Hydrometallurgy 131-132 (2013) 67–75

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Hydrometallurgy
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Numerical modelling of hydrodynamics and gas dispersion in an autoclave

H. Appa a, b, c,⁎, D.A. Deglon a, b, c, C.J. Meyer c, d
a
Minerals to Metals Initiative (MtM), Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town, Private Bag Rondebosch, Cape Town 7700, South Africa
b
Centre for Minerals Research, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town, Private Bag Rondebosch, Cape Town 7700, South Africa
c
Centre for Research in Computational and Applied Mechanics, University of Cape Town, Private Bag Rondebosch, Cape Town 7700, South Africa
d
Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper investigates the numerical modelling of hydrodynamics and gas dispersion in the first compart-
Received 1 February 2012 ment of an autoclave. A scaled down model of an 80 m 3 Sherritt Gordon horizontal autoclave agitated by a
Received in revised form 24 September 2012 radial Smith turbine was used. The CFD simulations were implemented using the commercial code, ANSYS
Accepted 6 October 2012
Fluent 13. The CFD model was validated using experimentally determined power draw, velocity flow field
Available online 12 October 2012
and bubble size data. Hydrodynamics and gas dispersion displayed unusual characteristics compared to
Keywords:
conventional stirred tanks. Fluid flow leaving the impeller was found to have a negative inclination to the
Autoclave horizontal. Mixing was found to be asymmetric and non-ideal. Gas dispersion was found to be relatively
Computational fluid dynamics poor, non-homogeneous with accumulation of oxygen gas below the impeller, asymmetric and with low
Modelling gas hold-ups.
Multiphase © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction flow patterns in stirred tanks. The double-loop structure changes to

Autoclaves are commonly used for leaching of minerals (Nicolle
et al., 2009; Roux et al., 2009). There have been numerous studies
on leaching and leach chemistry in autoclaves (Georgiou and
Papangelakis, 2004; Lamya, 2007). However, few studies have fo-
cused on hydrodynamics and gas dispersion in autoclaves and even
fewer have developed computational models to predict these flow
phenomena. This lack of understanding of hydrodynamics and gas
dispersion is detrimental to the efficiency of the leaching process
since they affect gas–liquid mass transfer. The latter is a critical
component in leach kinetics and may be the rate limiting step
(Crundwell, 1995) especially when the reaction is fast (Jakobsen, 2008).
Hydrodynamics in stirred tanks have been extensively studied
both experimentally and numerically. In both cases the research
studies have placed emphasis on flow patterns, velocity flow field,
turbulent dissipation rate and kinetic energy. These are important to
understand the mixing characteristics of stirred reactors. The flow
pattern in a baffled cylindrical vessel with a radial impeller, such
as the Rushton turbine is well known, with two recirculation loops;
one below and one above the impeller. These are caused by the
high radial jet which splits into two upon hitting the vessel wall. In
the absence of baffles a vortex is formed on the free surface of the
liquid (Rushton et al., 1994). A similar observation is made if the im-
peller shaft is not in the centre of the vessel, with two vortical struc-
tures; one above and one below the impeller (Galletti et al., 2009).
The impeller clearance from the bottom of the vessel also affects the
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 83 315 54 08.
E-mail address: HarishAppa@gmail.com (H. Appa).
a single-loop when the impeller distance from the impeller and the
bottom of the vessel is reduced (Montante et al., 2001; Nienow,
1968). Turbulent kinetic energy and velocity in the region close to
the impeller has been observed to peak close to the impeller and dis-
sipate in the regions away from the impeller.
Gas dispersion is controlled by hydrodynamics. The general flow
field in a stirred tank with a radial impeller is a non-homogeneous
gas distribution, with high gas accumulation in the recirculation
loops and close to the impeller tip due to the low-pressure in those
regions. The spatial bubble size distribution is non-homogeneous, as
a result of the complex interaction between the local gas-hold up,
local bubble size and local turbulence intensity (Bakker and Van
Den Akker, 1994). Larger bubbles are formed in regions of higher
gas hold-up due to the higher probability of collision. Smaller bubbles
are formed due to break-up which is controlled by the turbulent ki-
netic energy within the eddies with wavelengths of the order of the
bubble diameter. Therefore, smaller bubbles are expected closer to
the impeller tip. Moreover, the increase in the number of bubbles
due to break-up also leads to an increase in coalescence due to the in-
crease in bubble collision rate. Thus, bubble size will depend on the
dominating mechanism.
In the last few decades efforts have been steered towards the
development of predictive methods using Computational Fluid Dy-
namics (CFD). Various CFD methodologies have been presented
to simulate fluid flow in stirred vessels for both single phase (Aubin
et al., 2004; Brucato et al., 1998; Deglon and Meyer, 2006; Javed et
al., 2006; Ranade et al., 1989) and gas–liquid systems (Bakker and
Van Den Akker, 1994; Gimbun et al., 2009; Kerdouss et al., 2008;
Montante et al., 2008; Ranade and Deshpande, 1999). However,

