Experimental and numerical study of turbulent mixing in a model of a polymerization reactor

Abstract In this study the turbulent mixing in a model of a polymerization reactor is analyzed experimentally and numerically. The model corresponds to a zone of an autoclave reactor equipped with a stirrer. Two different configurations of the stirrer, with different arrangement of the paddles, have been considered. The mixing process has been monitored by following the time-evolution of injections of a passive scalar through the different inlets of the model. The time-evolution of the mixing quality in a laboratory scale model of the reactor has been measured using water and the Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) technique. Numerical simulations of the flow and of the mixing processes were carried out and results of the evolution of the mixing are compared successfully with measurements. The mixing processes are dominated by the flow topology generated by the rotation of the stirrer. Superimposed to the tangential flow, secondary flows divide the length of the reactor in different zones. It has been found that macro mixing in each individual zone is a relatively fast process and that the mixing rates within each zone are very similar. However, the mixing rate between different zones is a relatively slow process.