International Society for Industrial Process Tomography

Mapping the motion of aggregates in a three-phase agitated tank containing a suspension of nickel oxide in iso-octane

Gabriel Salierno^1,2,3*, Mauricio Maestri^1,2, Julia Picabea^1,2, Miryan Cassanello^1,2,
Cataldo De Blasio³, María Angélica Cardona^4,5,6, Daniel Hojman^4,5, Héctor Somacal⁶

¹ Departamento de Industrias, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales,
Universidad de Buenos Aires; Ciudad Universitaria - Buenos Aires, Argentina

² CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Tecnología de Alimentos y Procesos Químicos –ITAPROQ; Ciudad Universitaria - Buenos Aires, Argentina

³ Faculty of Science and Engineering, Åbo Akademi University - Vaasa, Finland

⁴ Laboratorio de Diagnósticos por Radiaciones, Dep. Física Experimental,
Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica - San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina

⁵ CONICET - Buenos Aires, Argentina

⁶ Escuela de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad de San Martín,
San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina

*Email: Gabriel Salierno (gabriel.salierno@gmail.com)

ABSTRACT

The agitated slurry tank is widely used, given its versatility and relative ease of installation. This contribution explores the influence of agitation on the motion of solid aggregates that can be formed in a nickel oxide slurry suspended in iso-octane under bubbling nitrogen gas. Motion features of a relatively big particle, representing solid aggregates, are directly determined from Radioactive Particle Tracking measurements. A clear increase in the overall space occupied by tracer trajectory is observed with increasing stirring speed. The time series of instantaneous velocities can be calculated by time differentiation of successive positions from the tracer trajectories. Turbulence Kinetic Energy is mapped in three dimensions from the ensemble average correlation matrix obtained from Radioactive Particle Tracking data, enabling studying the influence of agitation on the turbulence levels distribution. 

Keywords: Radioactive Particle Tracking; Three-phase agitated tank; Turbulence

Industrial application: Catalytic reactor engineering; Flue gas treatment.