0304-386X/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2012.10.006
68 H. Appa et al. / Hydrometallurgy 131-132 (2013) 67–75
few studies have been focused on the CFD modelling of autoclaves
(Nicolle et al., 2009).
The purpose of this research is to develop a CFD model to predict
hydrodynamics and gas dispersion in the first compartment of an
autoclave and to validate the model against experimental data. Fur-
thermore, the numerical results and experimental data will be used
to illustrate key features of hydrodynamics and gas dispersion in
autoclaves.
2. Experimental
2.1. Autoclave
A scaled down model of the first compartment of an 80 m 3
Sherritt Gordon horizontal autoclave was used for this study. The
first compartment was geometrically scaled down by a factor of 7
and had a capacity of 60 l. The latter was chosen so that the vessel
was large enough to have similar hydrodynamics characteristics to
industrial autoclaves, yet sufficiently small to conduct laboratory
characterisation experiments for CFD validation. The vessel has two
baffles, one on each side of the vessel as shown in Fig. 1. The system
was agitated with a six bladed Smith turbine impeller placed at a
distance of 102 mm above the bottom surface. The dimensions in
mm are shown in Fig. 2. A diamond shaped sparger, placed below
the impeller at a distance of 48 mm below the impeller, was used.
Oxygen was sparged through four equidistant 2 mm holes drilled on
the four sides of the sparger.
The experimental programme is summarised in terms of experi-
mental conditions and experimental variables in Table 1. The vessel
was filled with 60 l of water and operated at ambient temperature,
25 °C. The maximum impeller speed of 395 rpm was determined by
scaling on a constant power per unit volume basis. Oxygen gas was
used for the two phase experiments. The oxygen flow rate of 4.37 l
min −1 was determined by scaling on a constant flow rate per unit
volume basis. This resulted in a substantially lower superficial gas
velocity than that in the industrial autoclave. However, scaling on
a constant superficial gas velocity would have resulted in very
high flow rates, well outside the operating window of the laboratory
vessel.
Fig. 1. Pilot-scale experimental rig of first compartment of autoclave.
2.2. Power
Power input was determined from the torque experienced by the
motor. The motor was mounted between bearings to allow free rota-
tion and any torque experienced due to the inertia on the impeller
blades resulted in a rotation. The resultant moment on a lever arm
fitted to the motor was measured by a load cell. The power was deter-
mined from the product of the torque and the impeller speed.
2.3. Velocity flow field
Velocity flow field was measured using a Dantec Dynamics 2-D
PIV system. The autoclave was seeded with Polyamid Seeding Parti-
cles (PSP) with a diameter of 50 μm. A Nd-YAG double pulsed laser
beam was used to create a 1 mm thick light sheet. The measurements
were carried out at the centre of the tank. A CCD camera, with a res-
olution of 1024 × 1028 pixels, synchronised with the laser pulse was
placed at a right angle to the light sheet. The occurrence of a small
surface vortex which allowed air to be drawn into the impeller was
found at about 225 rpm. These could have led to inaccuracies in the
PIV measurements. Therefore, three different impeller speeds were
investigated; 150, 200 and 250 rpm.
The exposure time delay was determined after carrying out pre-
liminary experiments for each impeller speed and at different planes.
Based on the results the exposure time delay was set to 1000 μs. The
DANTEC software was used to calculate the velocity vectors. The anal-
ysis was performed initially by dividing the captured images into
interrogation areas of 32× 32 pixels. The average flow field was obtained
by time averaging the data over the 150 images, which were found
sufficient to provide reasonable results.
2.4. Bubble size distribution
An Anglo American Platinum Bubble Sizer (AMPBS), which is
based on a photographic technique, was used to determine the bub-
ble size distribution. The system was equipped with a 12.0 mega
pixel camera. Here, bubbles rise up a tube until they reach a viewing
chamber where images are taken. The bubble size was extracted
using the AMPBS software application. In order to get a reasonable
bubble size distribution it was decided to take samples at 2 different
positions; firstly at a point in the impeller stream (Sample 1) and sec-
ondly in the bulk region (Sample 2). The positions where Samples 1
and 2 were taken were at a distance of 120 mm and 205 mm from
the bottom of the vessel respectively. After the system was allowed
to stabilise a total of 100 photos were taken at intervals of 5 s. The
number of bubbles determined for each experimental run depended
on the operating conditions and had an average of 600 images mea-
sured for every operating condition investigated.
Gas hold-up values are normally used for the characterisation of
gas dispersion and consequently for validation of CFD models. There
are different techniques for the measurements of gas hold-up in
mixing vessels. Two common methods are, measuring the change in
liquid volume due the gas phase or measuring density changes using
pressure probes. However, the gas hold-up was considered to be too
low to be accurately measured using any of these methods.
3. Computational model
The CFD simulations were implemented using the commercial
CFD code, ANSYS Fluent 13.
3.1. Single phase: water
3.1.1. Geometry and boundary conditions
The geometry of the vessel was based on the experimental rig,
with the same dimensions. Fig. 3 shows the geometry used for the
 H. Appa et al. / Hydrometallurgy 131-132 (2013) 67–75 69

