Synopsis

The Plant manager at the Anglo Platinum base metal refinery in Rustenburg is concerned about the poor re
in the copper-nickel leach autoclave. The manager is also concerned that the Smith turbine used in the proce
efficient. In this report, the influence of impeller speed and on the oxygen mass transfer rate was investi
water using a three factorial design experiment. The oxygen mass transfer rate was measured at 200, 250
RPM and in a range of 3.9 7.8 L/min respectively .Two-Way ANOVA in statistica was implemented to s
interactive effects of impeller speed and aeration rate on the mass transfer rate. Increasing the impeller sp
aeration rate resulted in an increase in the oxygen transfer rate and the interaction between these fa
significant. The p-value for agitation is smaller than for aeration hence agitation has more effect on the
transfer rate than aeration rate. The power consumed by the impeller increased with the impeller spe
operational optimal conditions for this process would be higher agitation speed and aeration rate.

Table of Contents

CHE3049W .................................................................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark no

Synopsis ...............................................................................................................................................................................................
List of figures .......................................................................................................................................................................................
List of tables .........................................................................................................................................................................................
Nomenclature .......................................................................................................................................................................................
Glossary ...............................................................................................................................................................................................
1
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................
1.1Subject of Report ........................................................................................................................................................................
1.2 Background to Report ................................................................................................................................................................
1.3Hypothesis ...................................................................................................................................................................................
1.4 Objectives...................................................................................................................................................................................
1.5Scope and Limitations .................................................................................................................................................................
2
Literature Review .........................................................................................................................................................................
2.1 Practical Background .................................................................................................................................................................
2.2 Mass transfer across a phase boundary ......................................................................................................................................
2.2.1 Two-Film theory .................................................................................................................................................................

2.3 Mixing in a Stirred Tank Reactor ...............................................................................................................................................

2.3.1 Power consumption .............................................................................................................................................................

2.4 Factors affecting kLa ..................................................................................................................................................................

2.4.1 Impeller type and speed ......................................................................................................................................................

2.4.2 Aeration rate ........................................................................................................................................................................

3

4
5
6
7
8

2.5 Factorial design experiment .......................................................................................................................................................

Experimental ................................................................................................................................................................................
3.1 Experimental programme ...........................................................................................................................................................
3.2 Apparatus ...................................................................................................................................................................................
3.3 The experimental set-up .............................................................................................................................................................
3.4 Experimental procedure .............................................................................................................................................................
Results and Discussion .................................................................................................................................................................
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................................................
Recommendations ........................................................................................................................................................................
References ....................................................................................................................................................................................
Appendix ......................................................................................................................................................................................
8.1 Raw data .....................................................................................................................................................................................
8.2 Sample calculations ...................................................................................................................................................................

List of figures

Figure 1: Two film theory for the gas-liquid interface .........................................................................................................................

Figure 2: Radial flow patterns for disc turbine.....................................................................................................................................
Figure 3 The experimental set-up ........................................................................................................................................................
Figure 4: Plot of ln(Cs/Cs-C) versus time at 3.9 L/min to determine KLa from the slope at: 200, 250 and 300 RPM respectively. ....
Figure 5: Residual plot for repeat 1. .....................................................................................................................................................
Figure 6: Residual plot for repeat 2. .....................................................................................................................................................
Figure 7: Residual plot for repeat 3. .....................................................................................................................................................
Figure 8: Mass transfer coefficient against impeller speed at the required aeration rate. ....................................................................
Figure 9: Mass transfer coefficient against aeration rate at the required impeller speed. ....................................................................
Figure 10: Quadratic Surface plot of KLa coefficient against impeller speed and gas flowrate. ..........................................................
Figure 11: Linear surface plot of K La coefficient against impeller speed and gas flowrate. ................................................................
Figure 12: Plot of ln(Cs/Cs-C) versus time at 5.85 L/min to determine K La from the slope at: 200, 250 and 300 RPM respectively.
Figure 13: Plot of ln(Cs/Cs-C) versus time at 5.85 L/min to determine K La at from the slope at 250 RPM for error analysis. ..........
Figure 14: Plot of ln(Cs/Cs-C) versus time at 7.8 L/min to determine K La from the slope at: 200, 250 and 300 RPM respectively. ..

List of tables

Table 1: Experimental determined mass transfer coefficients values ........................................................................................

Table 2 KLa values for the three repeats performed at 5.85 L/min and 250 RPM...............................................................................
Table 3 Regression constants for the three repeats. .............................................................................................................................
Table 4: Two-Way ANOVA table generated in statistica ....................................................................................................................
Table 5 Confident intervals for Two-Way ANOVA. ...........................................................................................................................
Table 6: Impeller power number for the Smith turbine........................................................................................................................
Table 7 Impeller power numbers for comparison purposes. ................................................................................................................
Table 8: Data for measurements at 3.9 L/min and the required impeller speeds. ................................................................................
Table 9: Data for measurements at 5.85 L/min and the required impeller speeds. ..............................................................................
Table 10: Data for the three repeats at 5.85 L/min and 250 RPM. .......................................................................................................
Table 11: Data for measurements at 7.8 L/min and the required impeller speeds ...............................................................................

