Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 3942 3950

www.elsevier.com/locate/ces

Investigation of a two impinging-jets contacting device for

liquidliquid extraction processes
Javad Saien a , S. Alireza Ebrahimzadeh Zonouzian a , Asghar Molaei Dehkordi b,
a Department of Applied Chemistry, Bu Ali Sina University, Hamedan 65174, Iran
b Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Received 31 July 2005; received in revised form 25 January 2006; accepted 26 January 2006
Available online 14 March 2006

Abstract
A two impinging-jets contacting device (TIJCD) for liquidliquid extraction processes was proposed and tested through the standard test
system recommended by the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE), tolueneacetonewater, as a typical example of liquidliquid
extraction processes. The results obtained for the overall volumetric mass transfer coefcient (capacity coefcient) were more than three times
higher than those reported in the conventional contactors and in an air-driven two impinging-streams contactor. These experimental results
clearly indicate the greater performance capability of TIJCD relative to those of conventional contactors. To have a perfect study on the pertinent
parameters of the TIJCD, the inuence of jets momentum, nozzles diameter and the inter nozzle distance have been investigated. In addition,
the enhancing effect of the impingement zone has been studied using a non-impinging-jets contacting device. Based on the experimental data
obtained, an increase in the liquid ow rates results in an increase in the extraction efciency and overall volumetric mass-transfer coefcient,
while increasing the distance between nozzles decreases the extraction efciency. In addition, it was found that the effect of nozzle diameter
on the extraction efciency could be dependent upon the jets velocity.
2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Impinging jets; Impinging streams; Liquid extraction; Mass transfer; Liquidliquid separations; Transport processes

