TKS 3245 MIXING AND AGITATION

Evelyn, ST., MSc., PhD

Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Riau-Indonesia
evelyn@lecturer.unri.ac.id
2016
Materi kuliah Perancangan Alat Proses (TKS 3245) bagian kedua

Disain mekanik menara/kolom.

Disain tangki berpengaduk.
Disain cylone dan hydrocyclone.

Buku yang bisa digunakan:

Disain mekanik menara/kolom
Brownell and Young (1959), Process Equipment Design, Chapter 9
Design Tall Vertical Vessel.
Coulson Vol. 6. 4th edition (2005), Chapter 13 Mechanical Design of
Process Equipment.

Disain tangki berpengaduk

Sinnott and Gavin (2013), Chemical Engineering Design - SI
Edition (5th Edition).
Joshi (1976). Process Equipment Design (Chapter 14 Agitator)
McCabe et al, 5th edition (1993), Unit Operation of Chemical
Engineering, Chapter 9 Agitation and Mixing of Liquid

Disain hydrocyclone dan cyclone

Coulson Volume 6, 4th edition (2005), page 422 to 426 for hydrocyclone
(liquid cyclone) and page 450 to 457 for cyclone separator (gas cyclone).
TKS 3245 SYLLABUS CONTENT
• Basic Stirred Tank Design
• Vessel Flow Pattern
• Agitator Power Requirements
• Impeller Pumping
• Tank Blending
• Heat Transfer
• Solid Suspension
• Solid Dissolving
• Gas-Liquid Dispersions
• Liquid-Liquid Dispersions
• Pipeline Mixers
• Compartmented Column
• Scale Up
TKS 3245 INTRODUCTION
Mixing – the movement of fluids and solids to enhance a process
result – is accomplished by means of an agitation source.

In its most general sense, the process of mixing is concerned with all
combinations of phases, of which the most frequently occurring are:
1. Gases with gases
2. Gases into liquids: gas dispersion
3. Gases with granular solids: fluidization, pneumatic
conveying, drying
4. Liquids into gases: spraying and atomization
5. Liquids into liquids: dissolution, emulsification,
dispersion
6. Liquids with granular solids: solids suspension, mass
transfer, and dissolution
7. Pastes with each other and with solids
8. Solids with solids: mixing of powders

Interaction of three phases – gases, liquids, and solids – may also

occur, as in the hydrogenation of a vegetable oil in the presence of a
suspended solid nickel catalyst.
TKS 3245 INTRODUCTION

PURPOSES OF AGITATION
• Suspending solid particles
• Blending miscible liquids
• Dispersing a gas through the liquid
• Dispersing a second liquid to form an emulsion or
suspension
• Promoting heat transfer
TKS 3245 BASIC STIRRED TANK DESIGN
Mixing involving liquids has been most extensively studied and is most important
in practice; thus, fluid mixing will be given most coverage here (thus, the design).

A “typical” geometry for

an agitated vessel:

“Typical” geometrical
ratios are: D/T = 1/3; B/T =
1/12 (B/T = 1/10
in Europe); C/D= 1 and
Z/T = 1.

But not optimal for all

process results. e.g.,
optimal C/D for solids
suspension is closer to
C/D= 1/3 than to C/D= 1.

Four “full” baffles are

standard and square with
Z/T = 1.
IMPELLER TYPES
IMPELLER TYPES
Twelve common impeller types:

(a) The three-bladed Marine

Propeller (MP) was the first
axial flow impeller used in
agitated vessels. It is often
supplied with fixed and
variable speed portable
agitators up to 5 hp with
impeller diameters (D) up to
6″. Above D = 6″, marine
propellers are too heavy and
too expensive to compete with
hydrofoil impellers. They are
usually applied at high speeds
(up to 1750 rpm) in vessels up
to 500 gal, with a viscosity
limit of about 5000 cp. Lower
NRe limit: ~ 200.
IMPELLER TYPES
Twelve common impeller types:

(b) The impeller shown is the

Chemineer HE-3 hydrofoil,
high efficiency impeller, but all
vendors have competitive
impellers (e.g., Lightnin offers
the A310 hydrofoil impeller).
Hydrofoils are used extensively
for high flow, low shear
applications such as heat
transfer, blending, and solids
suspension at all speeds in all
vessels. The economical Hydrofoil is also axial
optimum D/T(0⋅4 >
[D/T]optimum >0⋅6) is greater
for hydrofoils than for higher
shear impellers.
Lower NRe limit: ~ 200; upto
3000 cp.
IMPELLER TYPES
Twelve common impeller types:

(c) The 6-blade disk (the 6BD and,

historically, the Rushton turbine)
impeller is ancient; nevertheless,
it still has no peer for some
applications. It invests the
highest proportion of its power as
shear of all the turbine impellers,
except those (e.g., the Cowles
impeller) specifically designed to
create stable emulsions. It is still
the preferred impeller for gas- 6BD is radial and for
liquid dispersion for small vessels low level mixing
at low gas rates, it is still used
extensively for liquid-liquid
dispersions, and it is the only
logical choice for use with fast
competitive chemical reactions.
Lower NRe limit: ~ 5.
IMPELLER TYPES

Twelve common impeller types:

(d) The 4-blade 45° pitched

blade (4BP) impeller is the
preferred choice where axial
flow is desired and where there
is a need for a proper balance
between flow and shear. It is
the preferred impeller for
liquid-liquid dispersions and
for gas dispersion from the
vessel headspace (located
about D/3 to D/2 below the free
liquid surface), in conjunction
with a lower 6BD or a concave
blade disk impeller.
Lower NRe limit: ~ 20;
0 – 50,000 cps; More versatile
IMPELLER TYPES

Twelve common impeller types:

(e) The 4-blade flat blade (4BF)

impeller is universally used to
provide agitation as a vessel is
emptied. It is installed,
normally fitted with
stabilizers, as low in the vessel
as is practical. An upper HE-3
or a 4BP is often installed at
about C/T =12 to provide
effective agitation at high
batch levels.
Radial
Lower NRe limit: ~ 5.
IMPELLER TYPES
Twelve common impeller types:

(f) The 6-blade disk-style

concave blade impellers (CBI)
[the Chemineer CD-6, which
uses half pipes as blades, is
shown] are used extensively
and economically for gas
dispersion in large vessels (in
fermenters up to 100,000 gal)
at high gas flow rates. The
CBIs will handle up to 200%
more gas without flooding than
will the 6BD, and the gassed Radial
power draw at flooding drops
only about 30%, whereas with
a 6BD, the drop in power draw
exceeds 50%.
IMPELLER TYPES

Twelve common impeller types:

(g) The sawtooth (or Cowles

type) impeller is the ultimate
at investing its power as shear
rather than flow. It is used
extensively for producing
stable liquid-liquid (emulsions)
and dense gas-liquid (foams)
dispersions. It is often used in
conjunction with a larger
diameter axial-flow impeller
higher on the shaft.
Lower NRe limit: ~ 10.
IMPELLER TYPES
(h) The helical ribbon impeller and the
Paravisc (l) are the impellers of choice
when turbines and anchors cannot
provide the necessary fluid movement to
prevent stratification in the vessel. The
turbine lower viscosity limit, for a
Newtonian fluid, is determined
primarily by the agitation Reynolds
number (Re=ND2ρ/μ). For 6BD and 4BF
turbines, Fasano et al. (1994, p. 111,
Table 1) say Re > 1, and Hemrajani and
Tatterson (in Paul (2004), 345) say
Re~10, although Novak and Rieger
(1975, p. 68, Figure 5) indicate a 6BD is
just as effective for blending as a helical
ribbon above Re~ 1. Using Re = 5 as the
6BD lower limit with T = 80″, D = 32″,N
= 56 rpm, the upper viscosity limit for a
6BD is about μ = ND2ρ/Re =
(56/60)(0:0254 × 32)2x1,000/5 = 120 Pa⋅s Radial
= 120,000 cp: Thus, with this system,
the helical ribbon is the impeller of
choice for μ>~100,000 cP. Lower NRe
limit= 0.
IMPELLER TYPES

Twelve common impeller

types:

(i) Anchor impellers are

used for an intermediate
range of 0.5 > Re >10
because they are much less
expensive than helical
ribbons and they sweep the
entire vessel volume;
whereas a turbine leaves
stagnant areas near the
vessel walls for Re < 10.
Lower NRe limit: ~ 2.
IMPELLER TYPES

Twelve common impeller types:

(j) The Ekato intermig impeller

has reverse pitch on the inner
and outer blades and they are
almost always used with
multiple impellers. They are
used at high D/T and promote
a more uniform axial flow
pattern than other turbine
impellers. They are advertised
to be very effective for solids
suspension, blending, and heat
transfer in the “medium
viscosity” range. Lower NRe
limit not given by Ekato (9),
perhaps ~ 5.
IMPELLER TYPES
Twelve common impeller types:

(k) The hollow-shaft self-

gassing impeller can, if
properly designed, eliminate
the need for a compressor by
taking the headspace gas and
pumping it through the hollow
shaft and dispersing it into the
batch as it leaves the hollow
blades. As indicated in the
Ekato Handbook, “Handbook of
Mixing Technology” (2000, p.
164), the “self-gassing” hollow-
shaft impeller is often used in
hydrogenation vessels where
the sparged hydrogen rate
drops to very low levels near
the end of batch hydrogenation
reactions.
IMPELLER TYPES
Twelve common impeller types:

(l) According to Ekato (2000, p.

85), “The paravisc is particularly
suitable for highly viscous and
rheologically difficult media.…”
With products that are
structurally viscous or have a
pronounced flow limit or with
suspensions having a low liquid
content, the paravisc is used as
the outer impeller of a coaxial
agitator system.” The Ekato
viscoprop is a good choice for the
Impellers (a) through (i) and (k)
counter-rotating inner impeller.
are available worldwide.
There is not a lower NRe limit.
Impellers (j) (the Intermig) and
The coaxial, co-rotating agitator is
(l) (the Coaxial [Paravisc Outside
an excellent choice for yield stress
and Viscoprop inside]) are
fluids and shear thinning fluids.
available only from Ekato.
AGITATOR : SELECTION GUIDE

For NRe >~ 200 the high efficiency impellers (e.g.,

propeller, Chemineer HE-3, Lightnin A310, and
others) are most economical.

For 5 ~< NRe <~ 200, 4BF or 6BDs are most

economical; however, once the flow regime becomes
laminar, the Helical Ribbon or Paravisc are the
preferred impellers. For competitive fast reactions,
where rapid blending is extremely important, a six-
blade disk impeller should be used so that the feed
stream can be introduced at high velocity to the eye
of the impeller. The disk forces the feed to
immediately move outward along the disk and into
the high shear zones around the impeller blade
tips, where local blending is extremely rapid.
AGITATOR : SELECTION GUIDE
Agitator :
preliminary selection
guide (Coulson)
TYPICAL DESIGN OF TURBINES (MCCABE)
IMPELLER SPEEDS

With 1750 rpm electric motors, standard impeller

speeds (Paul et al., 2004, p. 352) are 4, 5, 6, 7.5, 9,
11, 13.5, 16.5, 20, 25, 30, 37, 45, 56, 68, 84, 100,
125, 155, 190, 230, 280, 350, and 1750. In addition,
1200 rpm electric motors are readily available.
INTERNAL HEAT TRANSFER SURFACES

Helical coils, harp

coils, or platecoils
–
often installed
inside the vessel
and jackets (both
side wall and
bottom head).
TKS 3245 VESSEL FLOW PATTERNS

Agitator flow patterns. (a) Axial or radial impellers without baffles produce
vortexes. (b) Offcenter location reduces the vortex. (c) Axial impeller with
baffles. (d) Radial impeller with baffles.
TKS 3245 AGITATOR POWER REQUIREMENTS
It is a function of rpm of impeller, viscosity of fluid,
density of fluid, dimension of vessel and impeller. It
is related by the dimensionless form:
Figure 10.4 (from Sinnot’s) presents the power correlations
for the Chemineer Standard 4BP and HE-3 impellers as a
function of D/T at a C/T of 1/3.
Figure 10.7 The effect of off-bottom clearance (C) is pronounced for all impellers, as indicated in
above Figure. For a 6BD (Rushton) impeller, the power draw (P) decreases as the impeller is moved
closer to the vessel bottom from the typical impeller location of C/D = 1; for a 4BF turbine, P initially
decreases as the impeller is moved down from C/D = 1, reaches a minimum at about C/D = 0.7 and
then rises again as C/D drops below 0.7; and for a 4BP, the power draw continually increases as the
impeller moves down from C/D = 1.
EXAMPLE 1
EXAMPLE 2
A disk turbine with 6 flat blades is installed centrally in
a vertical baffled tank 2m in diameter. The turbine is
0.67 m in diameter and is positioned 0.67 m above the
bottom of the tank. The turbine blades are 134 mm wide.
The tank is filled to a depth of 2 m with aqueous solution
of 50% NaOH at 65°C (viscosity=12 cp; density=1,500
kg/m3). The turbine impeller turns at 90 rpm. What
power will be required?

