Fluid dynamic efficiency and scale-up of a retreated blade impeller CSTR

Numerical simulations are used to characterize the fluid dynamic behavior of an industrial-size reactor. First, we focused on an experimental replica (∼440:1 volume ratio) of the full-scale reactor and evaluated the reliability of fully three-dimensional, time-dependent numerical computations of the flow field. An experiment was planned to obtain power data, which were compared with computer simulations for the scaled model, giving good agreement. Next, we examined the full-scale industrial reactor by exploiting the available macroscopic experimental observations and original computer simulations. We verified the scale-up of the two reactors by comparing the power number, discharge flow number, and pumping efficiency. Finally, by examining the power and stirring capability for different operating conditions, we found the operating conditions that ensured the optimum fluid dynamic efficiency.