1. Introduction application of IJ technique in heat-transfer processes. The

Liquidliquid extraction (LLE) has become one of the more
important processes in chemical engineering and is used in sev-
eral chemical and hydrometallurgical plants. Typical applica-
tions of the LLE are in metal extraction, aromatics nitration
and sulfunation, polymer processing, waste water treatment as
well as food and petroleum industries.
Impinging jets (IJ) technique is a unique ow conguration.
The rst patent for this technique was probably published
by Carver et al. (1956). The IJ technique was employed by
Elperin (1961) for gassolid suspensions and further devel-
oped by Tamir in various chemical engineering processes
(1994). In addition Mujumdar and coworkers (Hosseinalipour
and Mujumdar, 1997a,b, 1995a; Seyedein et al., 1994) have
conducted extensive investigations on the modeling and
Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 21 66165412; fax: +98 21 66022853.
E-mail address: amolaeid@sharif.edu (A.M. Dehkordi).
0009-2509/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ces.2006.01.034
method provides a powerful technique for intensifying transfer
processes. The principle of IJ is to bring the two jets owing
along the same axis in the opposite direction into collision. As
the result of such a collision, a relatively narrow zone, called
the impingement zone of high turbulence intensity, is created
which offers excellent conditions for intensifying heat- and
mass-transfer rates. The physics, phenomena and details of the
IJ technique could be found elsewhere such as Tamirs book
(1994). The IJ technique has also been successfully applied to
the absorption and desorption of gases (Herskowits et al., 1987;
Tamir et al., 1990a,b; Herskowits et al., 1988; Kleingeld et al.,
1999), dissolution of solids (Tamir and Grinholtz, 1987), dry-
ing of solids (Kitron and Tamir, 1988; Kudra and Mujumdar,
1989, 1995; Kudra et al., 1991; Hosseinalipour and Mujumdar,
1995b), dust collection (Berman and Tamir, 1996), absorption
with chemical reaction (Herskowits et al., 1990; Sohrabi and
Jamshidi, 1997), two-liquid phase reaction (Sohrabi et al.,
1993); mixing (Unger et al., 1998; Devahastin and Mujumdar,
2002, 2001a,b), evaporative cooling of air (Yao et al., 1995),
 J. Saien et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 3942 3950
bioreactions (Dehkordi, 2006; Sievers et al., 1995; Sohrabi and
Marvast, 2000), liquidliquid extraction (Berman and Tamir,
2000; Dehkordi et al., 2001; Dehkordi, 2001), metal extrac-
tion and stripping processes (Dehkordi, 2002b,c), liquidliquid
extraction with chemical reaction (Dehkordi, 2002a,d), crys-
tallization and precipitation (Johnson and Prudhomme, 2003;
Mahajan and Kirwan, 1996; Hacherl et al., 2003). It should be
also added that the IJ technique at very low Reynolds number
has been studied by some investigators (Tucker and Suh, 1980;
Wood et al., 1991).
The great potential of the IJ technique and the importance of
LLE processes in chemical engineering persuaded the present
authors to investigate some aspects of a two impinging jets con-
tacting device for LLE processes through a standard chemical
test system recommended by European Federation of Chemical
Engineering (EFCE) as a typical example of LLE processes.
Thus, the main objectives of the present investigation were:
(1) to investigate the inuence of some pertinent parameters of
the proposed contacting device on the extraction efciency and
overall volumetric mass-transfer coefcient, and (2) to com-
pare the performance capability of the proposed contacting de-
vice relative to the conventional contactors and other types of
impinging streams devices for liquidliquid extraction process.
2. Experimental section
2.1. Experimental setup
The experimental apparatus shown in Fig. 1, consisted of the
following parts: (1) a cylindrical vessel made of Pyrex glass
with dimensions of 7 cm inside diameter and 35 cm length in
order to hold the nozzle supporting plates, with the facility of
varying the inter nozzle distance; (2) nozzles made of stainless
steel (SS), by which two round jets of aqueous and organic
solutions could be established. The latter were placed on the
two movable coaxial circular plates made of Teon, positioned
against each other in the cylindrical vessel. To establish two
round jets colliding exactly against each other at the middle of
the contacting device, the circular plates were tted within the
cylindrical vessel by four tie rods made of SS with dimensions
of 1 cm in diameter and 35 cm in length. By employing such a
compartment within the cylindrical vessel the following objec-
tives were provided: (1) inter nozzle distance variation by mov-
ing the circular plates away from or towards each other along
the contacting device; (2) prevention of the mal adjustment of
the opposing jets. The design of the nozzles has some impor-
tant effects on the liquid jets. A scheme of two impinging jets
and a schematic cross sectional view of the nozzles and their
holders are given in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively. Other parts of
the experimental setup were: (4) pressure gauges to indicate
the liquids pressure exactly before entering to the nozzles; (5)
outlet port of cylindrical vessel; (6) sampling cup; (7) rotame-
ters for the aqueous and organic feeds; (8) globe valves; (9)
ball valves; (10,11) aqueous and organic feed vessels; (12,13)
aqueous and organic feed pumps.
3943
4 1 3 4
2 2
6 5
7 7
8 8
9 9
10 11
12 13
Fig. 1. Experimental setup: (1) cylindrical vessel, (2) aqueous and organic
nozzles, (3) impingement zone, (4) pressure gauges, (5) outlet port, (6)
sampling cup, (7) aqueous and organic rotameters, (8) globe valves, (9) ball
valves, (10) aqueous feed vessel, (11) organic feed vessel, (12) aqueous feed
pump, (13) organic feed pump.
2.2. Chemicals
The chemical system was chosen according to the standard
test system recommended by EFCE, tolueneacetonewater
(TAW), as a typical example of liquidliquid extraction pro-
cesses, so aqueous feed was consisted of distilled water with
acetone (2 wt%) and organic feed was toluene. Acetone was of
analytical grade, but toluene was of technical grade with purity
of over 99%, and distilled water was used in all the experi-
ments. The organic and aqueous phases were always mutually
saturated to prevent multi component diffusion in the phases
and hence, acetone was the only diffusing species in the chem-
ical system, i.e., TAW.
2.3. Analytical procedure
The concentration of acetone in the organic solutions was an-
alyzed by a gaschromatograph (GC) system, Shimadzo model
CLASS-GC14B with FID detector. The volume of each sam-
ple injected into the GC was 0.2
L taken by a 1
L Hamil-
ton syringe. Before any attempt, the calibration curves of the
GC were obtained using known samples of toluene and ace-
tone for gas chromatography (Merck). The number of known
samples used in all the calibration curves experiments, were 7
to 10 samples, and the concentration of acetone in the known
samples was within the range of 0.4% to 2% by weight. The
maximum error of the measurements did not exceed 5% with
a mean value 2% for all the experiments.
3944 J. Saien et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 3942 3950

Impingement zone
Nozzle Nozzle
Organic phase jet Aqueous phase jet
Nozzle diameter (d N )

Inter nozzle distance (L)

Fig. 2. A scheme of impinging jets.

