Abstract
Inline mixing is an important unit operation in industrial processes. SMX mixers, which split, rotate and recombine flow, are considered the best static mixer for laminar mixing for a wide range of fluid viscosities. The objective of this work was to characterize mixing within a 9-element SMX mixer for miscible liquids using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids were evaluated through the acquisition of consecutive MR images that provided spatially localised data of the mixing of 2 equal volume fluids. These images were viewed qualitatively and quantitatively. Mixing indices as a function of axial positions indicated that mixing is more rapid for Newtonian fluids than the non-Newtonian fluid for 50–50 by volume mixing. Characterisation of mixing behaviour within the SMX mixer allows improved prediction of performance based on fluid properties, flow ratio and injection location.
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