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Predicting Power for a Scaled‐up Non‐Newtonian Biomass Slurry
Author(s) -
Russ David C.,
Thomas Jonathan M. D.,
Miller Q. Sean,
Berson R. Eric
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.201400327
Subject(s) - impeller , slurry , turbulence , mixing (physics) , laminar flow , computational fluid dynamics , biomass (ecology) , mechanics , non newtonian fluid , newtonian fluid , turbine , rushton turbine , materials science , flow (mathematics) , scale (ratio) , power (physics) , scale up , chemistry , environmental science , mechanical engineering , engineering , thermodynamics , physics , environmental engineering , geology , classical mechanics , oceanography , quantum mechanics
High‐solids biomass slurries exhibit non‐Newtonian behavior with a yield stress and require high power input for mixing. The goals were to determine the effect of scale and geometry on power number P 0 , and estimate the power for mixing a pretreated biomass slurry in a 3.8 million L hydrolysis reactor of conventional design. A lab‐scale computational fluid dynamics model was validated against experimental data and then scaled up. A pitched‐blade turbine and A310 hydrofoil were tested for various geometric arrangements. Flow was transitional; laminar and turbulence models resulted in equivalent P 0 which increased with scale. The ratio of impeller diameter to tank diameter affected P 0 for both impellers, but impeller clearance to tank diameter affected P 0 only for the A310. At least 2 MW is required to operate at this scale.
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