25
EFCE
(EFCE) = 0. 5997
20 r 2 = 0. 9914

Experimental
(Exp) = 0. 6079

C*org (kg m3)

r 2 = 0. 9946
15

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
3
Caq (kg m )

Fig. 4. Distribution coefcient of acetone between organic and aqueous phases.

Fig. 3. (a) Cross section of the nozzles, (b) nozzles holder.

maximum deviation between the data obtained in the present

investigation and those reported by EFCE did not exceed 0.5%.
Table 1
Measured densities of aqueous and organic solutions From these experiments, it was found that the following rela-
tion could be expressed the equilibrium concentration of ace-
Chemical system Density (kg m3 ) tone in TAW system satisfactorily:
Saturated distilled water with toluene 994

Saturated toluene with distilled water 862 Corg = 0.6079Caq , (1)
Aqueous solution feed (2% w/w) 990

and C in kg m 3 are the equilibrium concentra-

2.4. Determination of solution densities and the equilibrium
distribution coefcient of acetone
A picnometer and a calibrated electrical scale with an accu-
racy of 104 g were used to determine the density of saturated
aqueous solution (distilled water) and organic solutions, while
temperature was 20 1 C. The results obtained from these ex-
periments are given in Table 1.
A number of experiments were conducted on the determina-
tion of the equilibrium distribution coefcient of acetone (
)
between the aqueous and organic phases. The concentration of
acetone in the organic solutions after attaining the equilibrium
condition was analyzed by the method mentioned earlier, while
that of aqueous solutions was calculated using a mass-balance
relation. The experimental results concerning the equilibrium
distribution coefcient of acetone between the aqueous and or-
ganic solutions were compared with those reported by EFCE
(Misek et al., 1985). It maybe noticed from Fig. 4, that the
where Corg aq
tions of acetone in the organic and the aqueous phases, re-
spectively. The correlation coefcient of the above relation was
r 2 = 0.99.
2.5. Startup procedure and measurements
In each experimental run, the ow of organic and aqueous
solutions was adjusted at the desired value and the aqueous and
organic solutions were fed to the contacting device. The ow
rates of aqueous and organic solutions were regulated using cor-
responding rotameters and valves to establish an impingement
zone just at the middle of the cylindrical vessel where the outlet
port of the vessel was located. To achieve the above-mentioned
conditions, a number of preliminary experiments were carried
out before any attempt to run the main experiments. The pre-
liminary experiments showed that in order to establish the men-
tioned conditions, the momentum of the organic and aqueous
jets exiting from the nozzles tips must be identical. The jets
 J. Saien et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 3942 3950
momentum is normally given by
4Q2
F= , (2)
dN2
where F, , Q and dN are the jets momentum, the appropriate
solution density, volumetric ow rate, and the nozzle diameter,
respectively. According to the above statement, it is obvious that
the aqueous to organic volumetric ow ratio should be equal to
square root of the organic to aqueous solution densities ratio.
When the steady state conditions were established, samples
from the dispersion, exiting from the outlet port of the cylin-
drical vessel, were drawn to sampling cups. An organic solu-
tion sample was drawn immediately with a syringe from the
top of the sampling cups, without waiting, in order to avoid as
much as possible further mass transfer in the sampling cups.
According to the experimental runs carried out to identify the
time needed to establish the steady state condition, it was found
that the steady state conditions were attained after 20 s of start-
ing up of the operation. Each experimental run was repeated at
least three times and hence, each data point represents the mean
value of at least three measurements of the outlet concentration
of organic phase with a standard deviation of 0.07%8.4% and
a mean deviation value of 3.34% for all the experiments.
3. Results and discussion
The range of operating conditions was as follows:
Temperature 20 1 C
Nozzle diameter, dN 0.951.9 mm
Organic ow rate, Qorg 0.51.2.36 dm3 min1
Aqueous ow rate, Qaq 0.48.2.17 dm3 min1
Aqueous jets Reynolds number, Reaq 10,57023,910
Organic jets Reynolds number, Reor 14,85034,120
Schmidt number for the organic phase, Scor 277.51
Schmidt number for the aqueous phase, Scaq 921.66
Concentration of acetone in the inlet aqueous solutions, Caq,i
2 wt%
Figs. 5 and 6 demonstrate the dependency of the extraction
Aqueous to organic ow ratio, org /aq
Inter nozzle distance (contactor length), L: 0.040.08 m.
In the present investigation, two liquid impinging jets with
relatively high velocities (721 m s1 ) have been established
within the contactor. The range of the initial jets Reynolds num-
bers were 10,570 to 23,910 and 14,850 to 34,120 for aqueous
and organic jets exiting from the nozzles tips, respectively. Al-
though jets at very low Reynolds numbers can not be stable
(Unger et al., 1998), high Reynolds numbers and velocities of
liquid jets lead to stabilized free jets with high turbulence in-
tensity. In addition, because the outlet port of the cylindrical
vessel located under the impingement zone did not allow to
the liquids within the TIJCD to accumulate and ll the entire
of the cylindrical vessel, the TIJCD has been operated in non-
conned impinging jet (or free IJ) mode of operation.
3945
3.1. Denitions of extraction efciency, extraction rate and
overall volumetric mass transfer coefcient
The extraction efciency could be expressed as follows:
Caq,i Caq,o
E(%) = 100
, (3)
Caq,i Caq,o
where Caq,i and Caq,o are concentrations of acetone in the in-
let and outlet aqueous solutions, respectively and Caq,o is the
equilibrium concentration of the outlet aqueous phase of ace-
tone corresponding to the actual outlet concentration of ace-
tone in the outlet organic phase. Because the interfacial area
between the phases in the TIJCD is not known, the overall vol-
umetric mass-transfer coefcient, KL a, was determined from
the experimental results. The overall volumetric mass-transfer
coefcient is normally dened by the following equation:
R = Qaq (Caq,i Caq,o ) = KL aV c Cm , (4)
where R, Qaq , Vc , Cm are the extraction rate, volumetric ow
rate of aqueous phase, contacting device volume, and an appro-
priate mean concentration driving force, respectively. Although
the contacting device may behave as a mixed vessel, because the
state of mixing of the two phases in the TIJCD was not known,
the logarithmic mean concentration driving force, Cln , was
used to calculate the overall volumetric mass-transfer coef-
cient, KL a. The logarithmic mean concentration driving force,
Cln , is normally given by:
) (C
(Caq,i Caq,i
aq,o Caq,o )
Cln =  , (5)
)/(C
ln (Caq,i Caq,i
aq,o Caq,o )
where Caq,i is the equilibrium concentration of acetone in the
inlet aqueous phase, corresponding to the actual inlet concentra-
tion of acetone in the inlet organic phase and Caq,o is the equi-
librium concentration of acetone in the outlet aqueous phase,
corresponding to the actual outlet concentration of acetone in
the outlet organic phase.
3.2. Effect of jets momentum
efciency, E, and overall volumetric mass transfer coefcient,
KL a, on the jets momentum, F, with the inter nozzle distance,
L, as a parameter. As it can be observed, an increase in the
E and KL a is visible by increasing the jets momentum. Such
a behavior is the consequence of an increase in the mixing
and turbulence, which control the present LLE process. From
Fig. 6 one can note that an increase in the jets momentum within
the range of 0.150.45 N causes an increase of three times in
the KL a. Such a behavior is the consequence of an increase
in the impact force of the jets colliding with each other and
creating the impingement zone in the contacting device, as well
as a consequence of the turbulence in the impingement zone
that leads to an increase in the surface renewal mechanism and
hence an increase in the eddy diffusivity and interfacial mass
transfer area.
3946 J. Saien et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 3942 3950

80 75
Inter nozzle distance, L (cm)
Inter nozzle distance, L (cm)

Extraction efficiency, E (%)

75
Extraction efficiency, E (%)

7
4 70
8
70 5
7 Mean jets velocity (m s1) 13.32
65
65 13.58
14.27
60 60
16.71
55
55
50 21.09

50
45 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300
Nozzle diameter, dN (mm)
Jets momentum, F 103 (N)
Fig. 8. Effect of nozzle diameter on the extraction efciency. F =332103 N.
Fig. 5. Effect of jets momentum on the extraction efciency. dN = 1.2 mm.

