The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Agitation requirements for complete dispersion of emulsions
Author:	Tsai, Dun-Huang
View Online:	njit-etd1988-019 (ix, 123 pages ~ 2.9 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Environmental Science
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Engineering Science
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Armenante, Piero M. (Committee chair) Shaw, Henry (Committee member) Knox, Dana E. (Committee member)
Date:	1988
Keywords:	Emulsions. Dispersion. Mixing machinery. Liquid-liquid equilibrium.
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	An investigation on the minimum agitation speed required to achieve complete dispersion in liquid-liquid systems has been carried out. A model based on the momentum balance for a droplet and on Kolmogoroff's theory of isotropic turbulence was used for the prediction of the role of the most important variables on the minimum agitation speed. The equation so derived can be expressed in terms of a number of non- dimensional groups (such as Re, Ar, and Su). For geometrically similar systems the equation contains only one adjustable parameter ( to be determined experimentally) in the form of the proportionality constant correlating Re with the other non-dimensional groups. The equation was tested against the experimental results previously reported in the literature by several investigators. The agreement between predicted and experimental values appears to be good. In addition, only one numerical value of the correlating parameter is required to explain all the different experimental results which were reported in previous investigations, and tested here. The overall correlation coefficient is equal to 0.98. Even better agreement is found if single sets of consistent data are considered. Experiments were also conducted to further test the validity of the equation, using five different impellers, four tank sizes, and three impeller sizes. In addition, the effect of impeller clearance off the dispersed phase, liquid height, phase volume ratio, and fluid properties were also investigated. These results were correlated using regression methods, but this introduced a second constant in the equation. A novel method to determine the minimum agitation speed for dispersing an organic phase in water was also used. A comparison between our data and the model appears favorable and is also provided.