Impeller shape optimisation for improved mixing in stirred reactors

Supervisors: Professor Mohamed Pourkashanian, Dr Spiridon Siouris.

Batch and continuous stirred reactors rely on active and passive methods to drive the mixing of two or more components. Some designs introduce baffles on the side walls to promote mixing, but these come with the penalty of frictional losses through the medium. Mixing devices such as rotating impellers require energy input but current designs cannot promote fully turbulent mixing to provide the ideal conditions for chemical reactions between the species.

The work in this project will first identify suitable impeller designs for batch reactors, and then develop a CFD methodology by which numerical shape optimisation can be performed with the objectives of minimising the required energy input and maximising the mixing between the reactants.

The advantages of improved impeller designs can significantly reduce the reactants residence times through more effective mixing, and therefore allow for a larger plant throughput leading to increased efficiencies. Such design can have a broad range of application and therefore deliver significant impact in chemical processing plants.

This is self-funded PhD project.

For informal enquiries contact Dr Spiridon Siouris (s.siouris@sheffield.ac.uk).