Influence of impeller clearance, impeller size and baffles on copper sorption on zeolite NaX: Do the size and position really matter?

Abstract

Even though optimal mixing parameters may significantly influence the sorption process and its costs, the influence of hydrodynamics on sorption in a batch reactor hasn't yet been adequately studied. In this study, the hydrodynamic conditions produced by pitched blade turbine (PBT) impellers of various diameters and positions in baffled and unbaffled reactors were investigated. The objective was to investigate their influence on the just suspended impeller speed (NJS), power consumption per zeolite mass and the sorption process at the same temperature, initial copper solution concentration, and zeolite particle size in all the experiments conducted. The results show that NJS generally decreases as impeller diameter increases and is lower in the reactor without baffles. A transient multiphase computational fluid dynamics model was developed to provide valuable insight into the complex flow kinetics and it was found that the further the impeller is from the bottom of the baffled reactor the wider is the secondary suspension flow and the intensity of the flow below the impeller decreases. For this reason, complete suspension of the NaX zeolite particles in the solution was achieved at a higher PBT impeller speed. Due to the swirling motion of the suspension, this phenomenon is not observed in the unbaffled reactor for all the impellers used besides the smallest one. The power consumption per zeolite mass, at the state of complete zeolite suspension, increases in baffled reactor and decreases in unbaffled reactor with increasing impeller diameter having significantly lower values in the unbaffled reactor. The significantly lower power consumption per zeolite mass in an unbaffled system could be attributed to, not only the generally lower NJS values, but also to the resistance force which baffles make to the tangential fluid flow. The Ritchie model and Mixed surface reaction and diffusion controlled adsorption kinetic model were used for the kinetic analysis of the experimental kinetic data. The kinetic results indicate that the process is faster when the impeller is at the standard of bottom clearance, regardless of the presence of the baffles.