Numerically investigating the effects of geometry on hydrodynamics and particle suspension performance in continuous oscillatory baffled crystallizers

Abstract

An Eulerian-Eulerian two-fluid model was employed to reveal the hydrodynamics behaviors of solid–liquid flow and particle suspension performance in continuous oscillatory baffled crystallizers (COBCs). After validation with experimental data from references, the model was used to investigate the effects of geometry on particle dispersion performance in six different COBCs. The results show that chamber connection structure of COBCs has more significant effects on particle suspension performance than chamber structure itself. Moreover, the curving connection pipe with upper and lower symmetric structure (COBC #6) shows a more uniform radial velocity, realizes the transformation of upper and lower momentum, drives particles to disperse evenly in all directions of the chambers and enhances the mixing between particles and liquid during the oscillation process, accordingly resulting in a good particle suspension performance. With the increment of oscillation Reynolds number (Re0), particle suspension uniformity in COBC #6 increases at first and then decreases, together with a sharp increase of power density, indicating that COBC #6 can be operated in an optimized Re0 to achieve good performance with relatively low power consumption.