Fig. 2. Tank and impeller dimensions.

CFD model. Due to the asymmetry of the vessel the fluid flow in
the system was expected to be asymmetrical. Therefore, a full
3-dimensional geometry was simulated. The impeller and the sparger
were modelled as infinitely thin walls and the shaft was extended to
the bottom of the tank to facilitate the meshing of the vessel. Standard
wall functions as proposed by Launder and Spalding (1974) were
used to account for the viscous flow near the solid surfaces. The free sur-
face was modelled with a symmetry boundary. Two different meshes
were used for this study, 322,749 cells (Grid 1) and 1,061,360 cells
(Grid 2). Grid 1 had 90,054 and 232,695 cells for the impeller and
bulk regions respectively. Grid 2 had 114,752 and 946,608 cells for the
impeller and bulk regions respectively.
exist between the impeller and the curved sides of the vessel as
well as the baffles. The sliding mesh was run for 20 impeller rotations
for all single phase simulations. In order to implement the MRF or the
SM model an impeller zone, a cylindrical region, around the impeller
has to be defined. According to Lee and Yianneskis (1994) this region
has to be of a minimum size to be able to capture the strongly period-
ic flows in a stirred system. However, due to the geometry of the ves-
sel and the position of the sparger the dimensions suggested by Lee
and Yianneskis (1994) were altered. The cylindrical region used to
describe the impeller region had a height that was 2.5 times the
blade height and a width 1.5 times the impeller diameter.

