CFD Analysis of Fluid Flow Above the Upper Weir of an Annular Centrifugal Contactor

Gandhir, Akshay; Wardle, Kent E.

doi:10.1080/01496395.2011.617026

Cited by 20 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…(27) Sathe et al [28] have shown that, when the drops are large, centrifugal force on the drops due to tangential rotation of fluid around the cylinder axis was found to be dominant which gives a banded dispersion such that Ta [165] has shown that the design of the weir cap has a significant effect on the flow patterns above the weir as well as on the pressures generated in this region. In turn, the pressure drop will have an influence on the throughput as characterized by the zero point flow rate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Simulations and experiments verified that venting of the cap could eliminate this siphon formation. Building on the previous simulations for the full rotor, Gandhir and Wardle [165] explored the flow in the aqueous underflow region (region on heavy phase side above item 10B in Figure 1) and above the upper weir using freesurface capturing, this time using the open-source CFD toolkit OpenFOAM as the CFD package. While significant liquid accumulation and some negative pressure buildup was observed, complete liquid sealing of the weir cap outlets was not found in this case (Figure 10(b)) and was attributed to the greater mesh resolution used in this study relative to the earlier one.…”

Section: Flow Simulation For Gas-liquid System Inside the Rotormentioning

confidence: 99%

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CFD Simulation of Annular Centrifugal Extractors

Vedantam

Wardle

Tamhane

et al. 2012

International Journal of Chemical Engineering

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Annular centrifugal extractors (ACE), also called annular centrifugal contactors offer several advantages over the other conventional process equipment such as low hold-up, high process throughput, low residence time, low solvent inventory and high turn down ratio. The equipment provides a very high value of mass transfer coefficient and interfacial area in the annular zone because of the high level of power consumption per unit volume and separation inside the rotor due to the high g of centrifugal field. For the development of rational and reliable design procedures, it is important to understand the flow patterns in the mixer and settler zones. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has played a major role in the constant evolution and improvements of this device. During the past thirty years, a large number of investigators have undertaken CFD simulations. All these publications have been carefully and critically analyzed and a coherent picture of the present status has been presented in this review paper. Initially, review of the single phase studies in the annular region has been presented, followed by the separator region. In continuation, the two-phase CFD simulations involving liquid-liquid and gas-liquid flow in the annular as well as separator regions have been reviewed. Suggestions have been made for the future work for bridging the existing knowledge gaps. In particular, emphasis has been given to the application of CFD simulations for the design of this equipment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Flow Simulation For Gas-liquid System Inside the Rotormentioning

confidence: 99%

CFD Simulation of Annular Centrifugal Extractors

Vedantam

Wardle

Tamhane

et al. 2012

International Journal of Chemical Engineering

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“…Although the phase distribution, especially the emulsion band, is important for the hydrodynamic performance of the ACC, it is difficult to directly observe the phase distribution including the location and thickness of the emulsion band in the separation zone . The phase distribution of the extracted system in the separation zone can now be indirectly obtained using particle image velocimetry (PIV), , computer tomography (CT), CFD simulation, ,, the liquid fast separating method, and the liquid fast discharging method . Xu et al studied the distribution of the flow in the separation zone of the ACC using PIV and observed vortices within each separation cell.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of the Structure, Operation, and Physical Parameters on the Actual Phase Ratio and Interface Radius in the Separation Zone of an Annular Centrifugal Contactor

Miao

Sun

Zheng

et al. 2022

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

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The annular centrifugal contactor (ACC) is highly efficient solvent extraction equipment and has been successfully used in many industrial fields. The phase distribution of two phases in the separation zone of the rotor is an important factor affecting the hydraulic performance of the ACC. It can be characterized by the actual phase ratio (R o/a ) and interface radius (r i ). So far, there have been few systematic research studies on the effects of the structure, operation, and physical parameters on them. This work systematically investigated the effects of the structure [the radius of the heavy phase weir (r a *) and radius of the light phase weir (r o *)], operation [rotor speed (N), flow ratio (F o/a ), and total flow (Q)], and physical parameters [density difference (ρ a − ρ o ), viscosity ratio (μ o /μ a ), and interfacial tension (γ/γ*, γ* is the constant interfacial tension)] on the hold-up volume, R o/a , and r i in the 20 mm ACC using a liquid fast separating method. The results show that R o/a and r i increased with the increase of N, F o/a , and r a * and decreased with the increase of r o *, Q, and ρ a − ρ o . However, μ o /μ a and γ/γ* have little effect on R o/a and r i .The N can reach more than 5000 rpm when the ρ a − ρ o is greater than 0.2200 g/cm 3 . The closer the R o/a is to 0.45, the better the hydrodynamic properties of the extracted system are in the ACC. A new model associated with these parameters was established to calculate r i . The results show that the ρ a − ρ o of the extraction system is the main factor affecting the r i with a degree of influence of 0.5654, followed by the combination of different-size phase weirs with a degree of influence of 0.4052. Moreover, the r i values obtained by the model are in good agreement with those obtained by experiments. The experimental results will provide relevant references for the improvement and optimization of the ACC.

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“…International interest in CFD of the flow in the ACC has been increasing in recent years. Much work has been done in the field of CFD simulations of the ACC [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] . In this work, CFD simulations of the air/water two-phase in the mixing region of the 70 ACC with a rotor of 70 mm in diameter were carried out.The purpose of this research is to improve the general understanding of the flow within a centrifugal contactor through the application of CFD, which can guide the ACC design, perform operational optimizations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CFD Simulations of the Air/Water Two-phase Flow in an Annular Centrifugal Contactor

Wang

Duan

et al. 2013

Energy Procedia

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Annular centrifugal contactors (ACCs) use centrifugal force to mix and separate two immiscible liquids of different densities. The compact size, small liquid hold-up volume, short liquid residence time and high efficiency of ACCs have made them be favored for nuclear processes and destined to play a more important role for future advanced nuclear processing schemes. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations can provide a more complete understanding of the flow within the ACC for further advancements in design and operation of future ACCs. In this paper, CFD simulations of the air/water two-phase flow in the mixing zone of the ACC were carried out. The flow patterns and velocity profiles of the steady-state simulations for three different rotor speeds in the annular region and under the rotor are presented.

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CFD Analysis of Fluid Flow Above the Upper Weir of an Annular Centrifugal Contactor

Cited by 20 publications

References 5 publications

CFD Simulation of Annular Centrifugal Extractors

CFD Simulation of Annular Centrifugal Extractors

Effects of the Structure, Operation, and Physical Parameters on the Actual Phase Ratio and Interface Radius in the Separation Zone of an Annular Centrifugal Contactor

CFD Simulations of the Air/Water Two-phase Flow in an Annular Centrifugal Contactor

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