If the viscosity is increased (to mix a rubber latex) to 120

Pa.s and a density of 1,120 kg/m3, what power will be
required?
IMPELLER PUMPING

Measured pumping capacities for various impellers

have been used to develop correlations of the flow
number (NQ = Q/ND3), as a function of NRe and
system geometry. Figure 10.8 presents such a
correlation for a 4BP and Figure 10.9 presents a
pumping correlation for the HE-3.

Examples 3 and 4 below determine the pumping

capabilities of a 4BP and an HE-3.
EXAMPLE 3

“
EXAMPLE 4
TANK BLENDING: BLENDING TIME

At the beginning, the human eye as a detector after

injecting dye into the batch.
Later work was done by injecting a tracer (e.g., KCl in
an aqueous solution and detecting its local concentration
by electrical conductivity) into a vessel and then
measuring its concentration decay with time at an
appropriate location in the vessel; this electronic method
allows determination of blending uniformity with time.
For NRE > 10,000
**

Km is the dimensionless mixing-rate

constant, a and b are the correlation
parameters depending on the type of
impeler
TANK BLENDING: BLENDING TIME

U is the conservative uniformity, t is the blending time.

One can account for the effects of fluids having different densities and
viscosities using the following equation (Fasano et al., 1994) (where tu, turb
is determined from above equation):

Equation Km** is limited to:

1. Newtonian fluids of nearly the same viscosity and density as
the bulk fluid.
2. Additions of 5%, or less, of the liquid volume of the vessel.
3. Additions made to a vessel already undergoing agitation
(blend times of stratified fluids can be considerably longer).
EXAMPLE 5
(McCabe)
HEAT TRANSFER IN AGITATED VESSEL

 Often it is necessary to cool or heat the contents of the

vessel during agitation.
 This is usually done by heat-transfer surfaces, which
may be in the form of:
1) cooling or heating jackets in the wall of the vessel
2) coils of pipe immersed in the liquid.
HEAT TRANSFER IN AGITATED VESSEL
Vessel with heating jacket
 When heating, the fluid entering is often steam, which
condenses inside the jacket and leaves at the bottom.
 The vessel is equipped with an agitator and in most cases
also with baffles (not shown).
 Correlations for the heat-transfer coefficient from the
agitated Newtonian liquid inside the vessel to the jacket
walls of the vessel have the following form:
 HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT

(SINNOT)

where:
K= a constant depending on the impeller
NRE = Reynold number
Npr = Prandtl number
MuR = viscosity ratio

OR:

where:
h is the heat-transfer coefficient for the agitated liquid to the inner wall in W/m2.K,
Dt is the inside diameter of the tank in m,
k is thermal conductivity in W/m.K,
Da is diameter of agitator in m,
N is rotational speed in revolutions per sec,
ρ is fluid density in kg/m3,
µ is liquid viscosity in Pa.s
Example 5:

(hP)
Vessel with heating coil
Correlations for the heat-transfer coefficient to the outside surface
of the coils in agitated vessel have the following form:
a) for a paddle agitator

 cp 
0.65 1/ 3 0.14
hDt  D N  2
  
 0.87  a
   
k     k   w 
b) for vertical baffle tube with a flat-blade turbine:
0.4
 cp    
0.65 1/ 3 1/ 3 0.2
hDo  D N 
2
 Da  2
 0.09 
a
       
 
k     k   Dt   nb   f 
Do is outside diameter of the coil tube (in m), nb is number of
vertical baffle tubes and µf is the viscosity of the mean film
temperature.
SOLID SUSPENSION

Zwietering’s correlation:

Njs = critical stirrer speed g = gravitational acceleration

D = agitator diameter ∆𝜌 = density difference
S = shape factor 𝜌l = liquid density
υ = kinematic viscosity B = 100 x (weight of solid/weight of liquid)
dp = average particle size
CHECK MC CABE FOR S (SHAPE FACTOR)
FOR SEVERAL TYPES OF IMPELLER
Example 6:

1/3;
AGITATOR SCALE-UP
Scale-up the laboratory-size or pilot-size agitation system to a full-
scale unit (geometrically similar system-different scale).
Scale-up procedure:
1. Calculate the scale-up ratio R. Assuming that the original
vessel is a standard cylinder with DT1 = H1, the volume is:
 DT21   DT31 
V1   ( H1 )   
 4   4 
The ratio of the volume is
V2  DT22 / 4   DT3 2 
  2 ( H1 )   3 
V1  DT 1 / 4   DT 1 
The scale-up ratio is then
1/ 3
V  D 
R   2    T 2 
 V1   DT 1 
2. Using this value of R, apply it to all of the dimensions to
calculate the new dimensions. For Example,
Da2 = RDa1 , J2 = RJ1…

3. Determine the agitator speed N2, to be used to duplicate the small

scale results using N1. The equation is:
n
D 
n
1
N 2  N1    N1  T 1 
R  DT 2 
Where n = 1 for equal liquid motion, n = ¾ for equal suspension
solids and n = 2/3 for equal rates of mass transfer (which
equivalent to equal power per unit volume, P1V1 = P2V2 ). This
value of n is based on empirical and theoretical considerations.

4. Knowing N2, the power required can be determined using

previous equation explained for NRE and P (also figures for Np).
Example 7: Scale up of Turbine Agitation System

An existing agitation system with a flat-blade turbine

with a disk and six blades. The given conditions and
sizes are DT1 = 1.83 m, Da1 = 0.61 m, W1 = 0.122 m,
J1 = 0.15 m, N1 = 90/60 = 1.50 rev/s, ρ = 929 kg/m3
and µ = 0.01 Pa.s. It is desired to scale up these
results for a vessel whose volume is 3.0 times as
large. Do this for the following two process
objectives:

a) Where equal rate of mass transfer is desired.

b) Where equal liquid motion is needed.
Solution
Since H1 = DT1 = 1.83 m,
the original tank volume, V  (D2 / 4)( H )   (1.83)3 / 4  4.813 m3
1 T1 1
Volume V2 = 3.0 (4.813) = 14.44 m3.
Following the steps in the scale-up procedure, and using Eq.(3.4-
8): 1/ 3
 V2 
1/ 3
 14.44 
R     
 V1   4.813 

The dimensions of the larger agitation system are as follows:

DT2 = RDT1 = 1.442 (1.83) = 2.64 m, Da2 = 1.442 (0.61) = 0.880 m,
W2 = 1.442 (0.122) = 0.176 m and J2 = 1.442 (0.15) = 0.216 m.

For part (a), for equal mass transfer, n = 2/3:

2/3 2/3
1  1 
N 2  N1    (1.50)   1.175 rev/s (70.5 rpm)
R  1.442 
Using Eq for NRE:
Da2 N (0 .880) 2
(1.175)(929)
N Re 
'
  8.453 104
 0.01
 Refer to Figure 10.6, and NRe = 8.453 x 104,

gives Np = 5.0

Using Np = 5.0 in Eq. for power requirement:

P1  N p N D  (5)(929)(1.5) (0.61)
3
1
5
a1
3 5

P1  1324 J/s  1.324 kW

P2  N p N D  (5)(929)(1.175) (0.880)
3
2
5
a2
3 5

P2  3977 J/s  3.977 kW

•The power per unit volume is P1 1.324
  0.2752 kW/m 3
V1 4.813
P2 3.977
  0.2752 kW/m 3
V2 14.44

For part (b), for equal liquid motion, n = 1.0

1.0 1.0
1  1 
N 2  N1    (1.50)   1.040 rev/s
R  1.442 

P2  N p N 23 Da52  (5)(929)(1.040)3 (0.880)5

P2  2757  2.757 kW

P2 2.757
  0.1909 kW/m 3
V2 14.44
DISPERSION OPERATIONS: GAS LIQUID DISPERSIONS

=aeration number
and Vl is the liquid volume in the vessel
DISPERSION OPERATIONS: LIQUID-LIQUID DISPERSIONS

PLEASE READ FOR YOUR ADDITIONAL KNOWLEDGE