FLOW PATTERN, CIRCULATION VELOCITY AND

PRESSURE LOSS IN LOOP REACTOR

Yuji SATO, Yasuhiro MURAKAMI,Tsutomu HIROSE,
Yoshiyuki HASHIGUCHI, Shinichi ONO
and Masataka ICHIKAWA
Departmen t of Chemical Engineering, Kyushu University,
Fukuoka 812

A loop reactor is regarded as a new type of reactor for bulk polymerization of olefins. Several
approaches to evaluate its performance are madeherein.
A simple model of discharge flow is proposed and related with the results obtained by measure-
ment of average circulation velocity. The average circulation velocity is proportional to impeller
speed and the sine of the impeller blade angle. It depends upon Reynolds numberand dimensions
of the impeller.
Flow pattern was measured and the influence of baffles and impeller geometry is discussed
qualitatively. In the case of unbaffled conditions, fluid flows in a helical motion. Intensity of this
motion increases with impeller speed and pitched angle. In the case of baffled conditions, tangential
velocity component is suppressed and normalized distribution of axial velocity is independent of
impeller geometry.
Pressure distribution was measured and pressure loss was obtained. Total pressure loss shows
good agreement with the value calculated by superposition of frictional loss in straight parts and
bend loss in bends obtained from established correlations.

Intro duction loop reactor is increasingly desired, only a few publish-

ed papers have yet appeared. In this study, flow
The loop reactor was proposed by Norwoodet alZ) characteristics such as average circulation velocity,
in a slurry polymerization of olefins. The recent velocity distribution, pressure distribution and pres-
development of highly active catalysts enable the ole- sure loss were measured.
fins polymerization to proceed towards a bulk poly- The results are discussed in the light of a proposed
merization. hydrodynamic model and are compared with those
As discussed very often, some difficulties have been of other investigators.
pointed out, such as deposition of polymer on the re-
actor wall and impeller and insufficient heat transfer 1. Experimental Apparatus
capacity, in a conventional stirred-tank reactor pro- A schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus
cess. Furthermore, the loop reactor has potential is shownin Fig. 1. The loop reactor used was con-
applications to liquid-phase bulk polymerization, structed of four pieces of 10 cmI. D. straight acrylic
processing of highly viscous liquid and biochemical tubes connected with four bends in a rectangular loop
reaction. with a curvature radius of 1.1.7 cm. The total length
The advantages of the loop reactor are summarized of the loop reactor along the centerline was 280 cm,
as follows. which corresponds to a volume of22 /. A comparison
1) Deposition of polymer on the reactor wall may of dimensions of loop reactors used by investigators3'5)
be prevented under high-Reynolds number operation. is shown in Table 1.
2) Heat transfer area per unit reactor volume is
larger than that of a stirred-tank reactor. Table 1 Dimensions of loop reactors used by other investi-
3) Scale-up of a loop reactor is probably easy, gators and authors
because this structure is mainly composed of straight Investigators V [l] 4[cm] L [cm] L/dt
tubes. Authors 22.0 10.0 280 28.0
Although information about the performance of the Norwood et alP 360 25.4 710 28.0
Received January, 29. 1979. Correspondence concerning this article should Sintram et alP
be addressed to S. Ono. Y. Sato is now with Kuken Kogyo Co., Ltd., Fuku- Lab. scale 0.69 2.5 140.6 56.2
oka 810. Y. Hashiguchi is now with Kanegafuchi Chemical Industry Co., Tech. scale 5.0 5.0 254.6 50.9
Ltd., Takasago 676.

448 JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING OF JAPAN

Fluid in the loop reactor was discharged from aft
impeller and circulated counterclockwise. Three dif-
ferent types of impellers were used as shownin Figs.
2 (a), (b) and (c). Figure 2 (a) shows the schematic
diagram of pitched blade paddle impellers together
with their dimensions. Figure 2 (b) shows a marine
screw impeller and Fig. 2 (c) shows an axial-flow pump
impeller with guide vanes. Four equally spaced ver-
tical baffles were arranged on the inside wall of the
tube, just downstream of the impeller, as shownin
Fig.3.

