Suspension of agitated high concentration slurry

S.Wang
1
, R. Parthasarathy
1

*
, P. Slatter
1
and J. Wu
2
1
School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, R!" #niversity, el$ourne,
%&&1, 'ustralia.
*tel. ()1 % **2+2*,1, fa- ()1 % **2+ %.,), e/mail0 rchr12rmit.edu.au
2
CS!R3, 4ivision of Process Science and Engineering, CS!R3, 5ighett, %1*&, 'ustralia.
i-ing vessels are 6idely used for solids sus1ension in chemical and mineral 1rocessing
1lants for carrying out o1erations such as leaching, digestion, 1reci1itation and other chemical
1rocesses. !n many of these o1erations, industry attem1ts to increase their 1roductivity $y
ma-imi7ing the through1ut 6hich involves increasing the solids concentration in the slurry.
3ne of the ma8or issues involved in increasing the solids concentration is the increase in
im1eller 1o6er consum1tion. !n the a$sence of lac9 of information on 1o6er in1ut to sus1end
high concentration slurries, it is difficult to decide 6hether the e-isting motor and gear $o-
can handle the additional load.
4re6er et al :1; suggested, $ased on their analysis on s1ecific 1o6er e-1ressed on the
$asis of total mass of sus1ended solids <P
8s
=
s
or
8s
>, that the o1erating costs for solids
sus1ension vessel can $e reduced even for slurries 6ith high solids concentration. "here have
not $een many studies in 6hich o1timi7ation of solids sus1ension has $een investigated on the
$asis of s1ecific 1o6er $ased on the mass of solids. "his 1a1er aims to investigate the
relationshi1 $et6een the s1ecific 1o6er $ased on solids mass and solids concentration for
various ty1es of im1ellers under $affled and un$affled conditions.
E-1eriments 6ere carried out in a &.%* m flat $ottom 1ers1e- tan9 1laced inside a s?uare
8ac9et. "a1 6ater and s1herical glass 1articles 6ere used as the li?uid and solids 1hases,
res1ectively. "he solid concentration 6as varied from +@ to ,+@ <v=v>. !m1ellers used in this
6or9 6ere )/$laded Rushton tur$ine <4")>, ,+
o
1itched $lade tur$ine <,+PA",> and
hydrofoil im1eller <'%1&>. "he critical im1eller s1eed re?uired to B8ust/sus1endC the solid
1articles off the tan9 $ottom, D
8s
6as determined using a method recommended $y Wu et al.,
:2, % and ,;. "his method involves determining the sedimentation $ed height <5
A
> visually
and defining the im1eller s1eed at 6hich 5
A
$ecomes 7ero as D
8s
. !m1eller 1o6er dra6 6as
determined using the tor?ue e-1erienced $y the im1eller shaft and the im1eller s1eed.
"he s1ecific 1o6er
8s
values o$tained at B8ust/sus1endedC conditions for various solids
concentrations <C
v
, v=v> are sho6n in Eigs. 1a and 1$ for $affled and un$affled conditions,
res1ectively. !n $oth cases, it can $e seen that s1ecific 1o6er decreases 6ith an increase in
solids concentration, reaches a minimum value and thereafter increases. "his trend is found
for all the im1eller ty1es used in this study. "he o1timum solid concentration at 6hich the
s1ecific 1o6er is a minimum is found to $e around %&@ v=v for all the im1eller ty1es under
$oth $affled and un$affled condition.
#nder $affled condition, the s1ecific 1o6er for 4") is the highest at o1timum solid
concentration. 5o6ever under un$affled condition, its s1ecific 1o6er is the lo6est. "he
s1ecific 1o6er for ,+PA", and '%1& also decreases 6ith the removal of $affles $ut the
decrease is marginal and not as dramatic as that of 4").
Eig.1/S1ecific 1o6er vs. solids concentration <a> $affled conditionF <$> un$affled condition
!t can $e concluded that the s1ecific 1o6er e-1ressed on the $asis of total mass of
sus1ended solids decreases 6ith increase in solids concentration to reach a minimum value,
6hich is designated as the o1timum solid concentration. "his trend is confirmed for 4"),
,+PA", and '%1& im1ellers under $affled and un$affled conditions. 31erating the im1ellers
under un$affled condition leads to reduction in s1ecific 1o6er for all im1eller ty1es $ut it is
greatest for 4").
References
:1; 4re6er, G.R., D. 'hmed, and G.J. Jameson, H'n 31timum Concentration for the
Sus1ension of Solids in Stirred Iessels,J i-ing and Crystallisation, A. Sen Gu1ta K S.
!$rahim, Llu6er 'cademic Pu$lishers, "he Detherlands, M% / *, <2&&&>
:2; Wu, J., N.G. Ohu,. and P. Pullum, HSus1ension of 5igh Concentration Slurry,J '!ChE, ,M,
1%,* /1%+2 <2&&2>.
:%; Wu, J., A. Dguyen, and P. Graham, HEnergy Efficient 5igh Solids Poading 'gitation for
the ineral !ndustry,J Can. J. of Chem. Eng., !n Press <2&&*a>.
:,; Wu, J., A.Dguyen, and P. Graham, Hi-ing !ntensification for the ineral !ndustry,J Can.
J. of Chem. Eng., !n Press <2&&*$>.