Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.89, No.5, 1059-1067, 2011
COMPARING TOP ENTRY VERSUS SIDE ENTRY AGITATOR PERFORMANCE IN LOW VISCOSITY BLENDING
The primary purpose of this study was to quantify the difference in performance of side entering versus top entering agitators in low viscosity blending on the lab scale. This study compared the power requirement of top entry versus side entry agitator set ups to yield the same blend time. A 1.22m diameter clear vessel was used for the testing and several top entry set ups (0.15-0.3D/T with three wall baffles) were compared to a single side entry set up (0.09D/T with no wall baffles). Blend time was recorded for each run using three to four conductivity probes with water as the base fluid and a saturated sodium chloride solution as the tracer. Results show that a side entering agitator requires between three and five times the power to yield the same blend time as a top entering agitator. This ratio of powers is strongly related to the D/T chosen. In the future, additional work will be completed, which will include the effect of multiple side entry agitators on blend time and the effect of viscosity (i.e., lower Reynolds numbers) on blend time.
Keywords:side entry agitators;top entry agitators;low viscosity blending;conductivity probes;high efficiency hydrofoil impellers;LIGHTNIN A310 impeller;blend time study