A análise de tensões em impelidores de ventiladores centrífugos pelo método dos elementos finitos revela que seus componentes são altamente solicitados e sujeitos a campos de tensões complexos. Tradicionalmente, o projeto estrutural de impelidores centrífugos é realizado a partir do cálculo das tensões estáticas provenientes da força centrífuga, e o comportamento dinâmico do impelidor é frequentemente verificado através de estudos de vibrações livres frente ao conhecimento das fontes de excitação. Por tal abordagem não é realizada qualquer avaliação quanto aos níveis de tensões dinâmicas nos componentes do impelidor. Neste trabalho, contudo, a determinação das tensões dinâmicas é apresentada como uma importante ferramenta para avaliar a integridade estrutural de um impelidor centrífugo durante a sua operação. Para tanto, cálculos de resposta são realizados no rotor e, isoladamente, no impelidor de um ventilador centrífugo, conduzindo a uma nova metodologia para a análise estrutural destes equipamentos através do método dos elementos finitos. / Stress analysis of centrifugal fan impellers through the finite element method reveals that its components are highly stressed and subjected to complex stress fields. Traditionally, the mechanical design of centrifugal impellers is performed from the study of the static stress levels due to the centrifugal force. The impeller dynamic behavior is evaluated through free vibration analysis and also with the knowledge of the main excitation sources. This approach does not consider any assessment on the dynamic response of the impeller components. In this work, however, the dynamic stress determination is presented as an important tool in order to evaluate the structural integrity of centrifugal fan impellers during its operation. For this purpose, frequency response analysis is performed on the rotor and, separately, on the centrifugal fan impeller, leading to a new methodology for structural analysis of these equipment through the finite element method.

The demand on high efficiency pumps leads the manufacturers to develop new design and manufacturing techniques for rotodynamic pumps. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software are started to be used during the design periods for this reason in order to validate the designs before the pumps are produced. However the integration process of CFD software into the design procedure should be made carefully in order to improve the designs. In this thesis, the CFD software is aimed to be integrated into the pump design procedure. In this frame, a vertical turbine type mixed flow pump is aimed to be designed and design improvements are intended to be made by applying numerical experimentations on the pump. The pump that is designed in this study can deliver 115 l/s flow rate against the head of 16 mWC in 2900 rpm. The effects of various parameters in the design are investigated by the help of CFD software during the design and best performance characteristics of the pump are aimed to be reached. The pump that is designed in this study is manufactured and tested in Layne Bowler Pumps Company Inc. The design point of the pump is reached within the tolerance limits given in the related standard. In addition, the results of actual test and numerical experimentation are compared and found to be in agreement with each other. The integration of CFD code to the design procedure is found quite useful by means of shortening design periods, lowering manufacturing and testing costs. In deed the effects of the design parameters are understood better by applying numerical experimentations to the designed pump.

Un grand nombre d’industries (chimiques, pharmaceutiques et agroalimentaires) utilisent, produisent ou transforment des fluides complexes. Ce sont des fluides à viscosité élevée, souvent de comportement non-Newtonien. Leur préparation nécessite souvent une étape de chauffe suivie d’une étape de refroidissement. La chauffe est indispensable afin de faciliter la fabrication (réaction chimique et/ou transformation physico-chimique). Le refroidissement, ou encore l’étape de finition, consiste à amener les fluides jusqu’à une température proche de la température ambiante pour aborder l'étape de conditionnement. Le refroidissement est le plus souvent réalisé « in situ » dans la même cuve agitée, équipée d’une double enveloppe (utilisée pour la fabrication), mais des technologies en continu peuvent également être envisagées. Ces travaux de thèse portent sur la mise en place d’une méthodologie de pilotage de la vitesse d’agitation lors du refroidissement de fluides complexes dans des cuves agitées, ainsi que sur la comparaison des performances de la cuve agitée avec celles du mélangeur statique. Deux fluides de travail sont testés : Newtonien et viscoplastique, en régime d’écoulement laminaire et transitoire. Nous déterminons les limites de l’influence de l’agitation sur le transfert thermique, la durée de l’opération et la quantité d’énergie consommée. En premier lieu, le refroidissement est étudié à l’échelle laboratoire (réacteur de 0,6L). Il a été constaté que le changement de la vitesse d’agitation au cours du refroidissement affecte le profil de température. Cela a un impact avantageux sur le coût énergétique et/ ou la durée de refroidissement. Les tendances observées à l’échelle laboratoire sont transposées et validées à l’échelle pilote (réacteur de 60L). Puis deux types de mélangeurs statiques sont étudiés comme technologie en continu. Nous établissons des modèles de perte de charge que nous utilisons dans la détermination de l’énergie dépensée pour le refroidissement. Ensuite nous réalisons une comparaison de leurs performances en fonction des facteurs d’efficacité de transfert thermique et de consommation énergétique. Enfin, une brève analyse comparée est exposée, présentant les divers critères de choix entre la cuve agitée et la technologie en continu. / Highly viscous Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids are frequently encountered in the process industries (like pharmaceutical, food and cosmetics). The preparing of such products involves heating and cooling steps. The heating stage is essential in order to facilitate the production (chemical reaction and/or physico-chemical transformation). The cooling step, named also final stage, leads the fluids to ambient temperature and prepares them for the conditioning. The cooling is mostly realized "in situ" in the same double jacketed stirred vessel, (used for the manufacturing), but continuous technologies may also be employed. This study aims to investigate the cooling of highly viscous fluids, and intends to define the best conditions for controlling the impeller speed (constant or variable) in a stirred vessel, as well as to compare the performances of the stirred vessel with those of the static mixer. Two fluids are tested: a Newtonian and a Non-Newtonian yield-stress fluid, in laminar and transitional conditions. The limits of the influence of the impeller speed on the heat transfer, the duration and the energy consumption are determined. In a first approach, the cooling is studied at small scale (0,6L vessel). The variation of the impeller speed during the cooling, affects the profile of temperature. This type of procedure has an advantageous impact on the energy cost and / or the duration of the cooling. The observed tendencies at a small scale are transposed and validated at a pilot scale (60L vessel). Two types of static mixers are studied as continuous technology. Models of pressure drop are established, which are used further in the determination of the energy consumption for the cooling. The performances of these two static mixers are compared, according to the factors of heat transfer efficiency and energy consumption. Finally, a brief comparative analysis is exposed, presenting diverse criteria of choice between the stirred tank and the continuous technology.

The production from an oil reservoir is a mixture of liquids (oil and water) and gas, and is often maintained by using a pump placed in the well to ensure a continuous flow to the surface. Electrical Submersible Pumps consist of stacked centrifugal pump stages, each comprising a bladed impeller (rotating part) and diffuser (stationary part). In multiphase conditions, the gas tends to accumulate in the impeller, severely reducing the pressure produced by the pump. Radial-flow pumps operate in a plane perpendicular to their rotation axis, while mixed-flow pumps are characterised by a lower meridional angle (generally 40 to 80 degrees), and are generally better at handling gas-liquid mixtures. We first describe the impact of gas on the whole pumping system, from the reservoir to the storage facility, and give context to the subject. The available literature shows that the size of the gas bubbles present in the fluid is critical to the pump performance. A transparent, full-scale pump was built in order to explore the flow features in single and multiphase flows. Laser Doppler Velocimetry and high speed imaging in single phase flow showed a high turbulence level in the wake of the impeller blades, and recirculation cells at low flow rates. In gas-liquid conditions, we demonstrated that the bubble size varies within a pump stage, as break-up occurs at the impeller tip, and coalescence is dominant in the diffuser, especially because of recirculation. The first impeller acted as a mixer, and at moderate to high gas fractions (10 to 30%), the flow patterns at the stage level alternated between bubbly and radially separated flows. Finally, a dispersed-gas model was developed to predict the pressure rise in a mixed-flow pump impeller under gas-liquid conditions. This model based on the forces acting on a single spherical gas bubble, was implemented with a simplified, parametric representation of the flow field in a mixed-flow impeller. In the meridional direction, the Coriolis force opposes the centrifugal force and the adverse pressure gradient. Both forces tend to retain the gas bubble within the impeller. The relative magnitude of the drag force strongly depends on the maximal bubble diameter, which was determined as a function of the flow conditions and used to calculate the gas velocity through the impeller. This method resulted in a better agreement with the experimental data than a one-dimensional two-fluid model where the gas phase follows the same path as the liquid. We used the dispersed-gas model to give quantitative evidence that low blade and meridional angles reduce the gas accumulation and the associated performance degradation.