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Chemical Engineering Journal 207208 (2012) 462472

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Chemical Engineering Journal


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cej

Axial mixing in annular centrifugal extractors


Tushar V. Tamhane a, Jyeshtharaj B. Joshi a,b,, U. Kamachi Mudali c, R. Natarajan c, R.N. Patil d
a

Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Matunga, Mumbai 400 019, India
Homi Bhabha National Institute, Anushakti Nagar, Mumbai 400 094, India
c
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, TN 603 102, India
d
Techno-Force Pvt. Ltd., Ambad D-34, Nashik 422 010, India
b

h i g h l i g h t s
" Axial mixing in annular centrifugal extractors was studied for different rotor sizes.
" Effect of rotor speed and ow rate on axial mixing was quantied.
" The effect of helical bafes was studied on axial mixing.
" Helical bafes were found to impart a plug ow behavior.
" For application in scale-up, correlations were proposed for Peclet number.

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Available online 20 July 2012
Keywords:
TaylorCouette ow
Annular centrifugal extractor
Axial mixing
Residence time distribution
Peclet number
Computational uid dynamics (CFDs)
Helical bafes

a b s t r a c t
Annular centrifugal extractors (ACEs) based on TaylorCouette ow, have found various applications,
some of which include liquidliquid extraction and as bio and polymerization reactors. The residence
time distribution (RTD) was measured in three size extractors having 50, 150 and 250 mm rotor diameter. The rotational speed was varied in the range of 1030 r/s so that the power consumption per unit
mass in the annular region was in the range of 25750 W/kg. The extent of axial mixing was substantially
reduced by providing helical bafes in the annular region. The effect of pitch was also studied. All the
geometries were simulated using computational uid dynamics (CFDs). A good agreement was obtained
between the CFD predictions and the experimental measurements. Also, correlations have been proposed
for Peclet numbers in the absence and presence of helical bafes.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Annular centrifugal extractors (ACEs) nd wide applications in
chemical process industries involving liquidliquid extractions. A
schematic diagram of ACE is shown in Fig. 1. It consists of a stationary outer cylinder, concentric to which is a rotating inner cylinder.
The annular gap between the two cylinders is kept small. The inner
cylinder is rotated at a high speed which creates a large shearing
force on the liquid in the annulus. The ow developed inside the
annulus is referred to as the Taylorcouette ow. This ow is quantied by a dimensionless number, known as Taylor number (Ta),
which is the ratio of centrifugal force to the viscous force and ex2
4  2
pressed as Ta 1g g2 d Xm .
Annular centrifugal extractors, also called annular centrifugal
contactors [15] offer several advantages over the other conven Corresponding author at: Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of
Chemical Technology, Matunga, Mumbai 400 019, India. Tel.: +91 22 33332106, +91
22 25597625; fax: +91 22 33611020.
E-mail addresses: jbjoshi@gmail.com, jb.joshi@ictmumbai.edu.in (J.B. Joshi).
1385-8947/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2012.06.151

tional process equipment such as low hold-up, high process


throughput, low residence time, low solvent inventory and high
turn down ratio. The equipment provides a very high value of mass
transfer coefcient and interfacial area in the annular zone because
of the high level of power consumption per unit volume [6,7] and
separation inside the rotor due to the high g of centrifugal eld.
Annular centrifugal extractors nd wide applications in nuclear
fuel processing where safety is the main concern [2,8,9], in biological operations where controlled shear eld and/or facilitated settling is important [10,11] and polymerization [12,13], excellent
mixing, heat and mass transfer [1420]. Annular centrifugal
extractors can also be used for a variety of chemical reactions such
as synthesis of mono-disperse silica particles, regeneration of spent
activated carbon [21,22], esterication and hydrolysis [23], as cavitation reactor [24], and have also been demonstrated for use with
ionic liquids [25].
The ACE consists of coaxial cylinders ((1) and (2)) as shown
schematically in Fig. 1. The immiscible feed liquids enter tangentially at points (3A) and (3B) into the annular region between the
two cylinders. The rotating impeller imparts power (in the range

T.V. Tamhane et al. / Chemical Engineering Journal 207208 (2012) 462472

463

Nomenclature
C(t)
Cijk
Ce1, Ce2
d
Deff
Di
DL
Dm
Dt
E
Eh
f
g
H
k
L
n
p
P
P0
hPi
Pe
Pk
Q
r
Re
Ri
Sc
Sct

tracer concentration at the outlet at time t (kmol/m3)


turbulent diffusive transport (m3/s3)
turbulence model constant for the transport equation of
e ()
annular gap (m)
effective diffusion coefcient (m2/s)
diameter of the rotor (m)
axial dispersion coefcient (m2/s)
molecular diffusion coefcient (m2/s)
eddy diffusion coefcient (m2/s)
exit age distribution (s1)
dimensionless exit age distribution (s1)
ratio of VC/VL ()
gravitational acceleration (m/s2)
height of the annular region (m)
turbulent kinetic energy (m2/s2)
path length of uid in the reactor (m)
number of vortices in the annular region ()
pitch of helical bafes (m)
pressure (Pa)
uctuating component of pressure (Pa)
average pressure (Pa)