All the experiments were carried out in batch opera-

tion unless otherwise mentioned. Working fluid was
tap water. Fig. 1 A schematic diagram of the experimental
apparat u s
2. Discharge Volume of Impeller and Average Circula-
tion Velocity
For the design and operation of a loop reactor, it is
desired to estimate the average circulation velocity
under a given condition. Therefore, the average circu-
lation velocity was firstly measured under various con-
ditions in a closed system.
Measurementof the average circulation velocity was
carried out by a pulse response method with KC1as a
tracer. The KC1tracer was injected from a syringe
into the loop reactor as a pulse. The conductivity of
fluid flowing across a test section was monitored con-
tinuously by an electrode of platinum wire. Volume
of the tracer injected in each run was 30-50 cm3, cor-
responding to as little as 0.14-0.23 percent of the re-
actor volume. The range of Reynolds number in-
vestigated was 2.3 x 103-2.0x 105.
The results were compared with values obtained
from a proposed model which was then modified
based on the experimental findings.
2. 1 A simple discharge flow model
A simple model of discharge flow is proposed here
based on a simple concept shown in Fig. 4. Although
fluid discharged from an impeller has three-dimen-
sional velocity, the axial component of discharge flow
in a loop reactor is generally dominates the other
components. Therefore, as a first approximation to
estimate the discharge rate it is reasonably assumed
that the discharged fluid from the impeller has only an
axial velocity component in the case of small pitched
angle.
As shown in Fig. 4, the relative tangential velocity Fig. 2 Three types of impellers used
between impeller blade and fluid is equal to the impeller
velocity, 2nnr. If fluid flows along the pitched blade
with the velocity 2nnr, the axial component then be- 0=yrc2/2(rf-r|) sin 0 (1)
come to 2nnr sin $. Therefore, a cylindrical shell of
thickness dr moves with axial velocity 2nnr sin 0, and Thus, the average circulation velocity, u'z, is described
the rate of discharged volume from the impeller, q, as follows.
is represented by
= jW^sin jS (2)
VOL. 12 NO. 6 1979 449
 Fig. 3 Baffle plates

Fig. 6 Effects of Reynolds number and baffle

condition on the ratio of average circulation veloc-
ity measured and calculated from Eq. (2)

Fig. 4 A simple concept to estimate the volume of

discharge flow from the impeller

Fig. 7 Detail of the loop reactor and test cross

Fig. 5 Effect of impeller speed on the average sections designated by letters A through P
circulation velocity
slight dependence on Re in the experimental results,
2. 2 Experimental results and modification of the a modified correlation between uz\urz and Re is pre-
model equation sented by the following equation.
Figure 5 shows the effects of impeller speed on the i/^ =^(^0 -7)/(250+^0 -7) (3)
average circulation velocity, uz, measured. It is seen
Furthermore, the effects of outer and inner radii of
from the figure that uz is proportional to the impeller impeller blade, rx and r2, were tested in the case of an
speed, n, as suggested by Eq. (2), but the slope in a
plot of uz vs. n is somewhat larger than 1 at low n impeller with a pitched angle of 30 (including axial-
range. flow pumpimpeller) and the results are summarized
To compare the experimental results with the pro- by the following expression.
(r2 r2\-0.6
posed model, a ratio of uz/uz is plotted against Reynolds
number, Re=dtuzp/ju, in Fig. 6. As shown in the
figure, the circulation velocity is independent of the Equation (2) suggests that the effects of impeller
existence of baffles and of their size. Considering a radii and pitched angle on the velocity may be treated
450 JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING OF JAPAN
 Fig. 9 Sequential variations of tangential veloc-
ity distributions
n^0.7 /r2 r2\-0.6

"? = -744^T5o +-^ (^r) <5>

The accuracy of this equation to estimate the average
circulation velocity is within 5 %except for the case
of an impeller with pitched angle of 60, in which
values calculated from Eq. (5) are larger than experi-
mental results. It should be noted that tangential
velocity is dominant in this case rather than axial
velocity, unlike the assumption of the model.
3. Velocity Distribution
Velocity distribution in the loop reactor gives useful
information for examining the characteristics of
mixing and deposition. In this study, distributions of
axial and tangential velocity were measured by a
Pitot tube, and influences of impeller geometry,
impeller speed and baffles were tested and examined.
A Pitot tube madeofa 5 mmO. D. stainless steel tube
was manufactured, taking Numachi's work4) as a
guide. Velocity distributions were measured over
Fig. 8 Sequential variations of normalized axial several cross sections designated by letters in Fig. 7.
velocity distributions In each section, the total number of measuring points
amountsto about 40.
separately, and Eq. (4) can be applied to impellers Sequential variations of axial and tangential veloc-
with pitched angle other than 30. ity distributions along the loop reactor are shown in
Finally, Eqs. (2), (3) and (4) are combined and a Figs. 8 and 9, where a few typical examples of Cases
modified equation is completed as follows : I, II and III are cited. Axial velocity distributions are
VOL. 12 NO. 6 1979 451

(Dashed lines : in continuous operation
Fig. 10 An example of pressure distribution along
the loop reactor in batch operation
shown in normalized velocity contours in Fig. 8. In
these figures, a circle represents a test cross-section
which faces the flow direction, and the right-hand side
of the circle corresponds to the outside of the loop.
Figures 8 (I) and 9 (I) show Case I for the pitched
blade paddle (^=80 mm, 0=30) without baffles.
Just downstream of the impeller (i. e. in section A),
a region wherethe axial velocity is very low appears
around the central axis of the tube. Fluid flows
with cylindrical rotation about the axis over the whole
section. As fluid flows downstream, axial velocity
distribution shows a complicated transition, in which
a region of higher velocity moves in a helical motion.
Figures 8 (II) and 9 (II) show the effect of baffles
with the same impeller as in Case I. In section A,
the tangential velocity is suppressed near the wall
because of the baffles, and a cylindrically rotating zone
is confined just around the axis. Axial velocity distri-
butions downstream of the first bend show no signif-
icant change (see section F through P). In these
sections, a region of higher axial velocity is localized
outside the loop while that of low axial velocity is in-
side the loop.
Figure 8 (III) shows Case III for the axial-flow
pump impeller with guide vanes. Transition of axial
velocity distribution is similar to Case II and tangen-
tial velocity component scarcely exists in any section.
In Cases II and III, separation of flow is probably
generated in the low-velocity regions just downstream
of bends (i.e. in sections F, J and P). This fact implies
that for a solid-liquid system such as slurry polymeriza-
tion, deposition of suspended solid may occur on the
reactor wall.
Measurements of velocity distribution were carried
out under various conditions. These experimental
results are summarizedas follows.
1) In the case of unbaffled conditions, tangential
velocity component remains far downstream of the
impeller, and fluid flows in a helical motion. Inten-
452
sity of this helical motion increases with impeller
speed and pitched angle.
2) In the case of baffled conditions including the
case of axial-flow pump impeller with guide vanes,
tangential velocity component is suppressed by baf-
fles or guide vanes, and axial velocity distribution is
independent of dimensions of impeller and impeller
speed.
4. Pressure Distribution and Pressure Loss
The information of pressure loss in the loop re-
actor has great significance for evaluation of its per-
formance, especially for the estimation of power
consumption. Although many investigations on the
pressure loss in a straight tube or a single bend have
been made, little information is available about the
pressure loss in the system in which several bends are
connected with short, straight tubes in series, as in the
loop reactor. Then, pressure distribution along the
tube of the loop reactor was measured and pressure
loss was obtained.
Apiezometer connection to detect the wall pressure
in a section consisted of four holes, drilled 90 apart
along the circumference and a pressure tap connected
to each hole. Each tap was in turn connected to a
glass manometer. By using a number of such piezom-
eter connections at various sections of the reactor,
the pressure distribution could be obtained. Measur-
ing sections were 5 or 10 cm apart.
An example of measured pressure distribution is
shown in Fig. 10, where pressure on the tube wall is
plotted against the longitudinal length of the tube
from the impeller, /, divided by the tube diameter,
dt. Static pressure drops gradually as fluid flows
downstream in the straight parts of the loop owing to
the friction on the wall while pressure drops abruptly
in bends.
Somemeasurementswere carried out under conti-
nuous operation, in which fluid was fed just down-
stream of the impeller and drained off at the third bend
as shown in Fig. 1. An example of pressure distri-
bution under continuous operation is shownas dashed
lines in Fig. 10, where both examples were obtained at
the same Reynolds number. Pressure loss at the third
bend is smaller in continuous operation than that in
batch operation, because of the influence of fluid efflux
at the third bend as shown in Fig. 1.
The pressure loss was separated into two contribu-
tions from straight parts and bends of the loop reactor
respectively. To compare with the experimental
results of pressure loss, the friction factor in straight
parts was calculated from Drew's formula1}
1/77=3.2 log (7W/)+ 1.2 (6)
and loss coefficient in a bend was calculated from Ito's
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING OF JAPAN
 formula2 )
Q=0.0024la^Re-0 17(R/rt)0 M at Re(rtjR)2>9\
Table 2 Comparison of measured and calculated pressure
losses [cmH2O]
(7) Pressure losses in Total pressure
straight parts bends losses
where Re Meas. Cal. Meas. Cal. Meas. Cal.
a=035+\12{Rlrt)~1M at R/rt<l9J 1.78.X108 6.95 6.51 12.4 15.1 19.4 21.6
1.70X105 6.10 5.96 ll.6 13.9 17.7 19.9
A numerical comparison between experimental and 1.24X105
1.06X105
3.35
3.20
2.74
2.10
6.40 7.75 9.75 10.7
calculated results is shownin Table 2, where pressure 8.91X104 1.40 1.85
4.30
3.95
5.87
4.25
7.50
5.35
7.97
63.0
loss in straight parts, that in bends and total pressure 6.39xlO4 1.00 1.02 2.35 2.31 3.35 3.33
loss are compared, respectively. Measured losses
are larger than calculated values in straight parts and

