Study On The Mixing Performance Of High Viscous/Non-Newtonian Fluid

Mixing of high viscous fluid is frequently applied in different industrial processes. The mixing performance is very important for the design of the agitators.The research is based on the production of the Fluid Catalytic Cracking catalyst which includes the mixing processes of different viscous fluids and slurries. The reology of different kinds of fluid were analyzed. All experiments were carried out in a transparent dished bottome stirred tank with diameter of0.48m. Several different kinds of agitators, including the axial flow agitator CBY,45degree pitched blade turbine and helical ribbons, were used for the mixing processes of different kinds of fluid. The results show that the helical ribbon can be used for the mixing of high viscous fluid with relative low power inputs and short mixing time.Further researches were carried out on two helical ribbons with seven different kinds of non-Newtonian fluids. The results show that both helical ribbons have good performance in the mixing of the high viscous fluid. The power demands of two helical ribbons are similar but helical ribbon-3is better than helical ribbon-1in mixing performance.Corn syrup was used as the Newtonian fluid in experiment to modify the Metzner constant for two kinds of helical ribbons. The result shows that the Metzner constant increases while the apparent viscosity of fluid increase. The result is important for the design of the agitators in high viscous fluid mixing.