A study with PUREX aqueous-organic pair in Taylor-Couette mixing field

Abstract

The hydrodynamics and mass transfer in the Taylor-Couette mixing field are important activities for concurrent process intensification work for miniaturization of the chemical reactor volume and enhancing the energy input per unit volume. In the literature, many studies have been reported for mixing of conventional two-phase systems of industrial interest. However reported studies on mixing of PUREX aqueous organic pair in Taylor-Couette field are rare and few. Utilizing an indigenously developed Taylor-Couette column, hydrodynamic and mass transfer studies with PUREX aqueous-organic pair are reported in this study. Mass transfer and hydrodynamics runs were conducted with PUREX aqueous-organic pair. Aqueous dispersed conditions were employed for d→c mass transfer. Mass transfer performance was highly dependent on rotor speed till a critical value. Macro, meso and micromixing time values were evaluated for Taylor-Couette mixing. Prototyping of the system was completed with a special run with 0.1 M TODGA/n-dodecane nitric acid pair for mutual separation of Cs(I) and Sr(II).