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:55:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6133.pdf: 10637138 bytes, checksum: 64ada7d9f618d8563b1dbee6ecf9ca2f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-09-30 / Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos / Due to owing to the nature of culture involving aerobic filamentous microorganisms, conventional aerated stirred-tank bioreactors using the Rushton turbine impeller are widely employed in order to achieve good mixing and oxygen mass transfer. However, this impeller presents disadvantages such as high power consumption, and generates higher shear in the medium, which can cause irreversible morphological changes in microorganisms, damaging the culture performance. In literature, impellers called "Elephant Ear" (EE), presented in down-flow (down-pumping) (EEDP) and up-flow (up-pumping) (EEUP) configurations, are indicated as suitable for cultivation of shear sensitive cells. However, this characteristic has never been demonstrated quantitatively. In the present study, the oxygen transfer and hydrodynamics parameters were evaluated and compared in a conventional aerated stirredtank bioreactor equipped with impellers as the classical impeller Rushton turbine (RT) and with EE in EEDP and EEUP modes. Firstly, prediction equations were obtained for quantifying the average shear rate (Ýav) in the different systems, as function of the operating conditions (600≤N≤1000 rpm and 0.40≤Ýavar≤1.2 vvm) and rheological properties of the pseudoplastic fluids (K and n), based on a methodology that uses the volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient as characteristic parameter. The values of Ýav obtained from the correlations for the RT impeller were within a range of values estimated from correlations of the literature, showing that the methodology utilized is valid. Based on correlations of Ýav and on results of power consumption, the energy dissipation and Kolmogorov micro-scale (micro eddy sizes) could be estimated. For non-Newtonian fluids, the RT and EEUP impellers generated micro-eddies with smaller sizes in the range from 45.0-127.0 and 80.6-123.7 μm, respectively, showing that the impellers RT and EEUP are more shear than EEDP impeller. Using the prediction equations of Ýav the effect of shear conditions in cultures of Streptomyces clavuligerus were evaluated in conventional bioreactor equipped with RT, EEDP and EEUP impellers at 800 rpm, 0.50 vvm and 30C. Profiles of the volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient and shear rate were obtained during the cultivation. The morphological changes resulted from shear conditions imposed for the different impellers were analyzed using image analysis technique. The RT and EEDP impellers imposed the highest oxygen transfer and smaller shear to the broth, respectively. The flow pattern generated by EE impellers was crucial at the beginning of the cultivation, and is highly beneficial when EEUP impeller were used, since it presented a controlled shear throughout the cultivation. The best cultivation condition for the clavulanic acid production was obtained using the EEUP impeller, which resulted in a maximum concentration of 453 mg/L and a consistency index K= 2.5 Pa.s0.27. The results suggested that the isolated hyphae are directly related to the K of the broth and clavulanic acid production. According to the rapid fragmentation of clumps and emergence of isolated hyphae, it was concluded that the RT impeller presents shear rates higher than the EEs impellers, since the size of branched and non-branched hyphae were smaller and in greater quantities. This fact shows an advantage in the EEUP impeller use in shear sensitive microorganism cultures that requiring high levels of oxygen, without affecting the process performance. This advantage is associated with the flow pattern generated for the EEUP impeller. / Devido à natureza dos caldos de cultivo envolvendo microrganismos filamentosos aeróbios, de modo de obter adequada transferência de oxigênio e homogeneização do meio são tradicionalmente empregados biorreatores convencionais tipo tanque agitado e aerado utilizando o impelidor turbina de Rushton. Porém, esse impelidor apresenta desvantagens tais como o alto consumo de energia e elevado cisalhamento imposto ao meio, que pode provocar mudanças morfológicas irreversíveis aos microrganismos, prejudicando o rendimento dos cultivos. Na literatura especializada são indicados os impelidores denominados orelha de elefante ou Elephant Ear (EE), nas configurações de escoamento descendente (down-pumping) (EEDP) e de escoamento ascendente (up-pumping) (EEUP), como adequados para cultivos de células sensíveis ao cisalhamento. No entanto, esta caraterística nunca foi demostrada quantitativamente. No presente trabalho foram avaliados e comparados parâmetros de transferência de oxigênio e hidrodinâmicos em biorreator convencional tipo tanque agitado e aerado, equipado com impelidores como a clássica turbina de Rushton (TR) e com EE nas configurações EEDP e EEUP. Inicialmente foram obtidas equações de previsão para a