Peclet number Pe VDLLL
generation of turbulent kinetic energy due to mean
velocity
ow rate (m3/s)
radial position (m)
Reynolds number ()
radius of the rotor (m)
Schmidt number ()
turbulent Schmidt number ()

of 20600 kW/m3) which results into a very ne dispersion of the


two immiscible liquids. The dispersion ows downwards in the
annular region (where the mass transfer occurs) and then ows
radially inwards in the region below the rotating cylinder (points
(4A) and (4B) in Fig. 1) and nally enters the central opening
(orice) of the rotating cylinder (point 5). Bafes (6) are provided
in the bottom region which are either attached to the base of the
outer cylinder or to the bottom of the rotating cylinder. The
dispersion entering the central orice, gets deected towards the
wall by the horizontal deecting bafe (7) provided close to the entrance. Above the level of (7) the rotor is provided with vertical
bafes (8) so as to create several chambers ranging from 4 to 8.
The rotating cylinder imparts the liquid a practically rigid body
rotation. The inner surface of the rotating liquid has almost a vertical shape (9) because of high g except a small parabolic portion
at the bottom. The dispersion entering at the bottom gets separated as it moves upwards. The rate of separation depends upon
the drop size distribution, their settling velocities under the centrifugal action (rX2 ), densities, viscosities and coalescing behavior
of the two phases. For complete separation (which is considered
to be a agship advantage of ACEs), adequate height needs to be
provided for a given level of (rX2 ). After complete separation, the
overow weirs ((10A) and (10B)) are provided in such a way that,
only very clean light and heavy phases pass over the weirs. The size
and location of the weirs are provided in the hardware according to
the relative ow rates of heavy and light phases and their corresponding clean widths (11) and (12). The ow of liquids from
points (3A) and (3B) to (13A) and (13B) passes through the steps
of extraction and separation. For the reliable design of process
equipment, the knowledge of mass transfer rates and reaction

t
Ta

time (s)
2
4
Taylor number Ta 1g g2 d Xm 2 ()

Tk
ui
u0i
huii
Us
Uz
VC
VL
VZR
xi
z

local mass fraction of the tracer ()


velocity component in ith direction (m/s)
uctuating component of velocity in ith direction (m/s)
average velocity in ith direction (m/s)
surface velocity of the rotor (m/s)
axial velocity (m/s)
average circulation velocity within an vortex (m/s)
supercial velocity of liquid (m/s)
inter-cell recirculation velocity (m/s)
Cartesian co-ordinate in the ith direction (m)
axial position (m)

Greek Symbols
X
rotor speed (rad/s)
g
radius ratio of the inner cylinder to the outer cylinder ()
m
kinematic viscosity of the working uid (m2/s)

r2
2
h

r
sij
e
q
s
h

re
rt
lt
Pij

variance (s2)
ratio of r2/s2 ()
Reynolds stress (N/m2)
turbulent energy dissipation rate (m2/s3)
density (kg/m3)
mean residence time (s)
ratio of t/s ()
turbulent Prandtl number for energy dissipation rate ()
turbulent Prandtl number for kinetic energy ()
turbulent viscosity (Pa s)
pressurestrain correlation (m2/s3)

rates (when extraction is accompanied by chemical reaction) together with the extent of axial mixing is important. The latter is
the subject of present work.

2. Previous work
During the past 35 years, some studies have been reported
regarding the axial mixing in Taylor Couette ow over a wide range
of design and operating parameters. Table 1 gives a summary of
the published work. Kataoka et al. [26] performed RTD experiments and found that the Taylor vortex ow with a small constant
axial ow can be an ideal plug ow for the range of 51.4 < Ta < 640
and 0 < Re < 90 for the geometry d/Ri = 0.333. Each cellular vortex,
considered as a well-mixed batch vessel, was found to move axially
with no intermixing over the cell boundary. When Ta exceeded
640, the plug ow could not be maintained owing to the occurrence of longitudinal intermixing over the cell boundary, which
was attributed to the transition from singly to doubly periodic
ow.
The study on axial mixing in Taylorcouette contactors was further carried out by Pudjiono et al. [27]. These authors measured the
residence time distribution in a continuous Taylor Couette device
having 23.5 mm rotor. They found a near plug ow behavior at
Ta = 60 and have described the axial mixing by dispersed plug ow
model. Legrand and Coeuret [28] carried out the experimental
investigation of circumferential mixing in a Taylorcouette ow.
They proposed that each vortex unit be considered as an ideal stirred tank. In single and two phase studies carried out by them, they
used tanks in series model. Also, they observed practically no

464

T.V. Tamhane et al. / Chemical Engineering Journal 207208 (2012) 462472

Fig. 1. Conceptual diagram of annular centrifugal extractor. (1) Stationary cylinder, (2) rotating cylinder, (3A) light phase inlet, (3B) heavy phase inlet, (4A and B) region
below rotating cylinder, (5) central opening for rotating cylinder, (6) radial bafes on the stationary bottom plate, (7) deecting bafe in the rotor, (8) vertical bafes in the
rotor, (9) interface between air and light phase, (10A and B) overow weirs for lighter and heavier phase respectively, (11) clean width for heavy phase, (12) clean width for
light phase, (13A and B) outlets for light and heavy phases respectively, and (14) liquid level in the annulus.

Table 1
Summary of the work on axial dispersion in the annular region of TaylorCouette ow.
Author

Ri/Ro ()

Annular gap, d (mm)

Axial Reynolds number, Re ()

Taylor number, Ta ()

Kataoka et al. [13]


Kataoka et al. [26]
Desmet et al. [30,31]
Pudijiono et al. [27]
Ohmura et al. [36]
Deshmukh et al. [34]
Legrand and Coeuret [28]
Croockewit et al. [29]
Enokida et al. [35]
Richter et al. [37]

0.75
0.5
0.642
0.94
0.703
0.750.93
0.548
0.240.89
0.5930.76
0.875

10
20
24
1.5
18.4
1.56.5
11.3
5.143.2
1830.5
0.005

090
035
06.3
0.035.5
0
17.570
0
324
60250
0.030.51

50640
50640
5035000
0118
02000
1  1062.9  108
435870
17098400
514838220
02209

intermixing between the vortices and the presence of second phase


increased the circumferential mixing in the continuous phase.
Croockewit et al. [29] carried out the studies on longitudinal diffusion through an annulus between stationary outer cylinder and a
rotating inner cylinder. They used frequency response technique to
measure the residence time distribution in a Taylorcouette contactor. The authors undertook all the measurements in the regime
where the rotor speed was greater that the critical rotor speed.