R
curvature radius of a bend [cm]
the former are smaller than the latter in bends, because Re Reynolds number ( =dtuzp/pi) [-]
these measurementswere carried out in transition re- r radius [cm]
gions. Total pressure losses measured and calculated dJ2 [cm] [mm]
are in good agreement with each other. dJ2 [cm] [mm]
dt/2 [cm] [mm]
Conclusions axial velocity [cm/s]
average circulation velocity or average
Flow pattern and hydraulic behavior in the loop axial velocity [cm/s]
reactor were measured and discussed. Results ob-
average circulation velocity calculated
tained are summarized as follows. from Eq. (2) [cm/s]
1) The average circulation velocity is described by average circulation velocity calculated
a simple model of discharge flow. from Eq. (5) [cm/s]
2) Velocity distribution is influenced by baffles and tangential velocity [cm/s ]
V
total volume of a loop reactor [/]
impeller geometry. width of a baffle plate [mm]
3) Total pressure loss is in good agreement with
the value obtained by superposition of calculated value = angle measured in the plane of bend axis [deg]
from Drew's formula in straight parts and Ito's formula = loss coefficient for a bend [-]
in bends. = pitched angle of the impeller blade [deg]
Nomenclature Literature Cited
d1
d2
outer diameter of the impeller blade [cm] [mm] 1) Drew, T.B., E.C. Koo and W.H. McAdams: Trans.
inner diameter of the impeller blade [cm] [mm] AIChK, 28, 56 (1936).
dt 2) Ito, H.: /. Jpn. Soc. Mech. Engrs., 62, 1634(1959).
f
inner diameter of the tube [cm] [mm]
friction factor [-] 3) Norwood, D. D. et al: Japan Patent, Showa 37-10087
(1962).
Ku K2 constant [-]
L
total length of the loop reactor [cm] 4) Numachi, F.: /. Jpn. Soc. Mech. Engrs., 34, 986 (1959).
I
axial length of the loop reactor measured 5) Sintram, M., W. Nentwig and K. H. Reichert: Chem-Ing-
from impeller position [cm] Tech., 48, 473 (1976).
length shown in Fig. 1 [cm]
impeller speed [1/s] (Presented at Kagoshima Meeting of The Soc. of Chem.
n
P
static pressure [cmH2 O] Engrs., Japan at Kagoshima, November 1977 and 43rd Annual
Po arbitrary static pressure [cmH2O] Meeting of The Soc. of Chem. Engrs., Japan at Nagoya, April
q rate of discharged volume from 1978.)
the impeller [cm3/s]

VOL. 12 NO, 6 1979 453