quantificação da velocidade de cisalhamento média (Ýav Ýav) nos diferentes sistemas em função da frequência de agitação do impelidor e vazão especifica de ar e das propriedades reológicas de fluidos pseudoplásticos, com base em metodologia que utiliza o coeficiente volumétrico de transferência de oxigênio como parâmetro característico. Valores obtidos de Ýav para o impelidor TR pelas correlações obtidas ficaram dentro de uma faixa de valores estimados por correlações de literatura validando a metodologia empregada. Com base nas correlações de Ýav e nos resultados de consumo de potência, pode-se quantificar a dissipação de energia e a microescala de Kolmogorov (tamanho de micro-turbilhões). Para fluidos não-Newtonianos, os impelidores TR e EEUP geraram os menores micro-turbilhões com tamanhos nas faixas de 45,0-127,0 μm e de 80,6-123,7 μm, respectivamente, mostrando serem esses impelidores mais cisalhantes que o impelidor EEDP. Também com base nas equações de previsão de Ýav, foram avaliadas as influências das condições de transferência de oxigênio e de cisalhamento em cultivos de Streptomyces clavuligerus visando a produção de ácido clavulânico em biorreator convencional com os impelidores TR, EEDP e EEUP a 800 rpm, 0,50 vvm e 30C. A partir das amostras coletadas ao longo dos cultivos, foram obtidos perfis de kLa e de Ýav. Foram acompanhadas as mudanças morfológicas decorrentes das condições de cisalhamento impostas pelos diferentes impelidores mediante a técnica de análise de imagens. Os impelidores TR e EEDP impuseram, respectivamente, maiores e menores transferências de oxigênio e condições de cisalhamento ao caldo. A eficiência do padrão de escoamento gerado pelos impelidores EEs foi crucial nas primeiras horas do cultivo, sendo altamente benéfico quando utilizado o impelidor EEUP, o qual apresenta um cisalhamento controlado ao longo do cultivo. A melhor condição de cultivo em função da produção de ácido clavulânico foi obtida utilizando o impelidor EEUP obtendo uma produção máxima de 453 mg/L e índice de consistência K=2,5 Pa.s0,27. Os resultados sugerem que a quantidade de hifas isoladas está diretamente relacionada com o K do caldo e a produção de ácido clavulânico. De acordo com a rápida fragmentação de clumps e surgimento de hifas isoladas, conclui-se que o impelidor TR cisalha mais que os impelidores EE, isto é, pelos tamanhos das hifas ramificadas e não ramificadas que foram geradas em maiores quantidades e em menores dimensões. Tal fato mostra uma vantagem no uso do impelidor EEUP em cultivos de microrganismos sensíveis ao cisalhamento, e que necessitam de níveis superiores de oxigenação, não prejudicando o desempenho do processo. Estes resultados sugerem essa vantagem está associada ao padrão de escoamento imposto pelo impelidor EEUP.

The product of the hydration process of lime, milk of lime, is a byproduct of lime commonly used industrially because it is present in the industrial processes of steel mill, chemical and sugar and alcohol. But the hydration process has been little studied and this dissertation aims to study the influence of the hydration process in the quality of product and the influence of quality of milk of lime in the efficiency of the industrial process which milk of lime is used. Through industry data found that the hydration process current and more useful for industrial is inappropriate and produces high amounts of residues that provide the company losses. In the industrial process the quality of milk of lime improves the performance of the industrial process by reducing the amount of material used and the amount of residue formed, consequently its accumulation in the equipment. And to produce a lime milk of good quality, high surface area and low amount of residue, you should use a mixing process suitable for the suspensions of lime milk with low particle sizes of lime and heating of initial water of hydration. And especially an efficient and appropriate agitation Therefore, the pilot of a unit of hydration was proposed and through this became the rheological behavior of suspensions of milk of lime and with these data, made up the study of power consumed by the agitator. It was also proposed changes on impeller to improve the efficiency of agitation and a system of residue removal at the end of hydration through rotary screens. / O produto proveniente do processo de hidratação da cal, o leite de cal, é um dos subprodutos da cal mais utilizados industrialmente, pois está presente nos processos das indústrias siderúrgicas, químicas e usinas de açúcar e álcool. Porém o processo de hidratação ainda é pouco estudado e esta dissertação tem como objetivo estudar a influência do processo de hidratação da cal na qualidade do produto e a influência da qualidade do leite de cal na eficiência do processo industrial no qual a leite de cal é utilizado. Através de dados industriais verificou-se que o processo de hidratação atual e mais usaado pelas industriais é inadequado e produz quantidades altas de resíduos, proporcionando a empresa perdas. No processo industrial a qualidade do leite de cal melhora o desempenho do processo industrial diminuindo a quantidade de material utilizado e a quantidade de resíduos formados, conseqüentemente o seu acúmulo nos equipamentos. E para se produzir um leite de cal de boa qualidade, com alta área superficial e baixa quantidade de resíduos, deve-se utilizar um processo de mistura adequado as suspensões de leite de cal: Granulometrias baixas de cal e aquecimento da água inicial de hidratação. E principalmente uma agitação eficiente e adequada. Por isso, o projeto piloto de uma unidade de hidratação foi proposto e através deste fez-se o estudo reológico das suspensões de leite de cal e com esses dados, fez-se o estudo da potência consumida pelo agitador. Também foi proposto mudanças no agitador para melhorar a eficiência da agitação e um sistema de remoção de resíduos ao final da hidratação através de peneiras rotativas. / Mestre em Engenharia Química

A análise de tensões em impelidores de ventiladores centrífugos pelo método dos elementos finitos revela que seus componentes são altamente solicitados e sujeitos a campos de tensões complexos. Tradicionalmente, o projeto estrutural de impelidores centrífugos é realizado a partir do cálculo das tensões estáticas provenientes da força centrífuga, e o comportamento dinâmico do impelidor é frequentemente verificado através de estudos de vibrações livres frente ao conhecimento das fontes de excitação. Por tal abordagem não é realizada qualquer avaliação quanto aos níveis de tensões dinâmicas nos componentes do impelidor. Neste trabalho, contudo, a determinação das tensões dinâmicas é apresentada como uma importante ferramenta para avaliar a integridade estrutural de um impelidor centrífugo durante a sua operação. Para tanto, cálculos de resposta são realizados no rotor e, isoladamente, no impelidor de um ventilador centrífugo, conduzindo a uma nova metodologia para a análise estrutural destes equipamentos através do método dos elementos finitos. / Stress analysis of centrifugal fan impellers through the finite element method reveals that its components are highly stressed and subjected to complex stress fields. Traditionally, the mechanical design of centrifugal impellers is performed from the study of the static stress levels due to the centrifugal force. The impeller dynamic behavior is evaluated through free vibration analysis and also with the knowledge of the main excitation sources. This approach does not consider any assessment on the dynamic response of the impeller components. In this work, however, the dynamic stress determination is presented as an important tool in order to evaluate the structural integrity of centrifugal fan impellers during its operation. For this purpose, frequency response analysis is performed on the rotor and, separately, on the centrifugal fan impeller, leading to a new methodology for structural analysis of these equipment through the finite element method.

Orientador: Jose Roberto Nunhez / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Quimica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-06T09:02:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernandes_LuisAntonioGalhego_M.pdf: 1106385 bytes, checksum: 6b2e2fa17d2a53c5051005b064878165 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: Com aplicações nos mais variados ramos industriais, tais como o alimentício, o químico, o farmacêutico, o de bebidas e o de toucador, entre outros, a operação unitária de agitação ou mistura de fluidos desempenha importante papel nos processos industriais. Os misturadores estáticos constituem uma alternativa aos vasos agitados tradicionais, sendo aplicados em processos contínuos. Os atuais fabricantes nacionais de misturadores estáticos têm apresentado dificuldade em definir o tipo adequado de misturador para as aplicações de um modo geral, como selecionar um misturador que, apesar de promover a mistura apresenta um alto consumo de energia para a aplicação. A constante preocupação em se reduzir o consumo de energia exige um cuidado especial com relação à escolha do misturador adequado ao processo. Dois misturadores denominados ALETAS e EDA foram selecionados de um trabalho anterior que desenvolveu e otimizou misturadores estáticos, utilizando a ferramenta fluido-dinâmica computacional (CFD), sendo que um destes se opera em regime laminar (ALETAS) e o outro em regime turbulento (EDA). O presente estudo buscou complementar o desenvolvimento destes novos tipos de misturadores estáticos, sob a forma de ensaios experimentais, em regimes laminar e turbulento. Como resultado dos ensaios experimentais pôde-se concluir que o misturador tipo ALETAS é adequado para se operar em regime laminar e o EDA pode ser utilizado em ambos regimes, laminar e turbulento, com alguns cuidados especiais para o caso de regime laminar. Os mesmos foram comparados com misturadores bastante estudados na literatura (Kenics e Sulzer SMX) apresentando desempenho similar a estes dois misturadores comerciais / Abstract: Mixing is a unit operation with applicability in many industrial fields, such as food, chemical, petrochemical, beverages and pharmaceutical, just to say some fields. The static mixers appear with an alternative to the traditional agitated vessels. They could be used such in batch mixing operation as in continuous processes, but mainly in continuous processes. The Brazilian suppliers had some problems in choosing the