dimensionless vertical coordinate, Z* ¼ Z/D

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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