Agitation and Mixing of

Liquids
Unit IV

Agitation and Mixing

Agitation : the induced motion of a
material in a circulatory pattern
Mixing :the random distribution of
two or more separate phases
Agitation of low to moderate
viscosity and the mixing of liquids,
liquid-gas dispersion and liquid-solid
suspension

Purposes of agitation:
1. Suspending solid particles (suspension)
2. Blending miscible liquids (alcohol &
water)
3. Dispersing a gas through the liquid
(bubble)
4. Dispersing
immiscible
liquids
(emulsion)
5. Promoting heat transfer between the
liquid and coil or jacket

Agitated Vessels
Typical agitation process vessel:
cylindrical form, vertical axis, closed
or open top, round bottom, equal
liquid
depth
&
tank
diameter

Impeller is mounted
on a shaft

Shaft is driven by motor

Accesories such as inlet
and outlet lines, coils,
jackets and wells for
thermometer

Impellers
Impellers are divided into two classes:
Axial-flow impellers : generate currents parallel
with the axis of impeller
Radial-flow impellers : generate currents in
tangential or radial direction
Impellers for low-to moderate-viscosity liquids:
propellers, turbines & high efficiency impellers
Impellers for very viscous liquids:
helical impellers & anchor, paddle agitators

Types of agitator

PADDLE AGITATOR

2 or 4 bladed
Sometimes pitched but mostly vertical
Slow to moderate speed (20-150 rpm)
Blades are vertical- flow is tangential or radial
Blades are pitched- flow is axial or vetical
Total length of paddle 50-80% of inside diameter of
vessel
Width of the blade 1/6- 1/10 of its length
At slow speed mild agitation in unbaffled tank
At high speed baffles are necessary otherwise little
mixing with swirling occurs

Anchor agitator
Slow speed and poor mixing
Scrap the surface or pass over it with close clearance
So used to prevent the deposits on the heat transfer
surface, as in jacketted process vessels
Poor mixer- used in conjunction with high speed
paddle ot other agitator, turning in opposite direction

Turbine agitator
Multibladed paddle agitator with short blades &
turning at high speed
Blades: vertical or pitched, straight or curved
Diameter of impeller- 30-50 % of vessel diameter
Flow is radial and tangential
Tangential flow- reduced by baffles or diffuser
ring
Effective over a wide range of viscosities

Turbines, Pitched Blade Turbines, and Propellers are typically used at

high Re and low viscosity.
Anchor, Helical Ribbon, and Paddle agitators are used for higher
viscosity (more laminar-like Re) fluids.

Selecting Agitator Type

Used to make
preliminary
agitator
selection
based on tank
volume and
liquid
viscosity.

Flow patterns in agitated vessels

Type of flow depends on:
Type of impeller
The charactristics of fluid
The size & proportions of the tank, baffles & agitator

The velocity of the fluid in the tank has 3 components:

Useful & provide flow necessary
Radial
for the mixing action
Longitudinal
Follows the circular path
Tangential or rotational
around the shaft & creates the
vortex in liquid

The overall flow pattern depens on variations in these

three velocity components from point to point

Swirling flow pattern

Flat bladed turbine

Prevention of swirling
1. off-centered impeller
In small tanks
2. side-mounted impeller
3. Baffles
Expect in very large tanks: 4
baffles are sufficient
. For side entering, inclined
or off centered propellers
baffles are not needed
Width of baffles:
. Turbine: 1/12th of tank dia.
. Propeller:1/18th of tank dia.

Draft tubes
Used when: to control direction and velocity of flow
to the impeller
Useful when high shear is desired such as emulsions
and Suspensions
For a given
power iput: add
fluid friction ,
so reduce the
flowrate

Turbine
propeller

Flow pattern of radial impeller

Flow pattern of axial impeller

Propellers used when strong heavy currents are desired ex.

When Solids are kept in suspension and not used when

Multiple Impeller
If greater liquid depth is required: two or more impellers
are mounted on same shaft
Two circulation currents are generated for each impeller

Standard turbine design

Flow number

POWER CONSUMPTION
Power consumption depends on
Shape and dimensions of impeller and
vessel as well as baffles
Density, viscosity of fluid
Frequency of rotation
Additional dependency on acceleration
due to gravity g

Power number Vs Reynolds number for six blade turbines-4 baffles

Curve A: Vertical balde baffled tank, (S4=0.2)
Curve B: Vertical balde baffled tank (S4=0.125)
Curve C: Pitched balde baffled tank, Curve b: Vertical

Power Consumption and Scale-up in Mixing

Consider geometry, fluid properties, flow patterns, power, and so on. Has
been considered through dimensional analysis.

