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It is convenient to divide mixing into five pairs of materials:

Agitation and Mixing of Liquids:

 Agitation - induce motion of a material in a specified way, usually in a circulatory pattern
inside some sort of container.
 Mixing - random distribution, into and through one another, of two or more initially separate
phase.
Purpose of Agitation:
 Suspending solid particles
 Blending miscible liquids such as ethanol with water
 Dispersing gas through the liquid in the form of small bubbles
 Dispersing a second liquid, immiscible with the first, to form an emulsion or suspension of fine
drops
 Promoting heat transfer between the liquid and a coil or jacket
Agitated Vessels:
 Tank bottom should be rounded, not flat, to eliminate sharp corners or regions which fluid
current would not penetrate.
 Liquid depth is approximately equal to the diameter of tank
Impellers:
Classes:
 Axial flow: generate currents parallel with the axis of impeller
 Radial flow: generate currents in a radial or tangential direction
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Types of Impellers:
 Propellers/turbines/high-efficiency impellers - for low to moderate viscous liquids
 Helical/Anchor Agitators - for very viscous liquids
A. Propeller:
Typical Flow Pattern

 Axial flow, high speed impellers which are for low viscosity liquids which forces the liquid to
flow downward.
Axial Flow Impellers Marine-Type impeller

Characteristics:
 Motor speed: 1150 – 1750 rpm (small propeller)
400 – 800 rpm (large propeller)
 Pitch of Propeller = liquid longitudinal distance / propeller diameter
 Max. diameter of propeller regardless of size of vessel = 18 inches
B. Helical/Anchor Agitators
Helical Anchor

C. Turbines:
Typical Flow Pattern

 Push the liquid radially and tangentially with almost no vertical motion at the impeller
 Flow generates a current travelling outward to the vessel wall and then flow either
upward or downward known as “paddles”
Flat- Blade Turbine Pitched-Blade Turbine
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Typical Design parameters for Mixing Tank/Agitating Tank:

H
E Da
W

Dt L
Location of impeller, proportions of vessels , number and proportion of baffles:
Da 1 H J 1
= =1 =
Dt 3 Dt Dt 12

E 1 W 1 L 1
= = =
Dt 3 Da 5 Da 4

 No. of baffles (J) are usually 4

 No. of impeller blades -4 to 16 but generally 6 to 8
Flow pattern of liquids:
Factors affecting liquid movements:
1. Type of impeller
2. Characteristic of liquid particularly viscosity
3. Size and proportion of the vessel, impeller and baffles

Three (3) components of liquid velocity at any point in tank:

1. Radial - acts in a direction perpendicular (  ) to th shaft of the impeller

2. Longitudinal - acts in a direction parallel with the shaft

3. Tangential or rotational - acts in a direction tangent to a circular path around the shaft tends to
create “vortex”and generally disadvantageous if solution contains
solid particles which throw particles outward by centrifugal force
and no mixing or agitation will occur instead concentration.
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Flow Number :

Velocity profile
W

Da

Volumetric flowrate (q) = total flow leaving the impeller as measured at the tip of the blades.

q =   2 Da 2 n W ( 1- k ) tan ’2

Where:
Da = impeller diameter
W = width/height of blades
n = rotational speed, revolution per second
 = approximate constant
k = ratio of tangential liquid velocity at blade tips to blade tips velocity
’2 = anlge between the actual relative velocity vector of liquid and the tangent
 , k, and ’2 are constants

𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐪

𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 (𝐍𝐐 ) = =
𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐃𝐚 𝟑
For Baffled Agitated Vessels:
a. Marine Propellers (Square-Pitch) : NQ = 0.5
b. 4-Blades 45o Turbine (W / Da = 1/6) NQ = 0.87
c. Disk Turbine NQ = 1.3
d. High Efficiency impeller NQ = 0.47
e. Flat-blade turbine: NQ = 1.3

Power Consumption: Power required to drive the impeller to be used for an agitated vessel.
If q = NQ (nDa 3 ) → flow produced by impeller
ρ(V2 ′ )2
and EK = → Kinetic energy per unit volume of fluid
2
V2 = πDa n → liquid velocity at impeller′s blade tips
But V2 ′ is slightly smaller than the tip speed V2
V2 ′
Let = α = ratio of tangential velocity of component to velocity of impeller ′ s blade tip
V2
While V2 = πDa n , therefore, V2 ′ = α (πDa n)

