CFD Simulation of Gas–Liquid–Liquid Three-Phase Flow in an Annular Centrifugal Contactor

Abstract

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of gas−liquid−liquid three-phase flow was carried out on an annular centrifugal contactor. An Euler−Euler, volume-of-fluid, multiphase-flow model was used for the three-phase flow simulation. The three-phase flow behaviors in the open and sealed inlet operation modes were investigated under various operating conditions. The location and morphology of the aqueous/organic interface were discussed in detail in light of the simulated pressure distribution. An interesting bistability phenomenon was observed in the simulation. The throughput of the annular centrifugal contactor was obtained from the simulation under various phase ratios and compared with experimental results. Excellent agreement was obtained, supporting the validity of the simulation method.

PIV experimental study on the flow field in the rotor zone of an annular centrifugal contactor

“…4(b)), the vortex is formed at the center of the rotor as well as in each separation cell. The numeric simulation results reported by Li et al (2012) are in an agreement with our observation. An explanation for this phenomenon should be raised from the aspect of the flow direction.…”

“…Recently, it was demonstrated that the flow field structure in the rotor region directly affects the separation efficiency of the ACC. With the assistance of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, Li et al (2012) investigated the behavior of gas-liquid-liquid flow in the open and sealed inlet operational modes. The influences of various operational conditions including the rotation speeds, the phase ratios, and the flow velocities etc.…”

Experimental and Computational Investigation of Mixing and Separation Performance in a Liquid–Liquid Cyclone Reactor

“…The Reynolds stress model (RSM) was chosen as the turbulence flow model in this study because of its good performance in predicting a complex swirling flow. ,, The comparison of the results under different turbulence flow models with the experimental results is shown in the Supporting Information. The specific governing equations for both models could be found in published literatures. , …”

Liquid‐Liquid Centrifugal Extractors: Types and Recent Applications – a Review

“…Using CINC V 02 geometry in [168], the two chambers were investigated in OpenFOAM , and, later, a hybrid multiphase solver was developed [169] with the goal to predict liquid-liquid interfacial area and droplet size distribution, thus mass transfer efficiency. Similar approach has been followed elsewhere using the dimensions of 70-mm INET ACC [170]. Authors in [171] introduced a technique that can be helpful to verify future CFD results, where non-invasive Computer Tomography was applied on a 3D-printed ACC.…”