3.1.3. Turbulence model

3.1.2. Impeller rotation model
The flow in mixing vessels is quite complex. For instance, in stirred
tanks the baffle-impeller interaction results in periodic and time de-
pendent flows. There are various models that have been used to nu-
merically account for these effects, namely the Snapshot approach
(Khopkar et al., 2005; Ranade and Deshpande, 1999; Ranade and
Van Den Akker, 1994), the Multiple Reference Frames (MRF) model
and the Sliding Mesh (SM) method have been used in either
multiphase or single phase systems. The system was simulated with
both the MRF and the Sliding mesh models. The MRF model was
used to start up the simulation in order to reduce computational ex-
pense. The SM model was used to solve the flow field completely
and also to account for any time dependent interaction that could
The choice of the turbulence model also affects the flow predic-
tion. The turbulence model does not highly influence the prediction
of mean velocity but poor prediction of turbulent kinetic energy
is well known when using the k − ε model. However, the research
presented by Deglon and Meyer (2006) showed that the discrepan-
cies were mainly due to numerical errors rather than a deficiency of
the model. Similar findings were made by Wechsler et al. (1999) and
Aubin et al. (2004). The variances can be resolved by using a fine
mesh and a higher order discretisation scheme. Therefore, the standard

Table 1
Experimental conditions and variables.

Experimental Conditions

Tank volume 60 l
Medium Water
Gas Oxygen
Gas flow rate 4.37 l min−1
Temperature 25 °C

