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Pressure drop in motionless mixers

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Abstract

A motionless mixer consists of a straight pipe or transfer tube containing the mixing elements that are used to cut, fold, twist, and re-combine the mixing fluid. The number of elements and their shape required in any application depend on the complexity of the mixing process. The objectives of this study are to develop new motionless mixers and to perform the experimental investigation of pressure drop in order to evaluate the performance of the new ones. Glycerin is used as a mixing fluid. Pressure drop is measured using a hydraulic manometer and correlations of friction factor are proposed as a function of Re. The friction factors of Sulzer SMX mixer are in qualitative good agreement with the published data. On the average, the friction factors of SSC and YNU mixers are about 36% lower than and 6% higher than that of the Sulzer one.

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Abbreviations

D:

Mixer diameter

f:

Friction factor

L:

Total length of mixer

ΔP:

Pressure drop

Re:

Reynolds number

v:

Velocity

Z:

Pressure drop correlation factor

ρ:

Density

μ:

Viscosity

ε:

Void fraction of mixer element

et:

Empty tube

sm:

Motionless mixer

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Correspondence to Hei Cheon Yang.

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Yang, H.C., Park, S.K. Pressure drop in motionless mixers. KSME International Journal 18, 526–532 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02996117

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02996117

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