PERFORMACES OF A COMPACT STATIC MIXER FOR TURBULENT FLOWS IN PIPELINES

Static mixers for turbulent flows are adopted in several industrial operations, ranging from synthesis of pharmaceuticals [1], to mass transfer in bioreactors [2], emulsification [3] and heat transfer [4], just to mention a few examples. In this work, the mixing performances and the energy requirements of a novel static mixer, whose main characteristics with respect to other traditional designs are the easiness of the installation and a very compact geometry, are investigated by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The validation of the computational results based on the comparison with experimental pressure drops and tracer homogenization data is presented. The investigation can be easily extended to any industrial application, for the preliminary identification of the most effective geometrical and operating conditions for achieving the desired production target.