𝛒(𝛂𝛑𝐃𝐚 𝐧)𝟐 (𝛂𝟐 𝛑𝟐

𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 (𝐏) = 𝐍𝐐 (𝐧𝐃𝐚 𝟑 ) [ ] = 𝛒𝐧𝟑 𝐃𝐚 𝟓 [ ] 𝐍𝐐
𝟐 𝟐
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In Dimensionless form,
Power Number (NP):
𝐏 (𝛂𝟐 𝛑𝟐
=[ ] 𝐍𝐐
𝛒𝐧𝟑 𝐃𝐚 𝟓 𝟐
(𝛂𝟐 𝛑𝟐
𝐋𝐞𝐭 ∶ 𝐍𝐏 = [ 𝟐
] 𝐍𝐐
𝐏 𝐏 𝐠𝐜
𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝐍𝐏 = 𝐈𝐧 𝐟𝐩𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐬, 𝐍𝐏 =
𝛒𝐧𝟑 𝐃𝐚 𝟓 𝛒𝐧𝟑 𝐃𝐚 𝟓
For standard 6-blade turbine,
NQ = 1.3 NP = 5.8 = 0.95
Np vs. Re Graph - Power correlation
Impeller Reynolds Number (𝑵𝑹𝒆 ):
𝐃𝐚 𝟐 𝐧𝛒
𝐍𝐑𝐞 =
𝛍
𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞:
rev
n = rotational speed, sec Da = impeller diameter , in m or ft
kg lbs lb
ρ = fluid density, in m3
or ft3
μ = viscosity, in Pa ∙ sec or ft∙sec

*Note: If NRe > 10,000 (Flow in the tank is turbulent)

10 < NRe < 10000 (Flow is in Transition range)
NRe < 10 (Flow is laminar at the remote parts of the vessel)

Impeller Power Correlation Curve

(Figure 18-17 p. 18-13 - Ch.E HB 8th Ed.)

𝐃𝐓
4-Baffles (𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 )Tank or Unbaffled tanks ((𝐍𝐑𝐞 ≤ 𝟑𝟎𝟎)
𝟏𝟐
Curve 1 Da
6-blade Turbine =5
Wi
Curve 2 Da
Vertical blade, open turbine with 6 straight blade =8
Wi
Curve 3 Da
450 Pitched-blade turbine with 6 blades =8
Wi
Curve 4 Propeller Pitch = 2Da
Curve 5 Propeller Pitch = 𝐃𝐚
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𝟏
*Note: 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐍𝐑𝐞 > 𝟑𝟎𝟎 𝐍𝐏 ≈ 𝟓 (𝐍𝐏 )𝐁𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐝
Also refer to :
Figure 9 –13 for turbines and high efficiency impellers
Figure 9 – 14 for marine propellers and helical ribbons
p. 253 – 254 (Unit Operations By McCabe and Smith –6th Ed)

Alternative Method: (McCabe and Smith)

Calculation of Power Consumption for newtonian liquids
Power, P = NP n3 Da5 
If Re < 10 (Laminar)
NP = KL / Re
P = KL n2 Da3 
If Baffled tanks at Re > 10,000 i.e. the power number is independent of the Re and  is not a factor
(Turbulent)
NP = KT
= KT n Da 
3 5
P
Table 9-2 p. 256 Unit Operations by McCabe & Smith 6th ed.
 Values of constants KL and KT for baffled tanks having four baffles at tank wall, with width equal to
10 % of tank diameter:
Type of impeller KL KT
Propeller, three blades
Pitch 1.0 41 0.32
Pitch 1.5 48 0.87
Turbine
6-blade disk (S3=0.25, S4=0.2)* 65 5.75
6 pitched blades (45o, S4=0.2)* -- 1.63
o
4 pitched blades (45 , S4 =0.2)* 44.5 1.27
Flat paddle, two blades (S4=0.2)* 36.5 1.70
HE-3 impeller 43 0.28
Helical Ribbon 52 ---
Anchor 300 0.35
 *For more information about “effect of system geometry”, i.e. values of S1 , S2, S3 etc., please read
pp. 255 Unit Operations by McCabe & Smith 6th ed.