Experimental characterization and mixing modeling of a horizontally rotating disc reactor

• Published in: Chemical engineering science Vol. 280; p. 118995
• Main Authors: Jäger, Luca, Scholl, Stephan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 05.10.2023
• Subjects: Fluid dynamics; Mixing; Mixing time; Rotating cylinder; Rotating Disc Reactor; Mixing; Rotating Disc Reactor; Rotating cylinder; Fluid dynamics; Mixing time
• ISSN: 0009-2509; 1873-4405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2023.118995

•Optical measurement of mixing time in a partially filled, horizontally rotating cylinder.•Effect of speed, filling level, reactor diameter, and width on mixing time.•Modeling the dependencies of the mixing number by a power law with a set of dimensionless numbers.•Significant influence of the axial walls on the mixing process, shown using variations in reactor width. Mixing is important in many chemical and biochemical processes to ensure uniform conditions throughout the process volume. A complex interaction arises for heterogeneous systems sensitive to the stress induced by mechanical mixing devices. This work introduces the Rotating Disc Reactor consisting of a horizontally rotating cylinder of a small width and partial filling, potentially allowing low-shear mixing. A colorimetric approach was implemented to study the mixing behavior. An increase in rotational speed resulted in a maximum reduction in mixing time by a factor of 7.5, while a higher filling level increased the mixing time by 20%. Also, doubling the reactor diameter doubled the mixing time at the same circumferential speed, and quadrupling the reactor width prolonged the mixing process similarly. Finally, a model is proposed to describe the dependencies of the dimensionless mixing number with a set of dimensionless groups.