Mixing, reaction and precipitation: an interplay in continuous crystallizers

Abstract

The two-environment micromixing model of Ng and Rippin (1965, Third Europ. Symp. Chem. React. Engng, pp. 161–165. Pergamon Press, Oxford) and the IEM (Interaction by Exchange with the Mean) model are extended to a process involving the elementary chemical reaction between two reactant species and subsequent crystallization of product in a continuous crystallizer with premixed feeds at the entry. The sensitivity of these models to Damko¨hler number and dimensionless micromixing parameter is explored. The computationally efficient two-environment model appears to characterize satisfactorily the micromixing effects in a continuous reactive precipitator while the IEM model description in a continuous MSMPR (mixed suspension mixed product removal) crystallizer is better suited to a nearly segregated system.