Air Inducing Characteristics of Self-Inducing Reactor with Non-Newtonian Working Fluid

Abstract

Attempts were made to study the hydrodynamic characteristics of air inducing impeller for systems with non-Newtonian fluids. A simple method was proposed in the design and modification of air inducing impeller aiming at the minimization of power consumption for the suction and distribution of air and better aeration at low operating cost. The proposed method requires only a retrofitting type of modification in the gas inducing impeller which eliminates the inherent complications of the methods suggested in the literature. The complications in the fabrication of the air inducing impeller were eliminated with the use of L-shaped tube set (10 mm OD, SS 304) for the suction of air. Experiments were conducted using L shaped tube set 6 sides and L shaped tube set 3 sides along with the combination of straight blade turbine for the suction and distribution of atmospheric air. The working fluid chosen for the proposed study is Carboxy methyl cellulose with different concentrations viz. 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%. Experiments were performed by varying the working liquid level. The other parameters considered for this study are power input to the impeller, gas hold up and impeller speed by taking total liquid height, liquid height above the orifice level and fluid properties (density, viscosity) as the independent variables.

Keywords

Air inducing reactor; Non Newtonian fluid; Hydrodynamics; Gas holdup; Critical speed

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