Experimental Variables

Impeller Speed 150, 200, 225, 250

300, 350, 395 rpm Fig. 3. Geometrical representation of numerical model.
70 H. Appa et al. / Hydrometallurgy 131-132 (2013) 67–75
k − ε model was used to model the turbulent flow regime for the
autoclave.
3.1.4. Discretisation scheme and pressure–velocity coupling
The order of the discretisation schemes when modelling stirred
tanks has been reported to highly influence the prediction of the
turbulent kinetic energy (Deglon and Meyer, 2006). However, if the
grid is not too coarse the mean velocity is negligibly affected by the
discretisation schemes. Similar findings were made by Aubin et al.
(2004) while investigating effects of various discretisation schemes.
Therefore, the first order upwind differencing scheme was used for
the start of the simulations to discretise the momentum and turbu-
lence equations. Then the higher order QUICK scheme was used for
the discretisation of the equations. The SIMPLE algorithm was used
for the pressure–velocity coupling.
3.2. Multiphase: water–oxygen
The gas–liquid system, with water and oxygen gas, was modelled
with the commonly used Euler-Euler model (Aubin et al., 2004;
Gimbun et al., 2009; Kerdouss et al., 2008; Khopkar et al., 2005;
Morud and Hjertager, 1996; Ranade and Van Den Akker, 1994;
Scargiali et al., 2007). The dispersed k − ε turbulence model as simi-
larly used by Kerdouss et al. (2008) was employed to simulate the
turbulent flow. When using the k − ε model the primary phase controls
the motion of the secondary phase and the influence of the bubbles on
the flow field is negligible. Therefore, to ensure that the effect of the
secondary phase is minimised and to avoid any numerical instability
the bubble size should be smaller than the cell size. To this end, and
based on the results of the single phase simulations, Grid 1 was used
to model the gas–liquid system. Turbulent dispersion is taken into ac-
count by the dispersed k − ε turbulence model (Simonin and Viollet,
1990). The Schiller–Naumann model (Schiller and Naumann, 1933)
was used to account for the interphase drag.
3.2.1. Boundary conditions
The boundary conditions used are similar to the ones described
for the single phase system. However, to account for the gas phase,
the sparger was modelled as a velocity inlet boundary and the outlet
was modelled as a degassing boundary, where a velocity boundary
was used. The velocity of the gas at the sparger was based on the vol-
umetric flow rate. For the degassing boundary the velocity and the
volume fraction of the gas at the boundary was set to the value at
one cell below the boundary. A no-slip wall was used for the liquid
phase, with water only allowed to move along the boundary and
with the normal component of the velocity set to zero.
3.2.2. Gas phase
The dispersed phase was modelled using a population balance
model. The bubble size distribution was simulated using the discrete
method. Using this method the particle size distributions are repre-
sented in terms of classes or bins. It allows for the direct simulation
of the bubble size distribution but at the expense of extra computa-
tional cost due to the large number of classes required (Laakkonen
et al., 2007). However, for this study with the availability of experi-
mental data 11 classes were sufficient. The bubble size distribution,
which was used as input for the model, was divided into the classes
according to the following equation:
viþ1 q
¼2 ð1Þ
vi
where v is the volume of the bubble and q is the ratio factor that can
be obtained using a geometric progression as well as the minimum
and maximum bubble volumes. The Luo models (Luo and Svendsen,
1996) were used to simulate bubble breakage and coalescence.
3.2.3. Discretisation scheme and pressure–velocity coupling
Momentum and volume fraction equations were discretised
using the QUICK scheme. First order schemes were used for the
discretisation of the turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation rate.
The phase-coupled SIMPLE algorithm was used for the pressure ve-
locity coupling.
4. Autoclave CFD model validation
4.1. CFD model
Single phase and multiphase simulations were done using an
AMD Quad Core 2.15 GHz CPU with 8 GB of RAM and an AMD dual
Quad Core 2.2 GHz CPU with 16 GB of RAM respectively. For both
multiphase and single phase systems all cores were used, that is 8 and
4 respectively. The simulations were considered to have converged
when the scaled residuals were below 1×10−3. The average running
time for the multiphase simulations was about three weeks. The CFD
models were validated against experimental power draw, velocity flow
field and Sauter mean bubble diameter. As indicated previously, gas
hold-up was too low to be measured accurately and therefore could not
be used for CFD validations. For the bubble size, even though as reported
by Laakkonen et al. (2007) a large number of classes are required to sim-
ulate satisfactory gas liquid systems, the discrete model with 11 classes
accurately predicted the bubble size. Similarly, Kerdouss et al. (2008)
found that 13 classes gave satisfactory predictions for simulating a gas–
liquid system for stirred tanks. This shows that the number of classes
used is problem dependent and a prior knowledge of the bubble size
distribution helps in choosing the optimal number of classes.
4.2. Hydrodynamics
4.2.1. Power
The result for the power draw comparing the experimental and
numerical data is plotted in Fig. 4. Power from the CFD simulations
was calculated from the torque experienced by the impeller and the
known impeller speed. The torque was determined from the sum of
moments (sum of cross product of the pressure and viscous forces
with the moment vector) on both sides of the impeller blades. The
numerical data for the two cases for Grid 1 and Grid 2 are also com-
pared. Power as expected increases as impeller speed is increased.
There is also a good correlation between the experimental and nu-
merical data. However, a small over-prediction is observed at 350
and 395 rpm. This could be a consequence of not considering the
0.16
Experimental
Numerical, Grid 1
Numerical, Grid 2
0.14
0.12
0.1
Power (kW)
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
150 200 250 300 350 400
Impeller speed (rpm)
Fig. 4. Power — CFD vs Experimental.
 H. Appa et al. / Hydrometallurgy 131-132 (2013) 67–75 71

effect of the free surface in the numerical model. At impeller speeds of

350 and 395 rpm the liquid was more susceptible to the occurrence of
a free vortex and there was a higher degree of recirculation at the sur-
face of the tank. The effect of the free surface was not implemented as
it was found that the computational effort required would not have
been worth it. Moreover, it can be observed that there is no difference
in power input for the two grids investigated. This suggests that Grid
1 is fine enough to predict power draw and also that the discretisation
schemes used had a negligible effect on the solution. Therefore, Grid 1
with the QUICK scheme is appropriate for the system.