60
12 58 Inter nozzle distance, L (cm)

Extraction efficiency, E (%)

Overall volumetric mass-transfer

Inter nozzle distance, L (cm) 5

56
10 Mean jets velocity (m s1) 8
coefficient, KL a ( min1)

4 54
5
8 52
7
50 8.00
9.34 7.67
6 48
11.69
46
4
44 7.36
2 42
40
0 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 Nozzle diameter, dN (mm)
Jets momentum, F 103 (N)
Fig. 9. Effect of nozzle diameter on the extraction efciency. F =103103 N.
Fig. 6. Effect of jets momentum on the overall volumetric mass transfer
coefcient. dN = 1.9 mm.
ous volumetric ow rate of 0.87 dm3 min1 . As it may be ob-
served, an increase in the nozzles diameter over the range of
59 0.91.55 mm at the xed volumetric ow rate causes a linear
57 decrease in the extraction efciency at various inter nozzle dis-
Extraction efficiency, E (%)

tances. This behavior can be explained by decreasing in the jets

55 velocity in the TIJCD and a consequence of inefcient colli-
53 sion of the aqueous and organic solution jets that is a key phe-
nomenon in the TIJCD, and hence could decrease the extraction
51 Inter nozzle distance, L (cm)
efciency.
5
49
6
Figs. 8 and 9, on the other hand, demonstrates the depen-
7 dency of the extraction efciency on the nozzles diameter at
47
the xed jets momentum of 0.332 and 0.103 N with inter noz-
45 zle distance as a parameter, respectively. In addition, the mean
0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
velocities of the jets corresponding to each data point on these
Nozzle diameter, dN (mm)
gures were shown. An increase in the extraction efciency
Fig. 7. Effect of nozzle diameter on the extraction efciency. Qaq = may be noticed by increasing the nozzle diameter up to the
0.87 dm3 min1 . mean jets velocity, almost 8 m s1 . Furthermore, by increas-
ing the nozzle diameter beyond the jets velocity less than
8 m s1 the extraction efciency was decreased. From these
3.3. Effect of nozzle diameter experimental results, one can conclude that the jets velocity
plays an important role in the impinging jets technique. As
Figs. 79 demonstrate the dependency of the extraction ef- it may be noticed from Figs. 8, 9 the nozzles diameter was
ciency on the nozzles diameter. Fig. 7 represents the depen- increased and hence the mean velocity of the jets decreased
dency of the extraction efciency on the nozzles diameter, dN , as well. Nevertheless, because the mean velocities of the jets
with the inter nozzle distance, L, as a parameter at the aque- were greater than about 8 m s1 , the extraction efciency was
 J. Saien et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 3942 3950 3947

90
Jets momentum, F 103 (N) Inter nozzle distance, L (cm)
3.0

Extraction enhancing effect, Eh

85 5
Extraction efficiency, E (%)

325.34
80 257.16 7
196.37 2.5 8
75
70
2.0
65
60
55 1.5

50
45 1.0
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 90 140 190 240 290 340

Inter nozzle distance, L (cm) Jets momentum, F 103 (N)

Fig. 10. Effect of inter nozzle distance on the extraction efciency. Fig. 12. Effect of jets momentum on the enhancing effect of impingement
dN = 1.55 mm. zone. dN = 1.55 mm.

