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Scale up
Dr Gül Özcan-Taşkın
Scale-up
• What should the design and operation be at large scale to achieve
the desired process result obtained at small scale ?
• Manufacturing at high volumes
• Build many identical, small vessels to get exactly the same power,
flow, turbulence and mixing rate characteristics as the pilot or
laboratory case
• Kinematic similarity
• Dynamic similarity
Geometric Similarity
A single scale ratio, s, defines the relative
magnitude of all linear dimensions between the
large and small scale:
D2 T2 W 2 H2
s
D1 T1 W1 H1
Geometric Similarity
Processes Rules
Miscible liquid blending Constant tip speed(VtipND)
Solids suspension NjsD0.85 = constant
Solids distribution Constant P/V
Gas-liquid mixing: ct Constant P/V & vsg
hold-up and mass transfer
Immiscible liquid mixing: Constant P/V, Vtip or N (depd.
same droplet size on breakage mechanism)
Heat transfer Equal Reynolds number
Fast chemical reactions Equal mixing time: const. N
Scale-up
– Practical constraints often dictate, for ex the power input at large
scale can be very high if mixing time is to be kept constant over the
turbulent regime.
– Empirical or semi-empirical correlations used for certain mixing
applications, e.g. (P/V)js D-0.55. These are valid for geometrically
similar systems and must not be extrapolated outside validity range.
– “Advanced methodologies” such as CFD have limitations particularly
if not validated against data.
Scale-up
• Often one attempts to go for one of the commonly used scale up
rules (P/V, ND, /V) BUT in many situations it is not possible to
apply a given scale-up rule because: