Effect of residence time and energy dissipation on drop size distribution for the dispersion of oil in water using KMS and SMX+ static mixer

The Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence technique was used to determine the drop size distribution of oil dispersed in water at the inlet and outlet of two static mixer geometries (KMS and Sulzer_SMX+) equipped with either 6 or 12 elements. A mineral oil (Lytol®), three times more viscous than the water continuous phase, was used as the dispersed phase. The oil flow rate was kept constant through all experiments forcing the drop detachment from the secondary inlet. The L–L system was very dilute (˜0.05–0.0007% v/v O/W) to avoid coalescence phenomena. The flowrate of the continuous phase (water) was altered giving values of Reynolds number from 2000 to 12,000, covering high transitional and turbulent flow regimes. Increasing the flow rate of the continuous phase, the detached oil drops from the secondary inlet decreased in size as expected. However, same drops after flowing a length of 0.4 m of an empty pipe reached a constant size. To investigate a wider range of energy dissipation and residence time, the presence of static mixers has been investigated. Pressure drops, hence energy consumed, were measured to compare the different set ups and drop size distributions. The results show that by increasing the flow rate, the drop size decreased up to a critical point, beyond which oil droplet size reduction became inefficient. The collected data were then used to derive a methodology to identify the optimal flow conditions and choice of static mixer device to achieve best drop size reduction with less energy per unit mass.