3.5. Effect of impinging jets

13
Nozzle diameter, dN (mm) An accepted method for estimating of enhancing effect of
Overall volumetric mass-transfer

11 1.4 impingement zone, Eh, on the performance capability of vari-

coefficient, KL a (min1)

1.55 ous kinds of IJ contactors involves the introduction of a parti-

9 1.9
tion midway in the cylindrical vessel (Tamir, 1994). Thus, the
7 aqueous and organic jets did not collide to one another, and
hence the impingement zone was not any contribution to the
5 performance capability of the contacting device. The effect of
impingement zone on the performance capability of the TIJCD
3
was investigated by placing a partition coming into the cylin-
1 drical vessel through the outlet port of the cylindrical vessel in
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 the middle of the cylindrical vessel. Because the partition used
Inter nozzle distance, L (cm) in the experimental runs was 2 2 cm (smaller than inside di-
ameter of the cylindrical vessel, i.e., 7 cm) which could prevent
Fig. 11. Effect of inter nozzle distance on the overall volumetric mass transfer
coefcient. F = 332 103 N.
the colliding of two opposed jets, the two jets after colliding
with this partition, brought into contact within the other spaces
of the cylindrical vessel and hence the mass transfer between
aqueous and organic phases was taken place. Thus, the follow-
not decreased. An explanation for the latter may be as follows: ing ratio was dened in order to evaluate the enhancing effect
there is a minimum jets velocity that would be needed for an of impingement zone.
efcient impact force of the jets at a xed volumetric ow rate
KL a in the TIJCD without partition
of liquid phases. If such a minimum jets velocity is attained, Eh = . (6)
then further increase in the nozzles diameter causes an increase KL a in the TIJCD with partition
in the corresponding jets diameter and hence increasing the According to such a denition, IJ technique will be more ef-
collision cross-section, consequently increasing the interfacial cient if Eh > 1.
mass-transfer area. Fig. 12 demonstrates the enhancing effect of impingement
zone on the performance capability of the TIJCD. As may be
3.4. Effect of inter nozzle distance noticed from this gure the partition generally reduces the per-
formance capability of the TIJCD. Furthermore, the enhancing
Figs. 10 and 11 demonstrate the variations of the extraction effect of the impingement zone was increased by increasing the
efciency and overall volumetric mass transfer coefcient vs. jets momentum. The latter may be explained by the fact that at
the inter nozzle distance, L, with the jets momentum, F, and low jets momentum, there is no good condition for mixing and
nozzles diameter as parameters, respectively. As may be ob- turbulence at the impingement zone.
served from these gures, an increase in the inter nozzle dis-
tance from 4 to 8 cm, causes a decrease in the extraction ef- 3.6. Correlation of data
ciency and overall volumetric mass transfer coefcient. This
behavior may be attributed to the increase of the contacting de- As LLE processes in the IJ technique is extremely com-
vice volume and a decrease in the jets velocity at the impinge- plicated, the dimensional analysis was employed to obtain a
ment zone as the inter nozzle distance increases. relationship between the measured quantities. From all the
3948 J. Saien et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 3942 3950

14 Table 2
Experimental values of KL a (min1) Overall volumetric mass transfer coefcients for various types of contactors
12
Contactor type Chemicals system KL a 104 (s1 )
10
Rotary agitated column Toluene (c)acetonewater (d) 0.21
8 (Laddha and Degaleesan,
1976)
6 Spray column Water (c)acetonetoluene (d) 635
(Seibert and Fair, 1988)
4 Packed column Water (c)acetonetoluene (d) 948
(Seibert and Fair, 1988)
2 TISC (Dehkordi, 2000) Water (c)acetonetoluene (d) 18662
TIDJC (present work) Water (c)acetonetoluene (d) 971890
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
(c) Continuous phase, (d) Dispersed phase.
Predicted values of KL a (min1)

Fig. 13. Experimental vs. predicted values of the overall volumetric mass Table 3
transfer coefcient. Specic power input for various types of contactors

Contactor type Specic power input (kJ m3 )

