The Effect of Number and Width of Baffles on Mixing Time in Copper Solvent Extraction Dynamic Mixers: CFD Simulation and Direct Photography

The dynamic mixer has been designed and meshed according to copper solvent extraction mixer. Validation of data has been done by the experimental setup. k-ɛ turbulent model and sliding mesh have been used for fluid flow simulation. Organic and aqueous liquids have been provided from the solvent extraction unit of Sarcheshmeh copper complex, Iran. The mixing time has been calculated using population balance model outputs analysis. According to the results, by increasing the number and width of baffles, mixing process is improved and mixing time is decreased. Increasing turbulent flow intensity made to improve the efficiency in this situation. An equation has been developed for calculating mixing time. The variables of the equation are baffles number and width.