Effect of the 6PBT stirrer eccentricity and off-bottom clearance on mixing of pseudoplastic fluid in a stirred tank

The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of the shaft eccentricity on the flow field and mixing characteristics in a stirred tank with the novel stirrer composed of perturbed six-bent-bladed turbine (6PBT). The difference between coaxial and eccentric agitations is studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations combined with standard k - epsilon turbulent equations, that offer a complete image of the three-dimensional flow field. In order to determine the capability of CFD to forecast the mixing process, particle image velocimetry (PIV), which provide an accurate representation of the time-averaged velocity, was used to measure fluid velocity. The test liquid used was 1.25% (wt) xanthan gum solution, a pseudoplastic fluid with a yield stress. The comparison of the experimental and simulated mean flow fields has demonstrated that calculations based on Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are suitable for obtaining accurate results. The effects of the shaft eccentricity and the stirrer off-bottom distance on the flow model, mixing time and mixing efficiency were extensively analyzed. It is observed that the microstructure of the flow field has a significant effect on the tracer mixing process. The eccentric agitation can lead to the flow model change and the non-symmetric flow structure, which would possess an obvious superiority of mixing behavior. Moreover, the mixing rate and mixing efficiency are dependent on the shaft eccentricity and the stirrer off-bottom distance, showing the corresponding increase of the eccentricity with the off-bottom distance. The efficient mixing process of pseudoplastic fluid stirred by 6PBT impeller is obtained with the considerably low mixing energy per unit volume when the stirrer off-bottom distance, C, is T/3 and the eccentricity, e, is 0.2. The research results provide valuable references for the improvement of pseudoplastic fluid agitation technology. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.