ND 2
P

NP
K
3 5
N D

With:

N P Power number
P Power [W ]

fluid density

N 2D T C

...
g D D

kg

m3

N speed of impeller Hz or

rotations
s

D diameter of impeller [m]

ND 2

N Re reynolds number

fluid vis cos ity [ Pa s or

kg
m s

For
geometrically
similar
vessels, ratios of all terms to
right of the Froude number
are negligible.
The Froude number is only
important when significant
vortex develops (in unbaffled
tanks); for baffled tanks the NP
does not depend on the
Froude number.

N 2D

N Fr Froude number
g
Tatterson & Colson and

Effect of system geometery

Decreasing S1 (Da/Dt): increases Np when baffles are few
& narrow
Decreasing S1 (Da/Dt): decreases Np when baffles are
many & wide
Increasing S2(E/Dt): increases Np for disk turbine
Increasing S2(E/Dt):lowers Np for pitched blade turbine
S4(W/Da): depends on number of blades
For 6 blade turbine Increasing S4(W/Da): increases Np
directly
For 4 blade turbine: Np increases with S4 1.25

 Power requirement:
For two straight blade turbines on same shaft = 1.9 times
one turbine when spacing between two impeller is one
impeller diameter
For two straight blade turbines on same shaft = 2.4 times
one turbine when spacing between two impeller is less
than one impeller diameter
In an unbaffled square tank Np = 0.75 times that in baffled
cylindrical tank

Shape of tank - little effect on Np

- strong effect on circulation pattern

Mixing time
Mixing time (also known as blend time) is defined as the
time required for a tracer initially added to the system to
reach a predefined degree of homogeneity within the
system.
For standard 6 blade turbine

If (Da/Dt)=1/3 & (Dt/H)=1 & n=1.3 r/s find mixing time

(sec).

Suspension of solid particles

Important operations in solid-liquid mixing :solid suspension
and dispersion in a liquid
Degrees of suspension
1.
2.
3.
4.

Nearly complete suspension with filleting

Complete particle motion
Complete suspension or complete off bottom suspension
Uniform suspension

The primary objective of solidliquid mixing :

. to create and maintain a solid-liquid slurry, and
. to promote and enhance the rate of mass transfer between the
solid and liquid phases.
. To catalyze the chemical reaction
. To promote the growth of crystalline product

 Zwieterings correlation for the critical stirrer speed for

complete suspension

The impeller speed at which no particles remain stationary at the

bottom of the tank for more than one or two seconds
The correlation is only applicable to low solids loadings(10 wt%)

Da : impeller diameter
nc:critical stirrer speed
S:shape factor
v:kinematic viscosity
B=(wt of solid/wt of liquid)*100
= density difference, : density of liquid
Dp: average particle size

Mixers
Mixers are meant to shift the non-homogeneity of a batch
to a homogenous state.
Employed both for solids and liquids phases
Blending of ingredients, cooling or heating purposes,
drying or roasting of solids, reaction engineering, coatings,
agglomeration or even size reduction
More power required for mixing pastes and dry solids
than in blending liquids

Mixers for cohesive solids

Most difficult : mixing of cohesive solids such as pastes,
plastic materials and rubber.
Viscosity is very high
For cohesive solids- mixers can not generate the flow
currents instead they shear, fold, stretch & compress the
material to be mixed
Mixers for cohesive solids: pastes, plastic & rubber
Change can, kneader, pug mill, pan mixer, mixer
extruder, mixer rolls

Change Can Mixer

Can handle viscous liquid & light pastes as in food
processing & paint industries.
1) Pony mixer:
Agitator has several vertical blades mounted on a vertical
shaft (positioned near the wall ) rotating in one direction
while can or container counter rotates
The agitator shaft is usually mounted on a hinged structure
so that it can raised, lifting the blades out of can.
The blades are wiped clean that permits the can to be
removed , emptied and can be replaced easily with new
batch.