350
Nozzle diameter, dN (mm) Agitated extraction column (Tamir, 1994) 0.5190
Specific power input, P' (kJ m3)

300 1.2 Centrifugal extractor (Tamir, 1994) 8502600

1.9 MixerSettler (Tamir, 1994) 50250
250
TISC (Dehkordi et al., 2001) 300600
200 TIJCD ( present work) 27306

150

100 such as Tamir and coworkers works (1994). In order to deter-

50
0 organic solutions nozzles were measured. According to the ob-
0 1 2 3
Total flow rate, Q 10 (m s )
Fig. 14. Specic power input vs. total volumetric ow rate. L = 0.04 m.
experimental data, it was found that the following relationship
t the experimental data satisfactorily
KL a = 0.04dN0.92 L1.46 Q1.68
org
in unit of KL a (min1 ), dN (mm), L (cm) and Qorg
(dm3 min1 ).
Fig. 13 demonstrates the experimental value of KL a vs. the
predicted value by Eq. (7). The maximum relative deviation
between the experimental and predicted values of KL a does
not exceed 20%.
3.7. Evaluation of performance capability of the TIJCD
In order to evaluate the performance characteristics of the
various liquidliquid contactors, we need to compare two per-
formance indexes simultaneously, i.e., mass transfer and spe-
cic power input indexes. The former index is overall volu-
metric mass transfer coefcient or capacity coefcient and the
latter index is power input requirement per unit total through-
put feeding into the various liquidliquid contactors. Such a
comparison between various contacting device for gasliquid,
gassolid and liquidliquid operations can be found elsewhere
mine the power input requirement for the TIJCD, during the
experimental work, the pressure drops across the aqueous and
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3 1
5 tained results, the range of pressure drop across the nozzles was
as follows:
paq = 70 to 241 kPa within the range of aqueous ow rate
0.48 to 0.87 dm3 min1 for the nozzle diameter 0.95 mm.
porg = 35 to 112 kPa within the range of organic ow rate
1.30 to 2.36 dm3 min1 for the nozzle diameter 1.9 mm.
The total and specic power input requirement for the TIJCD
was determined as follows:
(7)
P = Qorg porg + Qaq paq (8)
P
P = . (9)
Qorg + Qaq
Fig. 14 demonstrates the specic power input requirement for
the TIJCD vs. total liquids ow rate with nozzle diameter as a
parameter.
The comparison of the performance capability of various
types of contactors could be made based on the data presented
in the Tables 2 and 3. According to these data, one can conclude
that the TIJCD has better performance capability relative to
those of conventional contactors.
4. Conclusions
An experimental investigation was carried out in order to
investigate the performance capability of the TIJCD for the
LLE processes. The effects of some pertinent parameters on
 J. Saien et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 3942 3950 3949

the extraction efciency and overall volumetric mass transfer  solution density, kg m3
coefcient have been studied. It was found that:
distribution coefcient of solute between aqueous and
organic phases
(1) The jets velocity plays an important role in the extraction
efciency such that jet velocity lower than about 8 m s1 Superscripts and subscripts
has a decreasing effect on the extraction efciency.
(2) An increase in the nozzles diameter at constant volumetric aq aqueous phase
ow rate leads to a decrease in the extraction efciency i for inlet
and pressure drop across the nozzles. On the other hand, an ln logarithmic mean
increase in the nozzles diameter at constant jets momentum m mean
if jets velocity to be greater than 8 m s1 leads to a increase o for outlet
in the extraction efciency. org organic phase
(3) An increase in the liquids ow rates at constant nozzle
diameter leads to an increase in the jets momentum, jets Abbreviations
velocity and hence increasing the mixing and turbulence
which in turn increasing the extraction efciency and over- EFCE European Federation of Chemical Engineering
all volumetric mass transfer coefcient. Moreover, an in- Exp Experimental
crease in the liquids ow rates leads to the increase in the GC gas chromatograph
pressure drop across the nozzles and hence increasing the IJ impinging jets
power input requirement. SS stainless steel
(4) An increase in the inter nozzle distance causes a decrease TAW tolueneacetonewater
in the extraction efciency. TIJCD two impinging jets contacting device
(5) Data obtained on the overall volumetric mass transfer co- TISC two impinging streams contactor
efcient in the TIJCD showed that the TIJCD has a greater
performance capability relative to other conventional con- Acknowledgements
tactors.
(6) A correlation for the KL a has been obtained using the The authors would like to thank Mr. E. Ghaderi for his help
experimental data in which the KL a has been expressed in the construction of the setup and Mr. M. Ashra and J.
as a function of nozzle diameter, dN , inter nozzle distance, Motahhari for their participation in the experimental work.
L, and organic volumetric ow rate, Qor , satisfactorily.
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