Chapter 3 - CLASSIFICATION AND CONFIGURATIONS OF IMPINGING-STREAM REACTORS

Abstract

This chapter presents the classification and configurations of impinging stream (IS) reactors. The method of IS can be applied to various technological processes involving gas–gas, gas–solid, gas–liquid, liquid–liquid, and solid–liquid suspensions. Reactors employing IS may differ in principle only in their configuration because of the following reasons: (1) peculiarities of the processed materials—namely, granules, pastes, and solutions; (2) process operating parameters—namely, pressure, temperature, etc.; (3) special demands regarding the characteristics of the product; (4) materials of the reactor's construction. Commonly, IS reactors are composed of the following elements—storage tank for the feed; feeder; two acceleration pipes connected to the reactor in which particles are accelerated by the continuous phase from their inlet velocity to some fraction of the velocity of the continuous phase; a reactor with an exit at the bottom for the product and an exit at the top for the continuous phase; separator, usually a cyclone, for removing fines from the stream leaving at the top of the reactor; storage tank for the product. IS reactors can be classified into a large number of variants on the basis of the number of IS, angle of impingement, shape of the duct carrying the streams, and flow characteristics of the streams such as swirling or non-swirling.