Agitator Design and Selection: Standard Engineers

Agitator Design and
Selection
Standard Engineers
vineet.shroff@gmail.com
Food for Thought
 You wanted to STIR THINGS UP But, your MIXING
gave only ‘AGITATION’.
 There’s many a slip between the Plant and the Lab.
 The Mixing arena is the Boxing ring where Chemist
and Chemical Engineer fight
 In the work done for synthesising a Chemical
molecule, what % is the mass transfer, reaction and
mixing and what % is separation
 Mixing can be demystified
Lecture Flow
 Single duty Agitator
 Multi duty Agitator
 Films showing some Interesting Mixing

systems
Two Types
 Single Duty Agitator
 Multi Duty Agitator
Agitator Selection & Design
 Process
 Impeller Type
 Impeller Diameter
 Impeller Speed
 Mechanical
 Power
 Shaft
Process – Imp. Type Selection
OOWW L OOWW
L
FFL L FFL
 Flow (Axial) L
IAIAL
 Shear (Radial) D IAIAL
 Hydrofoil
X
AAX  Cowles RRAAD
 Axial Flow Turbine  Rushton Turbine
 Helical  Stator – Rotor
 Propeller  Parabolic Disc Turbine
 Suspension  Dispersion
 Homogenisation Physical Duty
 Heat Transfer
 Liq-Liq & Liq-Sol Reaction  Liq-Liq & Liq-Gas-Sol Reaction
 Dissolution  Emulsification
Process Duty
 Blending  Dispersion
Axial Flow Hydrofoils
High Discharge Hydrofoil
High Suction Hydrofoil
High Pitch Hydrofoil
High Solidity Hydrofoil

High Shear Impellers
High Shear Cowles
High Shear Stator-Rotor
Gas Induction Disperser
Parabolic Disc Turbine
Impellers with combined Flow
and Shear
 UDIF or InterMig
 Multi Stage
 Large D/T
 Flow and Shear
Process – Imp. Diameter
 D/T
 Single Impeller v/s Multi Impeller

 Bottom Clearance
 Impeller Spacing
 Baffling
Process – Imp. Speed
 TipSpeed = ω.r = 2.π.N.r = π.N.D
 High for Processes needing high Shear
 Low for Processes need low Shear
 Small diameter = Higher speed
 Larger diameter = Lower speed
Agitator Design - Power
 Power = ρ.K.N3.D5
 Low Power = Lower Cost ???
 High Power = Higher Energy dissipated
 Speed variation with constant Power
 VFD and Power Issues
Agitator Design - Mechanical
 Motor
 Gearbox
 Seal
 Shaft
 Impeller
Multi-duty mixer or Universal Mixer
 Any Mixing Task requiring Flow or Shear

 Any Unit Process or Any Unit Operation
 From violent Dispersions to gentle

Crystallisation

All in same Reactor
When is it Needed?
 Change in Product Specifications

 New R&D Results
 Change of Product
 New Regulations
Thereare many unknowns in

modern day operations
Need 1
Change in Prod. Specs
Customers (Internal as well as External) are a Demanding Lot
 Change in Particle Size (Increase / Decrease)
 Different PSD
 Higher Purity (bigger crystals with less ML)
 Different Physical characteristics (colour, shape,
solution, emulsion, dispersion)
 Additional step from downstream Processing
 Different output Temperature
Many others … n o wn
Unk

Need 2
New R&D
Competiton, Cost Reduction and New Technologies
(ionic solvents, super acids, Green Chemistries,
surfactants, nanotechnologies) throw radical
possibilities of Process Intensification for
w n
U nkno
 HigherYield / Conversion
 Reduced by-Product formation
 Reduced Utility consumption
 Reduced batch cycle times
Need 3
Change of Product
Campaign based Production cycles demand
flexibility in capabilities
 New Product w n
n k n o
U
 Different Process
 Different operating conditions
New Product Developed in the Lab or Pilot Plant

needs to be Produced on plant scale
 Unexpected scale-up considerations
 Process modifications based on IP / quality
Need 4
New Regulations
Banned raw materials, stringent disposal norms

can impose variabilities
 RecipeChange
 Change in operating conditions
 Change in Process
n o wn
n k wn
U nkno
U
Process Capabilities
What must it Have?
WHAT HOW
 Range of Sp. Gr.  Surplus motor Power
 Large solids loading  Large Pumping
 Range of Viscosities  Large D/T, multistage
 Range of Duties from  Significant Variation in
gentle crytallisation to Speed with reserve
violent Gas Dispersion power
 Th.dynmcs 1 – Temp.  Good Reynolds No.
 Th.dynmcs 2 – Press.  Mech. Sealing
 Th.dynmcs 3 – pH  Exotic MOC
Mech. Capabilities
What must it Have?
 Robust design of Shaft and Impellers to
deliver brute force if required
 Natural Frequencies of Lateral Vibrations to
be substantially distanced from operating
speed ranges
 Quick Change to be possible to handle new
conditions with minimum turn-around time
Derivation
 Mixing energy goes into Flow and Shear
 Flow is Measured as Pumping (KpND3)
 Good metric for Shear is Tip Speed (ND)
 Universal Mixer therefore has to

 Increase or Decrease
Flow or Shear on demand
Derivation
 Flow Proportional to D3
 Reynolds No. & so Heat Transfer prop to D2
 Bulk motion in viscous fluids needs large D
Large D/T obviously a must for Universality

 Good homogenity in mixing
Multi impeller system advantageous
Axial flow required to prevent ‘air curtain’ effects
Conventional Impellers D/T
Limit
 Hydrofoils and Axial
Flow turbines have a
D/T Limit
 At 0.7 D/T, The c/s area
of the impeller cylinder
equals the c/s area of
the Annulus
 Any further increase is
counter productive
 Flow is throttled leading
to back mixing and
Annulus Impeller zone
inconsistencies
Up Flow Down Flow
Ideal Impeller System
 D/T > 0.7
 Achieved by up and down
flow on same impeller
 Multiple staggered impeller
arrangement behaves as a
pseudo helix
 Can be customised for
operation without baffles
 The up-down throw can be
configured for different
conditions of shear and flow
 Proven for Crystallisation,
Gas Dispersion as well as
pretty high viscosity
blending
UDIF - Other Advantages
 Large D/T = High Wall velocities = min.build-up at
vessel walls
 Good for Sticky materials
 Good for Crystallisation
 In Gas Dispersion, further optimisation with bottom
impeller pumping up the catalyst, while top impeller
sucks and pumps down unreacted gas
 2 bladed so easy to insert thru manhole w/o bolting
or split construction an allow location anywhere
along shaft
Extended Universality
 If the mechanical design of
the Universal mixer is made
robust, then the same shaft
can be FITTED with
different impellers with
different speeds for
performance at both
extremes of Flow and Shear
 Helical can mix viscosities
upto 100,000 cP
 Parabolic or gas Induction
can do gas dispersion
Paradigm Shift
 We had limited ourselves to single shaft mixers.
 What about dual shaft, Co-axial systems?
 Why not place the responsibility of Flow and Shear
on 2 different impellers that are ideal for their
respective duties
 One Impeller provides Flow, the Other Shear
 Both are on different drives so that speeds and
hence magnitudes of Flow and Shear can be
controlled at will
 Impellers on the outer zone can be closed type -
Helical while inner can be hydrofoil or Cowles
operating at speeds as high as 3000RPM
 Mechanical challenge, but a process marvel
Myths to be Shattered
 Lower Motor Power means lower operating
cost
 Hydrofoils can do everything
 D/T to be around 1/3 to 0.4
 Mixer should be low capital cost.
 No option to GLR
 50Hz barrier
 Chemist and Chemical Engineer
Conclusion
 Decide Single duty or Multi duty
 If Single duty - Decide Duty driver is Flow or
Shear
 Select impellers accordingly
 If Multi duty, large D/T, multi impeller, variable

speed.
 Ensure minimum hot spots (pH, temp.,
concentration)
Batch Crystalliser Mixer
 Flow or Shear? Obviously Flow for larger crystals,
Shear for smaller
 Impeller Type. – Anchor is the worst
 Temperature gradient
 Conc. Gradient
 Grinding at bottom
 Impeller Diameter.
 Impeller speed
 Multi Impeller
 Mechanical – VFD.
In the end …
 Some Films
 Video 1: Co-rotating Co-Axial Dispertron
 Thank You
 Start Again

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Agitator Design and Selection: Standard Engineers

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Agitator Design and

 Films showing some Interesting Mixing

 Multi Duty Agitator

 Helical  Stator – Rotor

 Propeller  Parabolic Disc Turbine

High Discharge Hydrofoil

High Suction Hydrofoil

High Pitch Hydrofoil

High Solidity Hydrofoil

High Shear Cowles

High Shear Stator-Rotor

Gas Induction Disperser

Parabolic Disc Turbine

 Single Impeller v/s Multi Impeller

 Low for Processes need low Shear

 Small diameter = Higher speed

 Larger diameter = Lower speed

 High Power = Higher Energy dissipated

 Speed variation with constant Power

 VFD and Power Issues

 Any Mixing Task requiring Flow or Shear

 From violent Dispersions to gentle

All in same Reactor

 Change in Product Specifications

Thereare many unknowns in

 Reduced Utility consumption

 Reduced batch cycle times

 Different operating conditions

New Product Developed in the Lab or Pilot Plant

Banned raw materials, stringent disposal norms

 Universal Mixer therefore has to

Flow or Shear on demand

 Bulk motion in viscous fluids needs large D

Large D/T obviously a must for Universality

 D/T to be around 1/3 to 0.4

 Mixer should be low capital cost.

 Chemist and Chemical Engineer

 If Multi duty, large D/T, multi impeller, variable

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