Study of Hydrodynamics and Upscaling of Immiscible Fluid Stirred Tank using Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation

Stirred tanks are prevalent in various industries, including chemical, biochemical, and pharmaceutical industries. These reactors are suitable for ensuring efficient mass and heat transfer because adequate mixing can be achieved. Numerous studies have been conducted on small-scale stirred-tank reactors. However, upscaling such reactors is challenging because of the complex flow behavior inside the system, especially for the mixing of immiscible liquid–liquid systems. Thus, the objectives of this study were to examine the flow behavior and upscale an immiscible liquid–liquid stirred tank using CFD simulation by investigating a flat-bottomed stirred tank reactor, equipped with a six-blade Rushton turbine. The simulated results were in good agreement with those obtained experimentally. The scale of the reactor significantly affects the hydrodynamic behavior, and the uniformity of the radial distribution of the velocity decreases with increasing Reynolds number. Furthermore, the upscaling criteria were evaluated for geometric similarity and equal mixing times. The proposed scaling law reliably scaled up the immiscible liquid–liquid mixing in a stirred tank with a difference in the range of ±10%.