Change Can Mixer

2) Beater Mixer:
Vessel is stationary
Agitator has planetary motion, as it rotates, it
precesses and repetadely visits all parts of vessel
Beaters are shaped to pass with close clearance over
the side and the bottom of the mixing vessel.

Change can mixer

Kneader mixer
Kneading is the method of mixing used with deformable or
plastic solids
Involves: squashing the mass flat, folding it over on itself and
squashing it once more
Also tear the mass apart and shear it between moving blade and
stationary surface.
Two arm kneader: suspension, pastes and light plastic
masses
Disperser : heavier than kneader & draws more power
is suitable for additives and coloring agents into
stiff materials.
Masticator: still heavier & draws even more power, called as
intensive mixer

Kneader & disperser blades

Sigma blade: general purpose kneading
Double naben blade: heavy plastic
materials
Disperser blade: develops the high shear
forces needed to disperse powders or
liquids into plastic or rubbery masses
Masticator blades: heavier than above
Spiral , flattened and elliptical shapes

Two arm kneader

Used for compounding
of lacquer bases from
pigments & carriers
In shredding cotton
linters (5-40 cp) into
acetic acid and acetic
unhydride to form
cellulose acetate

Banbury mixer

Called as internal mixers: mixing chamber

is closed
Rubber is always compounded with
additives
Such as sulfur for vulcanization, fillers to
enhance
the
rubber's
mechanical
properties,
antioxidants,
plasticizers,
coloring pigments
The additives must be thoroughly mixed
with the base rubber to achieve uniform
dispersion of ingredients

 2 rotors-counter-rotating within a chamber

Each has two or four blades which mix by
smearing the materials against the chamber
wall
A weighted ram (air operated piston under
pressure 1-10 atm press) keeps the mix in
place inside the chamber

Pug mill
Blades or knives in a helical pattern on a horizontal shaft
turning in an open trough or close cylinder
Solids enter at one end and discharge at other end
In chamber they are cut, mixed and move forward to be
acted upon by succeeding blades
Single shaft mills- used enclosed mixing chamber
Double shaft used when more through or rapid mixing is
required
Chamber is cylindrical or polygonal for sticky materials
Sometimes operate under vacuum to remove the air from
clay or other materials
Built with jackets with heating or cooling

Pug mill
Pug mills blend and homogenize
clays, break up agglomerates in
plastic solids and mix liquids with
solids to form thick, heavy slurries

Muller mixer

Similar to mortar and pestle

Mulling is smearing or rubbing action
Pan is stationary and wheels are rotated by central shaft or
Pan is rotated and wheels are stationary or Both are
rotating
Good mixers for heavy solids &
pastes
Effective in uniformly coating
the particles of grannular solid
with a small amount of liquid

Two-roll mill
Pair of rollers with a vertical nips between them
The polymer and additives are subjected to high shear in the
nip as the rolls rotate in opposite directions
Two-roll mill mixing started with rubber processing, now exist
for various function
Mixing on two-roll mill is time consuming, 2 h for a 200 kg
mix on a 84 wide mill, and
depends on the skill of mill
operator

 Mixers for free flowing solids:

Ribbon blender,
internal screw,
tumbling mixer,
impact wheels

Ribbon Blender
Horizontal trough- central shaft
Two counter acting helical ribbon on shaft
One moves the solids in one direction while other moves
it in other direction
Ribbons may be continuous or interurupted
Mixing results from turbulence induced by the
counteracting agitator
May be operated batchwise or continuously
Trough
Open or lightly covered for light duty
Closed or heavy walled for operation under vacuum or
pressure

 Effective mixer for thin pastes and

for powders that do not flow readily
Power requirement is moderate

Internal screw mixer

Conical shaped vessel, with a screw orbiting the centre of
axis of the vertical tank and also rotating around its own
axis
a screw rotating to achieve the circulation of material and
secondly the elevation of material
Results in intermixing of solid grains as well as shear
action to the ones in contact with the screw
normally used for free-flowing grains
and other light solids.

Tumbling mixers
Vessel rotates about horizontal, mixing the feed to
optimum levels
Can handle heavy solids and dense slurries through
diffusion mixing.
Include internal sprays for addition of liquids to facilitate
the mixing process.
Baffles could also be installed in an attempt to reduce
segregation.
Less power than ribbon blender
1. Double cone mixer
2. Twin shell blender

Mixing index