COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT HYDRODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF AIR- WATER SYSTEM USING DISSIMILAR MOTIONLESS MIXERS

The hydrodynamic characteristics of mixing fluids are always the points to consider in improvement of their mixing quality especially using motionless mixers normally stated as “Static Mixers”. Motionless mixing technique was adopted for Air-Water system with the advantage of negligible power consumption over dynamic mixers. Different hydrodynamic characteristics were experimented using “Baffle Type” static element and were compared to those of already used in recent studies. Dissolved oxygen content, Static mixer geometry (i.e. Baffle, Blade, Wheel, Plate and Needle), mixing fluids flow rates were chosen as variables and selected in this content as rate of mass transfer study which founds out to be significant using “Baffle Type” static element. Volumetric mass transfer was also achieved at higher scale which gives a clear indication of increase the mass transfer coefficient in between the comparison of “Baffle type” element and other mentioned elements. Pressure droplet and depletion in Air bubble size across static elements were visually perceived using Hg-Manometer and still photography respectively. A mathematical model was also developed portraying the Air bubble diameter at different flow rates for this system. Other hydrodynamics like higher Dissolved Oxygen (DO) Content, Less Power consumption were also found to be more advantageous for “Baffle Type” static element.

Research for a Non-Standard Kenics Static Mixer with an Eccentricity Factor

The Kenics static mixer is one of the most widely studied static mixers, whose structure–function relationship has been studied by varying its aspect ratio and modifying the surface. However, the effect of the symmetric structure of the Kenics static mixer itself on twisting the fluid has been neglected. In order to study how the symmetrical structure of the Kenics static mixer impacts the fluid flow, we changed the center position of elements at twist angle 90° and introduced the eccentricity factor γ. We applied LHS-PLS to study this non-standard Kenics static mixer and obtained the statistical correlations of the aspect ratio, Reynolds number, and eccentricity factor on relative Nusselt number and relative friction factor. We analyzed the results by comparing the PLS model with the univariate analysis, and it was found that the underlying logic of the Kenics static mixer with an asymmetric structure became different. In addition, a non-standard Kenics static mixer with an asymmetric structure was investigated using vortex generation and dissipation through fluid flow simulation. The results demonstrated that the classical symmetric structure has a minor pressure drop, but the backward eccentric one has a higher thermal-hydraulic performance factor. It was found that the nature of the eccentric structure is that two elements with different aspect ratios are being combined at θ=90°, and this articulation leads to non-standard Kenics static mixers with different underlying logic, which finally result in the differences between the PLS model and the univariate analysis.