Validation of a procedure for the numerical simulations of gas–liquid stirred tanks by means of a computational fluid dynamics approach

Impellers with concave and vertically asymmetric blades proved superior gas dispersion capabilities and power consumption characteristics under gassed turbulent conditions with respect to traditional flat-blade turbines in aerated fermenters. In this study, a pilot-size gas–liquid tank stirred with an asymmetric blade disk impeller is numerically investigated by means of a Reynolds averaged two-fluid model combined with a simplified population balance model without adjustable parameters. This work aims at increasing the predictive capabilities of computational fluid dynamics multiphase modelling by validating a computational approach for the realistic simulation of industrial aerated fermenters and thus allowing for a more reliable scale-up. A methodology for achieving fully predictive results on fundamental variables for gas–liquid stirred tanks such as gassed power consumption, overall gas hold-up, and volumetric mass transfer coefficient, with affordable computational requirements at pilot and industrial scale is presented. Two-phase results are compared with the experimental data collected in a geometry matching the computational domain equipped with 3 planes of 16 sensors to enable electro-resistance tomography measurements and with suitable correlations from the literature. The limits and strength of the numerical procedure are discussed, starting from the comparison between computational predictions and experimental measurements.