The data was reported for a wide range of uid viscosities, annular
gaps and rotor speeds. It was noted through visual observations
that, the height of the Taylor vortices was somewhat greater than
the width of the annulus. They also found that, the circumferential
speeds of the rotor and of the vortices were proportional to each
other. These authors also observed that, there was a relative lowering in the value of average apparent diffusivity with rotor speed
which was attributed to the decrease in the scale of turbulence.

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T.V. Tamhane et al. / Chemical Engineering Journal 207208 (2012) 462472

The authors stated that, the conclusions of that work, though not
very exact, could certainly provide a basis for estimating the
importance of the back-mixing effect of a physical operation or a
chemical process was carried out in this apparatus. Thus, this work
is certainly a value addition to the development of Taylor vortex
ow.
Desmet el al. [30,31] have studied the intra-vortex and intervortex axial dispersion in Taylor Couette devices. They refuted
the previously published notion that in Taylorcouette ows, the
inter-vortex dispersion is absent. Also they showed that the intra-vortex dispersion depended on various factors such as the tangential velocity and the dimensions of the vortices. Also, they
showed that a single vortex cannot always be considered as a completely mixed stirred tank and depended upon the concentration
gradients within the vortices.
Vedantam et al. [5] and Deshmukh et al. [3234] have carried
out CFD simulations for RTD and compared it with the available
experimental data in the Taylor vortex regime and the turbulent
regime. It has been shown that the plug ow behavior is obtained
in small scale equipment. However, substantial axial mixing was
found to occur when the size is larger than 50 mm and/or the rotor
speed is high. They further found that, the effect of net axial ow
on the axial mixing signicantly reduced at higher rotational
speeds. Effect of axial ow, annular gap width, and rotational speed
was investigated on the axial dispersion.
Deshmukh et al. [34] performed CFD simulation of ACE with
39 mm rotor and 52 mm stator. They found that the number of
vortices decreases with an increase in rotor speed. Further, they
made an important observation that the Taylor vortices cannot
be considered as non-interacting and substantial intervortex recirculation was found by PIV measurements and CFD simulations.
They have proposed a procedure for the estimation of the number
of tanks in series based on the number of vortices and the inter-cell
circulation velocities. Based on the data obtained from CFD simulations and validation with the experiments, they could quantitatively state the difference between the observed number of
vortices and the number of tanks in series. They also carried out
an extensive analysis of the global and local dispersion. Also, the
mixing time due to turbulent transport was much larger than the
mixing time due to convective transport. Thus, it may be emphasized that, RTD and PIV measurements as well as the CFD simulations of Deshmukh et al. [34] (in agreement with Desmet et al.
[30,31]) indicated markedly different results as compared with
the hitherto well adopted notion that the number of counter rotating vortices can be considered to be equal to the number of completely stirred tanks in series resulting into a plug ow behavior.
In view of these important observations, Deshmukh et al. [34]
thought it desirable to introduce a geometrical modication in
the annular region so that the number of vortices does not reduce
with either an increase in the rotor speed or change in the annular
gap (which is particularly expected as the size of ACE increases).
For this purpose, they introduced radial bafes with a very small
clearance between the stationary bafe and the rotating cylinder.
It was observed (by PIV) that a pair of counterrotating vortices
formed in each space between the two neighboring bafes. Thus,
the vortex size could be independent of rotor speed as well as
the annular gap. Further, the inter bafe recirculation was found

to be considerably lower than the intervortex recirculation in the


absence of bafes. Thus, by introducing radial bafes, Deshmukh
et al. [34] could obtain axial mixing behavior equivalent up to ve
CSTRs against one CSTR behavior in the absence of bafes.
Richter et al. [37] studied the micromixing and macromixing in
the Taylor-couette device. They used a cylindrical rotor as well as a
modied geometry where they used a rotor with ribs. It was shown
that, while micromixing, which is useful for multiphase systems
was enhanced by this new geometry, macromixing, which is of major concern for most of the processes, reduced signicantly for
Ta > 130 in presence of ribs and they recommended this modied
design.
From the foregoing discussion, it is clear that, though a large
number of axial mixing studies have been performed in the past,
practically all of them have been carried out in small size equipment of the order of 50 mm rotor size. However, in practice, where
larger throughputs are required, large size equipment needs to be
used. Therefore, it was thought desirable to undertake a systematic
investigation of residence time distribution in the annular region
for large size (150 and 250 mm) over a wide range of power consumption. A smaller size of 50 mm has also been investigated for
understanding the scale-up behavior. An attempt has been made
to reduce the axial mixing and to get a practically plug ow behavior. Also, CFD simulations of axial mixing in 50, 150 mm dia. rotor
ACEs have been performed and the results have been compared
with the experimental measurements of residence time
distribution.
3. Experimental
3.1. Equipment
In the present work, the residence time distribution experiments have been performed in 50, 150 and 250 mm size (rotor)
annular centrifugal extractors. The geometrical details are given
in Table 2. The schematic diagram of the experimental set up is
shown in Fig. 2. Experiments were also performed by providing
bafes in the annular space. For this purpose, helical bafes were
incorporated in the annular region of ACE-250. Two different
pitches were employed in the present study, viz., 25 mm and
37.5 mm.
3.2. Experimental procedure
The present study involved single phase investigations of axial
mixing using water (q = 998 kg/m3, l = 0.001 Pa s) as the working
uid. All the experiments were carried out at room temperature.
In case of ACE-50, peristaltic pumps were used to pump the uid.
When the experiments were carried out with ACE-150 and ACE250, centrifugal pumps were used. In all the experiments, water
was rst pumped through the inlet while the rotor was stationary.
The ow rate was adjusted to the desired value. Then the rotor was
started and its speed was gradually increased to the desired value.
The system was allowed to reach steady state by running it for sufcient time. It has to be noted that, in annular centrifugal extractors, the steady state is achieved very quickly.

Table 2
Details of the experimental conditions used for the axial dispersion in the annular centrifugal extractor.
Diameter of the inner
cylinder (mm)

Height of the bottom


bafe (mm)

Bottom gap between bottom


bafes and inner cylinder (mm)

Number of bafes at the base

Ta

Mesh
size

y+

250
150
50

23
15
8

2
2
2

10
8
6

3.5  1093.15  1010


4.54  1084.08  109
5.6  1065.04  107

43  105
26  105
8.5  105

1520
1416
67

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T.V. Tamhane et al. / Chemical Engineering Journal 207208 (2012) 462472

r2h
Motor

2DL
2

V L L Pe

Thus, knowing the mean residence time and the variance, Pe


can be evaluated.
4. Computational uid dynamics
CFD simulations were carried out on three different rotor diameters, viz. ACE-50, ACE-150 and ACE-250. In addition to this, two
different bafes were incorporated in ACE-250.

Rotameter
Probe position

4.1. Model formulation

Level indication for the


annulus
Pump

Storage tank

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the experimental set up.

Sodium chloride was used as a tracer. It was injected just before


the inlet using a syringe. The tracer concentration was measured
using a conductivity probe at the outlet of the annular region.
The conductivity probe used consisted of graphite electrodes. It
was calibrated against the potassium chloride solution of known
concentrations. The probe was connected to the data acquisition
card. It was in turn connected to the computer with a RS-232 port.
The frequency of data acquisition was 10 Hz. It may be pointed out
that the time constant of the probe was about 1000 times lower
than the minimum residence time in the extractor.
3.3. Data analysis

were obtained over a wide range of ow rates, rotor speeds and


bafe dimensions and analyzed. The parameters used to quantify
the axial mixing were evaluated stepwise. First, the mean residence time (s) was calculated as:

s R0t

tCt dt

Ct dt
0

In discrete form, if t is the time interval between successive readings, the above expression for s can be re-written as:

tCtDt
s P
CtDt

@ui
0
@xi

2
2

On similar lines, the second moment, known as the variance (r )


can be evaluated as:

The momentum equation is written as follows:

@ui @ui uj
1 Pi
@


@t
@xj
q xi @xj

CtDt

r2
s2


9

@hui i
0
@xi

11

@hui i
@hui i
1 hPi i 1 @
huj i


@t
@xj
q xi q @xj

@hui i
sij
xj


12

In Eq. (12), the term sij can be modeled using various turbulence
models. It has been shown that [3234] Reynolds Stress Model
(RSM) could model the highly turbulent Taylor vortex ow more
accurately than the ke model. Hence, in the present work, RSM
has been employed to model turbulence. In this model, individual
Reynolds stresses can be computed using the following transport
equation:





@ sij
@ sij
@huj i
@hui i
 qsik
sjk

qhuk i
@xk
@xk
@t
@xk



@
2
2
 C ijk Pij  edij mr sij
xk
3

13

where

C ijk hu0i u0j u0k i


4

During the data analysis, the variance calculated above is made


dimensionless by dividing it with the square of mean residence
time. Thus,

r2h

@ui
xj

Thus, Eqs. (8) and (9) on Reynolds averaging give:

which can in turn be normalized as:

E h sE

10

The exit age distribution is calculated as follows:

Ct
EP
CtDt

The velocity ui can be written as a combination of mean velocity


and uctuating velocity:

t 2 CtDt
r2 P
 s2

ui hui i u0i

Axial mixing in the ACE was quantied by the dimensionless




parameter, Peclet number Pe VDLLL . The respective RTD curves

Rt

In the present case, three dimensional steady-state simulations


have been carried out using the open source software OpenFOAM
(version 1.6). simpleFoam solver was used in the present study.
The following governing equations for continuity and momentum
were solved:
Continuity:

hP0 u0i idjk

hP 0 u0j idik . . . Turbulent diffusive transport


Y
ij

0 0
P @uj

q @xi

@u0i
@xj

. . . Pressure strain correlation

The
diffusive transport in Eq. (13) has been modeled
 turbulent

@s
as @x@ rlt @xij with the value of the constant rk taken as 0.82. Thus,
k
k
k
the term lt needs to be modeled. This is done as:

This quantity can be related to the Dispersion coefcient and hence


to Peclet number in the following way:

lt qC l

where value of the constant Cl is taken as 0.09.

