Numerical investigation of granular mixing in an intensive mixer: Effect of process and structural parameters on mixing performance and power consumption

Discrete element method (DEM) simulations of particle mixing process in an intensive mixer were conducted to study the influence of structural and process parameters on the mixing performance and power consumption. The DEM model was verified by comparing the impeller torque obtained from simulation with that from experiment. Impeller and vessel torque, coordination number (CN) and mixing index (Relative standard deviation) were adopted to qualify the particle dynamics and mixing performance with different parameters. A method based on cubic polynomial fitting was proposed to determine the critical mixing time and critical specific input work during the mixing process. It is found that the mixing performance and energy efficiency increases with the decrease of impeller offset. The mixing performance is improved slightly with the increase of blade number and the impeller with 3 blades has the highest energy efficiency due to its low input torque. Results indicate that the energy efficiency and the mixing performance increase with the decrease of filling level when the height of granular bed is higher than that of blade. (C) 2021 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study utilized the discrete element method (DEM) to simulate the particle mixing process in an intensive mixer and investigated the impact of structural and process parameters on mixing performance and power consumption. Results indicated that mixing performance and energy efficiency improve with decreasing impeller offset, while a decrease in filling level also enhances energy efficiency and mixing performance.