Characterization of mixing and residence time distributions in nozzle‐type reactors

Abstract

Studies of flow characteristics and residence time distribution, (RTD), have been undertaken in a range of geometrically similar, laboratory nozzle-type reactors. High-speed cine-photography was employed to record the complex phenomena of liquid mixing in the reactor and also to record on film the colour of an injected tracer solution leaving in the effluent. A novel atomic absorption spectrophotometric (AAS) technique was applied to transform the results of the latter film into response curves. This technique provided detailed quantitative data on the residence time distributions (RTD) for different feed rates. A multiparameter model, comprising a network of CSTR's and plug flows, was developed to simulate the experimental response data. Good agreement was obtained between model predictions and experimental results. The experimental technique and theoretical approach are recommended for analyzing the flow patterns and mixing mechanisms in such reactors.