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T.V. Tamhane et al. / Chemical Engineering Journal 207208 (2012) 462472

467

The turbulent kinetic energy (k) is calculated as:

1
sii sjj skk
2

15

The turbulent energy dissipation rate, e is computed from the


following transport equation:





@e
@e
@ 1
l @e
e
C e1 P k

l t
huj i
@xj q
@t
@xj
re r @xj
k
 C e2 q

e2

16

where Pk is the generation of turbulent kinetic energy due to mean


velocity gradients and is given as:

Pk sij

@hui i
@xj

17

The constants in this equation have the following values:

C e1 1:44;

C e2 1:92 and

re 1:0:

4.2. Model formulation for species transport


The simulation of passive tracer was started only after the ow
was converged. The assumptions made for these simulations are:
(1) the diffusion process is isothermal, (2) the solute does not undergo any chemical reaction, and (3) the amount of the solute is so
small that all the physical properties of the system remain unchanged. A tracer pulse was given at the inlet specifying the mass
fraction to be equal to one. After the pulse is given, the mass fraction of tracer at the inlet was again set to zero and the following
transport equation was solved:



@qT k
@qT k
@
@T

qDeff k
huk i
@t
@xk
@xk
@xk

18

In the above equation, Tk is the local mass fraction of the tracer.


The effective diffusion coefcient, Deff is given by:

Deff Dm Dt

19

where Dm and Dt are the molecular diffusion coefcient and eddy


diffusion coefcient, respectively.
Dm and Dt are estimated by:

Dm
Dt

m
Sc

mt
Sct

20
21

where Sc is the Schmidt number and Sct is the turbulent Schmidt


number.
4.3. Boundary conditions
Figs. 1 and 3 show schematically the geometry of ACE-50, ACE150 and ACE-250 used for simulations in the present study. It may
be noted that, except for the helical bafes incorporated in the
annular region of ACE-250, the other geometrical parameters are
identical on the respective scales for ACE-50 and ACE-150. As can
be seen, tangential inlets were provided at the top. The outlet (or
the orice as it is called) is at the bottom of the rotor. On the bottom surface of the stationary cylinder (stator), curved vanes have
been provided which guide the uid into the rotor suction which
is the orice in the present simulations.
At the inlet, the velocity inlet boundary condition was specied.
Also, care was taken while specifying the direction of the velocity
vector in OpenFOAM. Here, we needed to specify the velocity components for each direction. Thus, the inlet velocity was specied as

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the simulation geometry of ACE with parts shown: (1)
Stationary cylinder, (2) rotating cylinder, (3A) light phase inlet, (3B) heavy phase
inlet, (4) helical bafes, (5) central opening for rotating cylinder, (6) radial bafes on
the stationary bottom plate.

a vector. Its value was calculated from the volumetric ow rate of


the working uid. OpenFOAM-1.6 provides the rotatingWallVelocity boundary condition. This was used for giving the desired rotational speed to the inner cylinder. Here, we needed to specify the
axis of rotation for the inner cylinder. The rotational speed was
specied in rad/s. No-slip condition was specied at all the walls.
The mesh was resolved more in the near wall regions (near the stator, rotor, bottom vanes, helical bafes and in the region between
the bottom vanes and rotor bottom). In these regions, the gradients
for turbulence quantities are high. In order to reduce the excessive
computational resources, the standard wall functions were used
for Reynolds stresses. At walls, the near-wall values of the Reynolds stresses and e are computed from wall functions. The values
of y+ have been given along with the mesh sizes in Table 2. The tracer was initialized by specifying its mass fraction as one at the inlet
and the simulations were carried out on the velocity eld obtained
previously. This was the same as the pulse input in the experiments. Then, the tracer mass fraction was set to zero and the simulations were carried out on the xed velocity eld from the
converged steady-state solution. Simulation time for the tracer
transport in the frozen ow eld was found to be in the range of
48 days in the range of all the variables covered in this work. During this time, the tracer concentration at the outlet was recorded
continuously at different time intervals.
4.4. Method of solution
For the current simulations, simpleFoam solver was used. The
momentum equation was discretized using Gauss upwind scheme.
Preconditioned bi-conjugate gradient solver (PBiCG) was used for
velocity, while preconditioned conjugate gradient solver was used
for pressure. Pressurevelocity coupling was done using SIMPLE
scheme. After the fully developed ow was obtained, the tracer
was injected as a pulse input. Its concentration was calculated
using scalarTransportFoam solver in the unsteady state simulation
where only the scalar concentration is changing with time. A nonuniform hexahedral mesh was used in all the three extractors. The
mesh was ner near the wall regions. In the regions away from the
walls, the mesh spacing was more.

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T.V. Tamhane et al. / Chemical Engineering Journal 207208 (2012) 462472

0.1

DIMENSIONLESS AXIAL VELOCITY, Uz/Us

0.04
0.03

0.05

0.02
0.01

0
-0.01

-0.05

-0.02
-0.03

-0.1

-0.04
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

DIMESIONLESS RADIAL DISTANCE,(r-R i)/d

(A)

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

DIMESIONLESS RADIAL DISTANCE,(r-R i)/d

(B)

Fig. 4. Grid size dependence of axial velocity proles for: (A) ACE-50 at z/H = 0.6, (1) Grid size = 8.5  105, (2) Grid size = 10  105, (3) Grid size = 6.2  105, (B) ACE-150 at z/
H = 0.5 (1) 26  105 (2) Grid size = 29.5  105 and (3) Grid size = 21  105.

