Open AccessSimulating hydrodynamics in a Rushton turbine at different stirring velocities applied to non-Newtonian fluids
Author(s) -
Ricardo Gelves
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1587/1/012012
Subject(s) - rushton turbine , non newtonian fluid , mass transfer , mechanics , bubble , newtonian fluid , rheology , turbine , power consumption , materials science , scale up , computational fluid dynamics , physics , thermodynamics , power (physics) , classical mechanics
In this work, gas-liquid hydrodynamics of a Rushton turbine was studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics. Different stirring conditions commonly used in fungal culture applications are simulated. Several scenarios are predicted related to gas-liquid mass transfer limitation. The above, reflected by low air dispersion reached and bubble size determinations caused by the non-Newtonian rheology, leading the process to obtain k L a values only in the order of 30 h −1 at high, stirring speeds. However, the high-power consumption in fungal culture in agitated tank bioreactors can be disadvantages in large-scale prototypes applied in non-Newtonian fluids. These Findings shown in this research should be considered as a primary criterion for optimizing mass transfer problems in large scale fungal culture applications.