Trajectories of Charged Drops in a Liquid−Liquid System:  The Effect of Geometrical Scale-Up

• Published in: Industrial & engineering chemistry research Vol. 43; no. 9; pp. 2264 - 2270
• Main Authors: Hume, A. P, Petera, J, Weatherley, L. R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 28.04.2004
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Chemical engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Design; Dispersed phase; Electric field; Modeling; Drop
• ISSN: 0888-5885; 1520-5045
• DOI: 10.1021/ie030700n

The work in this paper builds on earlier research, which demonstrated the ability to predict charged drop motion in one-dimension and by using a single contactor geometry. Here we have extended this approach to compare the accuracy of the modeling methods in different sizes of contactor. The liquid−liquid system studied here comprised drops of water dispersed in sunflower oil The predicted drop trajectories are compared with those measured using video photography. Comparisons are presented for three different contactor sizes based on similar rectangular geometry. The largest contactor had dimensions of 100 × 100 mm2 cross section and a maximum interelectrode distance of 142 mm, the smallest contactor was of 50 × 50 mm2 cross section with a minimum interelectrode distance of 70 mm. The experimental variables studied included applied voltage, dispersed phase flow rate, interelectrode distance, field polarity, and contactor size. The space charge profiles and the electric field were calculated successfully, and good agreement between the predicted and the experimental trajectories was achieved in all cases. It is concluded that the predictive model can accurately accommodate geometries of different sizes and has the potential as a tool for scale-up design based on small scale experimentation.