4.5. Grid independence


In case of ACE-50, the total grid size used was 8.5  105. This
was arrived at by checking the sensitivity of grid size on the
velocity proles. Initially, a grid coarser than the current grid
(6.2  105) was used and the results for the axial velocity prole
were obtained. Similarly, a ner grid (106) was also employed.
The dependence of velocity proles on the grid size has been
shown at z/H = 0.6. Similarly, in case of ACE-150, the grid size
dependence was investigated for the grid sizes 21  105,
26  105 and 29.5  105 and the results of axial velocity proles
have been shown at z/H = 0.5. Thus, a grid-independence test
was carried out for different grid sizes. This has been shown in
Fig. 4. Similar procedure was followed for ACE-250, where the
grid size used was 43  105. The mesh was ner in the near wall
regions. In the regions away from walls, a relatively coarse mesh
was used. In the near wall regions (near the rotor bottom, in the
region between bottom vanes and rotor bottom, regions between
the vanes), the mesh spacing was approximately 0.5 mm while
in the regions away from the walls, the mesh spacing was of
the order of 1 mm. Parallel computing was used for large grid
sizes, wherein the total geometry was divided into different
parts and the simulations were carried out on different processors simultaneously. The details of the meshing have been provided in Table 2.
5. Results and discussion
(1) As has been discussed, most of the data reported so far in the
literature has covered laboratory scale rotor sizes. There is a
scarcity of data on the axial mixing in annular centrifugal
extractors (ACEs) with rotor sizes of the order of 250 mm.
(2) The scale-up depends upon our understanding of ow patterns with respect to scale.
(3) In spite of a wide range of applications that they are useful in,
annular centrifugal extractors have been shown to have a
drawback practically complete backmixing. The throughput
in ACE can vary between 50 L/h in 50 mm rotor size to
6500 L/h in ACE-250. The ow characteristics certainly cannot
be expected to be identical under these two extremes. Moreover, the ow is highly turbulent under the conditions where
they are operated. Hence, the backmixing is expected to be
high.

(4) Taylor vortices are very peculiar to the annular centrifugal


extractors In addition to the bulk tangential motion of the
uid, these vortices also revolve around themselves The
extent of backmixing due to these vortices is a complex
function of the following variables: (i) the number of vortices, (ii) the dimensionless vortices, (iii) the tangential velocities around the global axis as well as the vortex axis, and
(iv) concentration gradients within the vortices. These vortices have been shown to be interacting and substantial intervortex backmixing has been shown to take place. Thus, the
Taylor vortices and their attributes are the main cause of
the bulk ow behavior in the annular region of annular centrifugal extractors.
(5) In the liquidliquid extraction, the hold-up values of the
dispersed phase are typically in the range of 1025%. Also,
the power consumption is in the range of 5500 kW/m3. At
such high power consumption, the drop diameters are of
the order of a few microns. These drops have a signicant
slip velocity and are expected to follow the bulk uid
motion and are not expected to alter the bulk motion to
a great extent.
The extent of backmixing has been quantied by the Peclet
numbers (Pe). The respective values of Pe have been reported in
Table 3. Higher values of Pe imply that convection dominates
and eventually approaches plug ow behavior at Pe exceeding
about 10. Fig. 5 shows the comparison of RTD curves obtained
using the experimental measurements and the CFD predictions.
5.1. Effect of rotor speed
All the measurements in the present study have been carried
out in the turbulent region of Taylor Couette ow.
In order to study the effect of rotational motion on the axial
mixing, the rotor speed was varied between 10 rps and 30 rps. It
was observed that, at a particular ow rate, when the rotor speed
was increased, the values of Pe decreased, indicating an increase in
the axial mixing. This conclusion holds for all the three extractors
covered in this work. It was found that the number of vortex cells
in the annular region was reduced with increase in rotor speed.
Fig. 6 shows the velocity contours in ACE-50 at two different rotor
speeds. Also, the typical proles of eddy diffusivity have been
shown in Fig. 7.

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T.V. Tamhane et al. / Chemical Engineering Journal 207208 (2012) 462472


Table 3
Summary of results for axial mixing in annular centrifugal extractors.
Bafe pitch, p (mm)

Flow rate, Q (mL/s)

Rotor speed, N (r/s)

VL (mm/s)

Pe (Exp)

50
50
50
50
150
150
150
150
250
250
250
250
250
250
250
250
250
250
250
250

No bafes
No bafes
No bafes
No bafes
No bafes
No bafes
No bafes
No bafes
No bafes
No bafes
No bafes
No bafes
25
25
25
25
37.5
37.5
37.5
37.5

9
9
14
14
55
55
146
146
278
278
1250
1250
278
278
1250
1250
278
278
1250
1250

10
30
10
30
10
20
10
20
10
30
10
30
10
30
10
30
10
30
10
30

10.4
10.4
16.2
16.2
7.15
7.15
18.8
18.8
12.9
12.9
57.9
57.9
566
566
2548
2548
252
252
1132
1132

2.34
1.16
3.11
1.26
0.81
0.48
1.56
0.91
0.93
0.42
2.78
2.29
7.74
5.78
7.86
6.71
4.71
3.62
5.91
4.41

DIMENSIONLESS EXIT AGE


DISTRIBUTION, E

Rotor dia., Di (mm)

1.2

1.2

1.2

0.8

0.8

0.8

0.6

0.6

0.6

0.4

0.4

0.4

0.2

0.2

0.2

0
0

2
4
6
8 10
DIMENSIONLESS
TIME,

VZR (mm/s)

Pe

2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6

6
18
3
24
12
45
22.5
45
30
120
25
44
193
264
840
1256
232
313
801
1107

0.58
1.73
0.185
1.48
1.68
6.3
1.19
2.39
2.33
9.33
0.43
0.76
0.34
0.47
0.33
0.49
0.92
1.24
0.71
0.98

