Movement of Solid Particles on and off Bottom of an Unbaffled Vessel Agitated by Unsteadily Forward-Reverse Rotating Impeller

Abstract

An unbaffled agitated vessel having an unsteadily rotating impeller was employed as an apparatus mixing liquid and solid particles with the density larger than that of liquid. For this type of vessel, the movement of solid particles on and off the vessel bottom was studied in relation to the liquid flow produced by the impeller. When a disk turbine impeller with six flat blades was rotated in the forward-reverse mode, the liquid flow and the particle movement were visualized. Concurrently, the agitation requirement for complete solid suspension where no particle remains on the vessel bottom for more than a short period and all particles are in motion was determined as a minimum rotation rate of impeller. The liquid flow and the particle movement around a tiny heap of solid particles configured on the vessel bottom were characterized through measurement of their velocities by the particle tracking velocimetry (PTV). The relative velocity of rising with off-bottom suspension of solid particles was uniform in its distribution and wholly large in its magnitude, compared with that in a baffled vessel with a unidirectionally rotating impeller of the identical design, which revealed an effectiveness of this type of vessel as an apparatus for the solid-liquid mass transfer.