Two main commercial in-line high shear mixer (HSM) configurations, including the dual rows ultrafine teethed and the single-row blade-screen in-line units, were investigated under the pump-fed mode in order to disclose the pump capacity and power consumption characteristics. Results indicate that the pump capacity of the teethed in-line HSM is rather poor, with maximum pumping heads of 2.31−2.72 m and a maximum pumping efficiency of 1.5%. By contrast, the blade-screen in-line HSM demonstrates maximum heads around 4.33−4.76 m and a maximum pumping efficiency of 7.3%. The power number data of both units with the bearing loss subtracted can be correlated by the Froude number modified power consumption model. The predicted power numbers show good agreement with the experimental data for both in-line HSMs. The results obtained here are fundamental for the performance assessment as well as the design and selection of in-line HSMs.
Hydrodynamics of a pilot-scale in-line high shear mixer (HSM) with double rows of ultrafine rotor and stator teeth, including the velocity profiles and power consumptions, were measured using laser Doppler anemometry and a torque transducer, respectively. Computational fluid dynamics simulations were conducted using the standard k-e turbulence model with first-and second-order accuracy and large eddy simulation (LES) with the standard Smagorinsky-Lilly subgrid scale model. Predictive capabilities of the different turbulence models and discretization schemes were assessed based on the experimental data. It is found that the current LES can predict accurately the flow patterns for the strongly rotating and locally anisotropic turbulent flows in the complex in-line HSM. The results obtained are fundamental to explore potential applications of the in-line teethed HSMs to intensify chemical reaction processes.
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