1.86
0.89
2.92
1.01
0.92
0.29
1.18
0.69
0.7
0.20
2.14
1.58
7.13
6.21
7.23
6.04
4.22
3.44
4.97
4.06

0
0

2
4
6
8
DIMENSIONLESS
TIME,

(A)

10

5
DIMENSIONLESS
TIME,

10

(C)

(B)

0.9
DIMENSIONLESS EXIT AGE
DISTRIBUTION, E

CFD predictions

0.8

0.9

0.7

0.8

0.6

0.7
0.6

0.5

0.5
0.4

0.4

0.3

0.3

0.2

0.2

0.1

0.1
0

0
0

1
2
3
4
DIMENSIONLESS TIME,

(D)

1
2
3
4
DIMENSIONLESS TIME,

(E)

Fig. 5. Sample residence time distribution diagrams for the annular region (. . .) Experimental () CFD (A) ACE-50: 9 mL/s and 10 r/s, (B) ACE-150: 146 mL/s and 20 r/s, (C)
ACE-250 in the absence of bafes: 278 mL/s and 10 r/s, (D) ACE-250 in the presence of bafes with pitch 25 mm: 278 mL/s and 10 r/s, and (E) ACE-250 in the presence of
bafes with pitch 37.5 mm: 1250 mL/s and 30 r/s.

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T.V. Tamhane et al. / Chemical Engineering Journal 207208 (2012) 462472

4.00e-1
3.33e-1
2.67e-1
2.00e-1
1.33e-1
6.67e-2
0
6.67e-2
-1.33e-2
-2.00e-1
--2.67e-2
-3.33e-1
-4.00e-1

(A)

(B)

Fig. 6. Comparison showing the contour plots for axial velocity in ACE-50 at 9 mL/s at (A) 10 r/s (B) 30 r/s.

30

EDDY DIFFUSIVITY, m2/s(X105)

EDDY DIFFUSIVITY, m2/s(X106)

25

20

15

10

25
20
15
10
5
0

0
0

0.5

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

DIMENSIONLESS RADIAL DISTANCE


(r-Ri)/d

DIMENSIONLESS RADIAL
DISTANCE (r-Ri)/d

(B)

(A)

Fig. 7. Sample proles for eddy diffusivity in the annular region of (A) ACE-50 at 9 mL/s and 62.8 rad s. (B) ACE-150 at 146 mL/s and 125.6 rad s.

It was thought desirable to explain this phenomenon on the basis of interstage recirculation velocities. The procedure for analysis
was based on the tanks-in-series model with interstage recirculation [38]. This approach has been used by Joshi [39] for the case
of bubble columns where multiple recirculation cells prevail. It
was shown that, if n is the number of interacting recirculation cells
in the column, the Peclet number is given by:



1
Pe n= f
2

The values of n, f and Pe for the three extractors have been


shown in Table 3 over a range of rotor speed and liquid velocity
covered in this work. It can be observed that, in the absence of helical bafes, the values of Pe are relatively low, ow closer to backmixed behavior, particularly when the values of Pe are less than 1.
5.2. Effect of ow rate

22

where f is the ratio of inter-cell recirculation velocity to the supercial velocity. Joshi [39] has estimated the value of f on the basis of
ow pattern at the interface of the two adjacent cells. Further, he
has shown excellent agreement between the model predictions
and all the experimental data published in the literature over a wide
range of column diameter, column height, gas and liquid supercial
velocities and the physical properties of the gas and liquid phases. It
was shown that the value of interstage recirculation velocity, VZR
was equal to 0.3 times the average liquid circulation velocity within
the cell, VC.
The same approach was adopted for annular centrifugal extractors, where multiple Taylor vortices prevail in the annular region.
As has been shown by Desmet et al. [30,31], the Taylor vortices involve inter-vortex dispersion. Thus, the Taylor vortices could be considered as interacting. The inter-cell recirculation velocities were
calculated from the ow patterns obtained from CFD simulations.

The ow rate has a direct impact on the hydrodynamics in the


annular region. As has been shown in the previous studies
[32,33,40], the axial ow stabilizes the Taylorcouette ow and it
delays the instability. In other words, occurrence of Taylor vortices
in presence of a net axial ow is delayed in comparison with that in
the absence of it. This means that, it is the magnitude of axial component of velocity relative to the tangential component that decides the formation of Taylor vortices. Extending the approach
suggested by Joshi [39] to this discussion, one is tempted to observe the effect of the ow rate on parameter f. This can be directly
observed from Table 3. The supercial velocity VL is a direct indication of the magnitude of axial velocity. Any increase in VL leads to a
decrease in the average liquid circulation velocity (VC). Thus, the
inter-cell recirculation velocity (VZR) which is directly dependent
on VC also decreases with an increase in VL. The values of inter-cell
recirculation velocities (VZR) have also been mentioned in this
table. It can be seen that, with increase in the axial velocity, there

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T.V. Tamhane et al. / Chemical Engineering Journal 207208 (2012) 462472

7.5e-1
6.25e-1
5e-1
3.75e-1
2.5e-1
1.25e-1
0
-1.25e-1
-2.5e-1
-3.75e-1
-5e-1
-6.25e-1

(A)

-7.5e-1

(B)

Fig. 8. Comparison showing the contour plots for axial velocity in ACE-250 at
1250 mL/s and 20 r/s (A) without helical bafes (B) with helical bafes with 25 mm
pitch.