4.2.2. Velocity flow field

The velocity flow field on a vertical plane in the center of the tank
at an impeller speed of 150 rpm is shown in Figs. 5–7. Fig. 5 depicts
the time-averaged velocity flow field on the yz-plane from the PIV
measurements. Figs. 6 and 7 show the instantaneous velocity flow
field from the CFD simulations, with the impeller at two different po-
sitions, Position 1 and Position 2 respectively. Position 1 is with the
vertical plane behind one of the impeller blades and Position 2 with
the vertical place midway between two of the impeller blades. The
typical flow pattern that is commonly seen in a flat bottom stirred
tank with a radial impeller is observed. The double-loop structure is
noticeable, with a recirculation loop below and above the impeller.
However, the horizontal radial jet as commonly observed with radial
impellers is not reproduced. It can be seen from Figs. 5–7 that both
the CFD prediction and the PIV measurement show that the fluid
leaves the impeller at an angle to the horizontal. It is suspected that
the flow is either being forced down by the axial component of the
fluid from the bulk flow entering the impeller stream or ‘attracted’
(Montante et al., 2001) to the bottom of the vessel. This inflection
can also be either due to the effect of the low pressure in the lower
recirculation loop or an ’attraction’ due to the ‘Coanda’ effect as a result
of the bottom surface of the tank (Montante et al., 2001).
A flow visualisation study, where the flow pattern was highlighted
with a dye, was used to visually confirm this unusual finding. Fig. 8
shows the direction of the fluid in the impeller discharge region at
150 rpm at the centre of the vessel on one side of the vessel. This fig-
ure clearly shows the inclined radial jet leaving the impeller.
Figs. 9 and 10 show the radial velocity along a line at 10 mm away
from the impeller tip at 150 and 200 rpm respectively. It can be ob-
served that the velocity peaks below the impeller, which is at
102 mm from the bottom surface of the vessel. This confirms the
downward inclination of the fluid flow. Moreover, good predictions
were obtained for the velocity profiles in the bulk region. However,
a disagreement in the velocities can be seen in the impeller stream.
Fig. 6. Velocity flow field at 150 rpm at Position 1 — CFD.
The discrepancies could be due to an inadequacy of the CFD model,
resulting in an under-prediction of the velocity in the impeller region.
It is also known to be more difficult to obtain good velocity predictions
in this region. In addition, no significant difference could be observed
between the prediction when using Grid 1 and Grid 2 respectively.
4.3. Gas dispersion
The numerical prediction and experimental values of the Sauter
mean diameter versus the impeller speed is shown in Fig. 11. It can
be seen that the experimental and predicted Sauter mean diameter
are comparable over the range of impeller speeds investigated, with
an average of 4% and a maximum error of 12%. The result shows
that the discrete model accurately predicts the bubble size distribu-
tion with 11 classes. This was possible because of the small variation
in the bubble size, which was between 1 mm and 6.6 mm. Further-
more, an increase in bubble diameter is observed while increasing im-
peller speed. This is unusual as the bubble size is expected to decrease
with impeller speed. However, for the autoclave at these speeds inter-
nal recirculation was found to increase, leading to a higher probability
of collision and coalescence, to consequently result in an increase in
bubble size.

Fig. 5. Velocity flow field at 150 rpm — PIV. Fig. 7. Velocity flow field at 150 rpm at Position 2 — CFD.
72 H. Appa et al. / Hydrometallurgy 131-132 (2013) 67–75

0.35
Numerical − Grid 1
Numerical − Grid 2
0.3 PIV

0.25

Position, z (m)
0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
−1 −0.5 0 0.5
Velocity in y direction (ms−1)
Fig. 10. Velocity profile in y direction at 200 rpm.

Fig. 8. Velocity flow field at 150 rpm — flow visualisation.

