AGITATION

Agitation refers to forcing a fluid by mechanical means to flow in a circulatory or

other pattern inside a vessel. Mixing usually implies the taking of two or more separate
phases, such as fluid and a powdered solid or two fluids, and then causing then to be
randomly distributed through one another.

1. Introduction
An adequate specification of mixing equipment is inherent in many chemical reactors
designs. In crystallization and drying plant various types and in some processing
equipment handling solid-liquid suspensions. Efficient mixing is obtained when correct
 answers are available to such questions as 1) Size of motor required to drive the mixing
equipment 2) Speed of the unit for quality of mixing desired 3) Type of impeller and use
of baffles.

2. Materials and methods

Agitator 2-blade paddle or square-pitch propeller (three sizes)

Baffle strips (removable)
Dynamometer
Tachnometer
Container (10” da, 18” transparent)
2.1 Procedure:
The container was filled to almost 14 inches (tans is without baffles). Then the
impeller was then attached to the agitator. The impeller was then immersed in water inside
the container such that its elevation is about 4 inches. With the dynamometer attached to the
shaft, the power requirement was measured for different speed of rotation. The speed was
then measured using tachnometer. The baffle strips was placed in the container.
Solution:

Given: 𝜇 = 10𝑐𝑝 𝐷𝑇1 = 10 𝑖𝑛 (𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟)

𝑣1 = 10 𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝐷𝑇2 = 6 𝑖𝑛 (𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟)

Required: 𝐷𝑇1 𝐷𝐴2 𝑁2 𝑃 𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑉2 = 200 𝑔𝑎𝑙

At constant time and 𝑁𝑅𝐸

𝐷𝐴2 = 𝑅(𝐷𝐴1 ) = 2.713(0.152𝑚) = 0.412𝑚 𝑜𝑟 16.3𝑖𝑛

𝐷𝑟2 = 𝑅(𝐷𝑇1 ) = 2.713(0.264𝑚) = 0.689𝑚 𝑜𝑟 27.1𝑖𝑛

𝐷2 𝐴𝑁𝜌
𝑁𝑅𝐸1 = 𝑁𝑅𝐸2 ; 𝑁𝑅𝐸1 = 𝑁𝑅𝐸2 = 𝜌1 = 𝜌2 𝑎𝑛𝑑𝜇1 = 𝜇2
𝜇

𝐷2 𝐴𝑁𝜌 𝐷2 𝐴𝑁𝜌
( )1 = ( )2
𝜇 𝜇

𝐷𝐴1 2 0.152 2
𝑁2 = ( ) 𝑁1 = 𝑁2 = ( ) (500 𝑟𝑝𝑚) = 68.06𝑟𝑝𝑚
𝐷𝐴2 0.412
Using Norwood and Metzner’s correlation 𝑠2 = 𝑠1

2 1 1 2 1 1
𝑡2 [𝑁2 𝐷𝐴2 ]3 [𝑔]6 [𝐷𝐴1 ]2 𝑡1 [𝑁1 𝐷𝐴1 ]3 [𝑔]6 [𝐷𝐴2 ]2
1 3 = 1 3
(𝐻2 )2 (𝐷𝑇2 )2 (𝐻1 )2 (𝐷𝑇1 )2

𝐻 𝐷𝑇 𝐷𝐴
Where: 𝑅 = 𝐻2 = 𝐷𝑇2 = 𝐷𝐴2 (𝑓𝑜r geometrically similar units)
1 1 1

𝑡 = 133.84 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑟 2.23 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠

𝑁𝑃1 = 𝑁𝑃2 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑔𝑒𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠

𝑃2 𝑃2 𝐷𝐴2 3
= ;( ) = 𝑘3
𝜌𝑁2 3 𝐷𝐻2 5 𝜌𝑁2 3 𝐷𝐻2 5 𝐷𝐴1

68.08𝑟𝑝𝑚 3
𝑃2 = 0.5 ℎ𝑝 ( ) (2.713)5 = 0.18 ℎ𝑝
500𝑟𝑝𝑚

At constant agitator peripheral speed:

𝐷𝑇2 = 0.689 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑟 27.1 𝑖𝑛 𝐷𝐴2 = 0.412𝑚 𝑜𝑟 16.3𝑖𝑛

𝑣1 = 𝑣2 𝑁2 𝐷𝐴2 = 𝑁1 𝐷𝐴1

𝑁2 = 184.5 𝑟𝑝𝑚

Using Norwood and Metzner’s Correlation:

𝐻2 0.5 𝑁2 𝐷𝐴1 2 𝐷𝐴1 0.5

𝑡2 = 𝑡1 ( ) ( )3 ( )
𝐻1 𝑁1 𝐷𝐴1 𝐷𝐴2

0.5 1..5
184.5(0.152)2 2 0.152 0.5
𝑡2 = 30 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑠(2.713) (2.713) ( )3 ( )
500(0.412)3 0.412

𝑡2 = 18.25 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑠

184.5 3
𝑃2 = 0.5 ℎ𝑝( ) (2.713)3 = 3.69ℎ𝑝
500

At constant rpm

𝐷𝑇2 = 0.689𝑚 𝑜𝑟 27 𝑖𝑛 𝐷𝐴2 = 0.412𝑚 𝑜𝑟 16.3 𝑖𝑛

𝑁2 = 500 𝑟𝑝𝑚 ; 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡

 1 2
1 2 1 1
𝑡2 = 𝑡1 (𝑅)2 (𝑅)3 (𝑅)3 (𝑅)2

1 3 1 2 1 1
𝑡2 = 30 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑠(2.713)2 (2.713)2 ( )3 ( )2
2.713 2.713

500𝑟𝑝𝑚 3
𝑃 = 0.5 ℎ𝑝 ( ) (2.73)5 = 73.5ℎ𝑝
500𝑟𝑝𝑚

Recommendations:

It would be better to conduct experiment on agitation to prove theories.