is a decrease in the inter-cell recirculation velocity at a constant rotor speed. Thus, the parameter f (=VZR/VL) decreases. Thus, from Eq.
(22), it can be seen that Pe decreases.
5.3. Effect of helical bafes in the annular region of ACE-250
As has been discussed in Section 1, Taylor vortex ow, which is
the characteristic of annular centrifugal extractors, has applications in numerous different areas, owing to the high values of mass
transfer coefcients, interfacial areas and low residence times
compared to conventional devices. However, this feature also imparts a drawback of backmixed behavior [34]. Backmixed behavior
is known to result in much larger reactor volumes as compared to
the plug ow behavior. For instance, for a rst order reaction and
98 per cent conversion, the volume of backmixed reactor is about
400% higher than a plug ow reactor. Thus, a backmixed behavior
3.5

results into high capital as well as operating costs. Therefore, it was


thought desirable to make an effort to reduce the extent of backmixing in the annular region.
From Eq. (22), it can be seen that the backmixing can be reduces by increasing the number of vortices and by reducing the
intervortex recirculation velocity. For this purpose, helical bafe
was provided in the annulus. Two different bafes pitches were
used, viz. 25 mm and 37.5 mm. In the absence of helical bafes,
the uid was found to be closer to the backmixed behavior. It
was observed that, inclusion of helical bafes signicantly reduced the extent of backmixing. This is shown by higher values
of Pe in Table 3. Fig. 8 shows the comparison between the Taylor
vortices obtained in the absence and presence of helical bafes. It
can be seem that, each compartment of the helical bafe contains
a pair of counter-rotating vortices. For this, the inter-cell recirculation velocities were calculated (Table 3) and these were in turn
used to calculate the values of f in Eq. (22). It can be seen that,
the values of Pe signicantly increase in the presence of helical
bafes. This indicates the reduction of backmixing. It can also
be seen from this table that, in case of ACE-250, the axial mixing
observed at larger bafe pitch was more than that observed at
smaller pitch. This can be attributed to the fact that, in case of
smaller bafe pitch, the number of vortices formed is more. Thus,
according to Eq. (22), the backmixing reduces to a greater extent
than that in the case of larger pitch.
As has been discussed, axial mixing increases with increase in
rotor speed. It can be seen from Table 3 that, there is an agreement
in the values of Pe reported by experiments and CFD. It is interesting to note that, the difference in the experimentally measured values and those predicted by CFD is more at higher rotor speeds. This
is possibly because, at higher rotor speeds, the pumping capacity of
the rotor is high. Hence, the annular region has a reduced liquid
height. Also, the contact between the rotor and the uid is not continuous and the annular liquid height is oscillating [41]. At the typical operating speeds used for the applications using ACE, there is
an unavoidable entrainment of air. Therefore, the actual ow in
the annulus is not always entirely single phase but has some bubbles trapped in the liquid. This causes some discrepancies in the
experimental measurements and CFD predictions. In the experiments, care was taken to ensure that the air entrainment did not
largely affect the measurements. The problem was aggravated in
larger units (ACE-150 and ACE-250). This was tackled by adjusting
the bottom resistance using an adjustable screw and continuously
observing the liquid height in the annulus using a transparent tube

10
9

Pe (PREDICTED)(-)

8
2.5

7
6

5
1.5
4
1

3
2

0.5

1
0

Pe (EXPERIMENTAL)(-)

(A)

10

Pe (EXPERIMENTAL)(-)

(B)

Fig. 9. Parity plots for showing comparison between the values of Peclet numbers predicted by experiments and by correlations (A) in the absence of helical bafes (B) in
presence of helical bafes.

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T.V. Tamhane et al. / Chemical Engineering Journal 207208 (2012) 462472

attached externally and also through the sight glass provided at the
outer cylinder.
5.4. Scale-up aspects of annular centrifugal extractors from the
standpoint of current study
In this paper, we have undertaken experimental measurements
and CFD simulations of the annular centrifugal extractors over a
wide range of rotor size, rotor speed and supercial liquid velocity.
In previous section, an excellent agreement has been shown between the experimental and predicted (CFD) values of Peclet numbers. Thus, in the exercise of scale-up, one may argue that the tool
of CFD can be employed. However, implementation of CFD simulation may sometimes be difcult because of the unavailability of
computational power/experience. Therefore, it was thought desirable to propose correlations for Peclet numbers for the two cases:
In the absence of helical bafes:

Pe 16:03

!0:71 
0:82
ND2i q
Di V L q

23

In presence of helical bafes:

Pe 139:53

!0:23 
0:098
ND2i q
Di V L q

1 p=d1:51

24

The correlation coefcients for the above two equations were


found to be 0.94 and 0.97 respectively. The parity plots showing
a comparison between the experimental and the predicted values
have been shown in Fig. 9.
6. Conclusion
(1) Experiments were performed on three different sizes of ACE,
viz. ACE-250, ACE-150 and ACE-50. Thus, the RTD studies
carried out cover a wide range, from lab scale to the industrial scale spanning the extractor capacity in the range of
about 0.10.5 m3/h.
(2) CFD simulations were undertaken to see their validity in
predicting the ow and axial mixing behavior in scaled-up
version of annular centrifugal extractors.
(3) The approach of inter-cell recirculation was adopted for the
analysis of axial mixing behavior. For this, a parameter f
(=VZR/VL) was dened and the effect of various operating
conditions on f was considered.
(4) The annular region was found to be closer to backmixed behavior. It was observed that the extent of backmixing decreases
with an increase in the net ow rates. On contrast, increase
in the rotor speed caused an increase in the backmixing.
(5) Effect of helical bafes in the annular region was also studied. It was found that, incorporating the helical bafes significantly reduced the backmixing. Further, it was observed
that the backmixing decreases with a decrease in pitch.

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