5.1. Hydrodynamics

In summary, results from the single phase simulations showed
that the standard k − ε model, coupled with the sliding mesh model
and high order discretisation schemes gave good prediction for the
velocity flow field. These findings are similar to CFD methodologies
used for stirred tanks. The gas–liquid system was simulated with the
Euler-Euler model coupled with a population balance model. Using
this approach and the discrete solution method with 11 classes gave rea-
sonably good predictions of the Sauter mean diameter.
5.1.1. Power
Power draw was found to increase with increasing impeller speed.
The Reynolds number was found to vary between 7.34 × 10 4 and
1.95 × 10 5. The typical turbulent power number, Np, varies between
2.8 and 3.2 for the Smith turbine. For the impeller speeds investigated
the power number was found to vary between 4.1 and 5.6, with the
lower power numbers at the higher impeller speeds. These power
numbers are higher than the typical literature values as reported for
stirred tanks.

5.1.2. Velocity flow field

5. Autoclave hydrodynamics and gas dispersion
The primary objective of this paper was to develop and validate a
CFD model in order to simulate hydrodynamics and gas dispersion in
the first compartment of an autoclave. Based on the CFD models and
experimental data, key hydrodynamics and gas dispersion features
are described in the following sections.
The experimental time-averaged velocity flow fields at 150, 200
and 250 rpm on a vertical plane in the middle of the tank are shown
in Figs. 12, 13 and 14 respectively. It can be seen that as the impeller
speed increases the angle of the radial flow to the horizontal de-
creases. Moreover, it can be observed that the double loop structure is
transitioning to a single loop structure. This phenomenon is normally ob-
served in stirred tanks with radial impellers when the distance between

0.35 3.5
Numerical − Grid 1
Numerical − Grid 2
0.3 PIV

3
0.25
Position, z (m)

2.5
d32 (mm)

0.2

0.15
2

0.1
1.5
0.05 Impeller Experimental
Impeller Numerical
Vessel Experimental
Vessel Numerical
0 1
−0.8 −0.6 −0.4 −0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340 360 380 400
Velocity in y direction (ms−1) Impeller speed (rpm)
Fig. 9. Velocity profile in y direction at 150 rpm. Fig. 11. Sauter mean diameter — CFD and experimental.
 H. Appa et al. / Hydrometallurgy 131-132 (2013) 67–75
Fig. 12. Velocity flow field at 150 rpm — PIV.
the impeller and the bottom of the vessel is reduced (Montante et al.,
2001; Nienow, 1968). Therefore, it can be inferred that the flow pattern
is dependent on the impeller speed. The downward inclination of the
radial jet is also observed in dished bottom vessel as reported by Deen
et al. (2002). Therefore, the downward inflection can be due to a contri-
bution of the impeller clearance as well as the geometry of the vessel.
The effect of the curved bottom on the recirculation loop below the im-
peller increases with impeller speed, resulting in a more or less single
loop structure.
Figs. 15 and 16 show the instantaneous predicted velocity vectors
on a vertical plane in the centre of the tank at 395 rpm at two differ-
ent impeller positions. The impeller blade is on the plane at Position 1
and the plane is midway between two impeller blades. There are two
main observations; firstly the flow field is asymmetric and secondly
Fig. 13. Velocity flow field at 200 rpm — PIV.
73
Fig. 14. Velocity flow field at 250 rpm — PIV.
the flow is dependent on the impeller blade position. The asymmetry
of the flow field is due to the geometry of the vessel and also the
effect of the shape of the impeller blade on the flow pattern. It is
also observed that the lower recirculation loop disappears on the
right hand side of the vessel.
The downward inflection is also observed at both Position 1 and
Position 2. The angle of the radial flow to the horizontal is more pro-
nounced than at 150 rpm. This is believed to be a result of a predom-
inant axial flow at this speed such that the flow leaving the impeller is
immediately entrained by the axial flow. In addition, the effect of the
curved blades becomes more substantial at 395 rpm resulting in the
fluid in the impeller discharge to have a greater angle of inflection.
5.2. Gas dispersion
5.2.1. Bubble size
Bubble size in terms of local Sauter mean diameter is shown in
Fig. 17. It can be seen that the bubbles below the impeller region are
larger than 2 mm, the size of bubbles at the sparger. However, in the
impeller region a decrease is observed, mainly as a result of high break-
age rates caused by a higher turbulent kinetic energy in that region. In
the bulk region coalescence is observed. The higher coalescence rate
in that region is due to a higher probability of collision between bubbles.
Furthermore, when looking at the vessel globally, with most bubbles
greater than 2 mm in diameter, it can be deduced that the system
is mainly coalescence controlled and with small breakage in the impel-
ler region.
The variation of bubble size in the autoclave is different to the one
generally observed in stirred tanks. Gas–liquid mass transfer is better
when the inter-facial area is high which occurs in systems where
bubble size is small. With the current system which is mainly con-
trolled by coalescence and with relatively large bubbles, mass transfer
is expected to be adversely affected.
5.2.2. Gas hold-up
Fig. 18 shows the volume fraction of oxygen on a vertical plane in
the centre of the tank. The CFD simulation was carried out at 395 rpm
with a gas flow-rate of 4.37 l min −1. The gas hold-up values are low.
This is due to a combination of the low superficial gas velocity used,
74 H. Appa et al. / Hydrometallurgy 131-132 (2013) 67–75

