CHAPTER 9.

AGITATION AND MIXING

ABRAHAM ROGELIO MARTIN GARCIA

PRESENTATION OUTLINE
-Definitions
-Purposes of agitation
-Devices to produce agitation
-Power consumption of agitators
-Blending and Mixing
-Suspension of solid particles
-Dispersion Operations
-Agitator selection and Scale up

Copyright ©2003 A. R. Martin

DEFINITIONS
• Agitation: It refers to the induced motion of a
“homogenous” material in a specified way
• Mixing: It is the random distribution, into and through one
another, of two or more initially separate phases

PURPOSES OF AGITATION
• Suspending solid particles
• Blending miscible liquids
• Dispersing a gas through the liquid
• Dispersing a second liquid to form an emulsion or
suspension
• Promoting heat transfer

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 DEVICES TO PRODUCE AGITATION

IMPELLERS
• Propellers (high-speed, low Three-blade Straight-blade Disk turbine
marine turbine
viscosity) propeller
• Turbines (Moderate viscosity)
• High-efficiency impellers
Pitched-blade turbine
Concave-blade CD-6 impeller

Source: McCabe et al. 2001

Copyright ©2003 A. R. Martin

DESIGN OF TURBINES

Da 1
S1
Dt 3
E 1
S2
Dt 3
H
1 S3
Dt
W 1
S4
Da 5
J 1
S5
Dt 12
L 1
S6
Da 4

Source: McCabe et al. 2001

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 POWER CONSUMPTION OF AGITATORS

It is a function of the volumetric flow rate and the kinetic energy

Values of NQ

NQ
q K >SDa n1  k  tan E SDaW @ Impeller

q v nDa3 Marine propellers (square pitch) 0.5

q Four-blade 45q turbine (W/Da)=1/6 0.87
NQ (Flow number)
nDa3 Disk turbine 1.3
HE-3 high-efficiency impeller 0.47

U Vt 2 U
Ek DSnDa 2
2 2
P q ˜ Ek
§ D 2S 2 ·
P Un 3 Da5 ¨¨ N Q ¸¸
© 2 ¹
P D 2S 2 P
NQ Np (Power number)
Un 3 Da5 2 Un 3 Da5

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Np \ Re, Fr, S1 , S 2 ,..., S n 

Source: McCabe et al. 2001

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 P N p n 3 Da5 U
For Re  10
P K L n 2 Da3 P
For Re ! 10000
P K T n 3 Da5 U

Source: McCabe et al. 2001

Copyright ©2003 A. R. Martin

BLENDING AND MIXING

Source: McCabe et al. 2001

Copyright ©2003 A. R. Martin

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Source: McCabe et al. 2001
Copyright ©2003 A. R. Martin

SUSPENSION OF SOLID PARTICLES

0.45
§ 'U ·
nc Da0.85 SQ 0.1 D p0.2 ¨¨ g¸¸ B 0.13
© U ¹

Shape factor S
Dt/D Dt/ S
Impeller type a
E
Six-blade turbine 2 4 4.1
Da/W=5 3 4 7.5
Np=6.2 4 4 11.5
Two-blade paddle 2 4 4.8
Da/W=4 3 4 8
Np=2.5 4 4 12.5
Three-blade 3 4 6.5
propeller 4 4 8.5
Np=0.5 4 2.5 9.5

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 DISPERSION OPERATIONS
 0.6
DS § U C n 2 Da3 ·
0.0581  5.4\ ¨¨ ¸¸
Da © V ¹

Source: McCabe et al. 2001

Copyright ©2003 A. R. Martin

AGITATOR SELECTION AND SCALE UP

AGITATOR SELECTION
• Depends on the viscosity of the liquid
• For specific time of mixing, the best mixer is the one
that mixes in the required time with the smallest
amount of power

SCALE UP
• Maintaining constant power per unit volume and
geometric similarity
2
n2 § Da1 · 3
¨¨ ¸¸
n1 © Da 2 ¹

Copyright ©2003 A. R. Martin