adequate equipment, and it is not rare that they choose an equipment that really does the proper mixture, but with a very high consumption of energy. The recently concern about saving energy demands a special care about the choosing of the best static mixer for the particular task.It was selected two models (ALETAS and EDA) from another work that developed static mixers using computational fluid-dynamic (CFD) method, the ALETAS mixer for laminar mixing and EDA for turbulent mixing. This work searches to complete this study, by experimental tests in laminar and turbulent mixing conditions.The results show that ALETAS static mixer can be used in laminar mixing, as the EDA static mixer but the EDA can be used in laminar mixing with some particular cares. The EDA can also be used in the turbulent mixing. Both models of static mixers were also compared with the Kenics and Sulzer SMX commercial static mixers using the data available in the literature with very similar results / Mestrado / Desenvolvimento de Processos Químicos / Mestre em Engenharia Química

Em um reator de fundo redondo e volume útil de 5 L tratando esgoto sintético com carga orgânica de 800 mgDQO.'L POT.-1' com biomassa granulada a influência do tipo de escoamento e velocidade rotacional foi investigada com o uso de cinco impelidores sendo eles turbina e pá de seis pás planas verticais, turbina e pá de seis pás planas inclinadas 45 graus e hélice, comumente aplicados em processos biológicos. Foi também investigada a viabilidade de implementação de tubo de tiragem ao reator em conjunto com os impelidores tipo hélice e tipo pá de pás planas inclinadas alternadamente, com vistas a melhorar a mistura e conseqüente transferência de massa no meio reacional. Os resultados mostram que a alteração do tipo de impelidor e as variações da velocidade rotacional não exerceram influência significativa sobre a estabilidade e desempenho dos sistemas estudados. Entretanto a análise das constantes do modelo cinético de primeira ordem mostrou que a alteração na velocidade rotacional exerceu influência de aumento dos valores das constantes, demonstrando com isto que o aumento da velocidade rotacional melhora a transferência de massa sólido-líquido no meio reacional. A análise das constantes cinéticas também demonstrou que a promoção de escoamento axial em reatores agitados mecanicamente é preferível ao escoamento radial quando comparados os impelidores tipo pá de pás planas verticais e de pás planas inclinadas. A presença do tubo de tiragem demonstrou incrementar significativamente a transferência de massa, através do aumento dos valores numéricos das constantes utilizadas no ajuste do modelo cinético de primeira ordem aos valores experimentais. A potência consumida foi inferior a 1,6.'10 POT.-3' HP/'M POT.3' com rotações abaixo de 200 rpm e os impelidores axiais consumiram 75% a menos de potência do que os radiais / The effect of flow type and rotor speed were investigated in a round-bottom reactor with 5 L useful volume containing granular biomass and treating synthetic wastewater with organic load of 800 mgCOD.'L POT.-1'. Five impellers have been used to this end, namely: turbine and paddle with six-vertical-flat blade, turbine and paddle with six-45 degrees-inclined-flat-blade and helix, commonly used in biological processes. Utilization of a draft tube together with the helix and six-alternately-inclined-flat-blade impellers was also assessed as a means to improve mixing and consequently mass transfer in the reaction medium. Results showed that altering impeller type and variation in rotor speed did not exert significant effect on the stability and performance of the investigated systems. However, analysis of the first order kinetic model constants showed that alteration in rotor speed resulted in increase in the values of the constants, demonstrating that increase in rotor speed improves solid-liquid mass transfer in the reaction medium. Analysis of the kinetic constants also showed that axial flow in mechanically stirred reactors is preferable over radial flow when the vertical flat blade impeller is compared to the inclined flat blade impeller. The presence of the draft tube showed significant improvement in mass transfer, which could be seen by the increase in the values of the constants used in the fit of the first order kinetic model to the experimental values. The power consumed was less than 1.6.'10 POT.-3' HP/'M POT.3' at rotor frequency below 200 rpm and the axial impellers consumed 75% less power than the radial ones

This master‘s thesis deals with a centrifugal pump running in reverse (turbine) mode, often called “pump-as-turbine”. The introduction lists basic principles and information about the direct (pump) and reverse modes. Several methodologies for predicting reverse operating point and efficiency evolution are used and compared with simulation results. Using CFD simulations, results obtained with simplified (excluding impeller side wall gaps) and complete geometry (including impeller side wall gaps) are assessed. Furthermore, the results of impeller trimming are evaluated with an aim to find the maximum power and efficiency. Impeller side wall gaps effect is analyzed in terms of friction torque and power loss.