Investigation of the flow characteristics of liquid–liquid two-phase mixing in an agitator equipped with a “V-shaped” horizontal baffle

Abstract

An agitator is an important operating unit in industrial production, and baffles play a vital role in the performance of the agitator. Compared to the performance of unbaffled agitators, traditional baffles can break vortices and improve the mixing in a stirred tank, but traditional baffles can also contribute to high energy consumption. A newly invented “V-shaped” horizontal baffle is introduced based on a traditional baffle, and the new baffle is attached to the inner wall of the agitator at the height of the impeller. Based on several different baffle conditions (an agitator without the “V-shaped” horizontal baffle and agitators with “V-shaped” horizontal baffles at angles of 30°, 60° and 90°), the fluid flow characteristics of the liquid–liquid two-phase flow mixing process are investigated by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The multiple reference frame method, the standard k − e model and the Eulerian–Eulerian two-fluid model are adopted. The “V-shaped” horizontal baffle is found to reduce energy consumption and improve mixing, which provides new approaches for the optimization and innovation of baffles.