Fig. 15. Velocity flow field on vertical plane across tank at Position 1 — CFD.

Fig. 16. Velocity flow field on vertical plane across tank at Position 2 — CFD.

the large bubbles and poor dispersion of gas. The distribution of gas is
distinctly non-homogeneous and asymmetrical. Most of the gas is
trapped under the impeller and in the two large recirculating loops.
There are entire regions of the vessel where there is practically no
oxygen.
Gas dispersion is unlikely to improve at higher superficial gas ve-
locities. Here, the overall gas hold-up would increase but the quality
of gas dispersion may even deteriorate. The relatively poor gas dis-
persion would have an impact on mass transfer in the autoclave,
with no mass transfer occurring in certain regions.
6. Conclusions
The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a CFD model
of an autoclave. The study was conducted using a scaled-down, 60 l
model of the first compartment of an industrial autoclave.
• CFD model: It was found that the same CFD methodology used
for stirred tanks was appropriate for the autoclave. For the single
phase system, the standard k − ε model with high order QUICK
scheme gave reasonable predictions of the power draw and velocity

5.53e-03 5.00e-02

5.07e-03 4.50e-02

4.62e-03 4.00e-02

4.17e-03 3.50e-02

3.72e-03 3.00e-02

3.26e-03 2.50e-02

2.81e-03 2.00e-02

2.36e-03 1.50e-02

1.91e-03 1.00e-02

1.45e-03 5.00e-02

1.00e-03 0.00e+02

Fig. 17. Local Sauter mean diameter on vertical plane at 395 rpm. Fig. 18. Volume fraction of oxygen on a vertical plane at 395 rpm.
 H. Appa et al. / Hydrometallurgy 131-132 (2013) 67–75
flow field. For the two phase system, the Euler-Euler model with
the dispersed k − ε model, coupled with the population balance
model, predicted the Sauter mean diameter fairly well.
• Hydrodynamics: The power number for the Smith turbine was
found to be slightly higher than expected. The flow pattern as generally
observed in stirred tanks with radial impellers was not reproduced. The
flow in the impeller discharge region was at an angle to the horizontal
and the typical double-loop structure changed to a single-loop structure
with increasing impeller speed.
• Gas dispersion: Bubble size was found to be dominated by coalescence
with relatively large bubbles (>2 mm) in most regions of the auto-
clave. The gas distribution was distinctly non-homogeneous and asym-
metrical, with entire regions of the vessel without oxygen.
• Implication for mass transfer: These findings suggest that mass transfer
in autoclaves may be lower than conventional stirred tanks due to
non-ideal mixing and relatively poor gas dispersion. The CFD model
presented may be used to investigate phenomena such as the effect
of scale-up and the prediction of mass transfer in industrial autoclaves.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Minerals to Metals SARChI
Chair and Anglo American Platinum for funding this research.
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