Nomenclature
a - Area of the gas bubble per volume of reactor (m2.m-3)
C - Dissolve oxygen concentration in the liquid phase (mg.L-1)
Cs- Saturation concentration of oxygen (mg.L-1)
D Impeller diameter (m)
F- Force (N)
KLa- Volumetric mass transfer coefficient (s-1)
- Impeller speed (RPM)
Np - Impeller power number (-)
OTR Oxygen transfer rate (mg.L-1.s-1)
RPM - Revolutions per minute
P Power (Watts)
Torque (N.m)
Cov- Coefficient of variation (-)

Glossary
Autoclave: a strong, pressurized, steam-heated vessel, as for laboratory experiments.

ANOVA: a statistical method that yields values that can be tested to determine whether a significant relatio
between variables.

STATISTICA: a statistical software package developed by Stat Soft. It provides data analysis and data visu
functions.
Air sparger: a device of introducing air into fermenter.

1 Introduction
1.1Subject of Report

The Plant manager at the Anglo Platinum base metal refinery in Rustenburg is concerned about the poor reco
in the copper-nickel autoclave. It is indicated that the copper-nickel leach kinetics are controlled by the mass
transfer rate of oxygen in the autoclave. The plant manager feels that the mass transfer is sub-optimal and th
turbine used in the process is not efficient. The task was to use a three level factorial design experiment to op
the oxygen transfer rate by varying the impeller speed and measure the impeller power number for comparat
purposes.

1.2 Background to Report

The kinetics of oxygen mass transfer will be investigated in a 60 litre pilot scale autoclave agitated by a Smi
turbine. The autoclaves for pressure leaching can divided into two types: the stirred tank reactor and tubular
In this practical, the OTR will be considered in a sparged tank reactor with water as the working fluid. Oxyg
low solubility in many aqueous systems; consequently the OTR is the limiting factor in my bio and leaching
processes.
Mass transfer in the autoclave is affected by the impeller type, impeller speed and aeration rate. The impelle
strongly affects the kLa, increased impeller speed leads to increased oxygenation (Manuel et al, 2011). The e
all these factors on KLa can be determined using a three level factorial design experiment. Fisher (1926) argu
factorial design experiments were more efficient than studying the effect of one contributing factor at a time
suggested that this design allows the study of effect of all the potential contributing factors on the dependabl
variable and even the interaction between these factors can be determined.

The concentration of the dissolved oxygen is also affected by the resistance at the gas-liquid interface. By co
determining the kLa, one can design, scale up and operate bioreactors optimal for various practises (Apploni
2011). The rate of oxygen mass transfer at the gas-liquid interface depends on the thickness of the boundary
and the gas-liquid interface area (Cheng, 1994). Correlations have been proposed for the volumetric oxygen
transfer coefficient. In one of these correlations, kLa is directly proportional to the gassed power consumptio
volume of broth and to the superficial gas velocity (Cooper et al, 2001) as indicated in equation 1:

Eq
1
a1 and b1 are constants that vary with the systems geometry, and the experimental methodology used.

1.3 Hypothesis
Three hypotheses will be tested in this practical:

The aeration rate affects KLa.

1.4 Objectives

The objectives of practical are:

To optimise the oxygen transfer rate by varying the impeller speed and aeration rate.
To investigate the interactive effects of impeller speed and aeration rate on KLa using factoria
ANOVA.
To determine the impeller power number for the Smith turbine.

1.5

Scope and Limitations

The oxygen mass transfer rate will be measured in a 60 litre pilot scale autoclave with water as a wor
fluid. The aeration rate will be varied from 3.9 to 7.8 L/min and the impeller speed from 200 to 300 R
The maximum concentration of dissolved oxygen that can be reached is 40 mg/L.
A factorial design experiment allows the approximation of an experimental error by repeating the
experiment. However, repetition is only common for small experiments, where the number of factors
considered is two or less. As the number of factors to be considered increases, it becomes operationa
demanding to repeat the experiment. In this practical, only three repeats will be performed at an aera
of 3.9 L/min and 250 RPM due to time constraint.

2 Literature Review
2.1 Practical Background

Mass transfer is the transfer one substance through another on molecular or macroscopic scales. During this
a component moves from the region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Mass transfe
take place in a gas, liquid and solid phase respectively. The rate in which the process occurs is affected by th
concentration gradient and the resistance on mass transfer. Some industrial processes which rely on mass tra
are: fractional distillation, gas absorption, gas desorption and fractional liquid extractor.

2.2 Mass transfer across a phase boundary

Mass transfer can occur across a phase boundary where the concentrations on either side of the interface are
by the phase equilibrium relationship (Richardson, 1999a). In a distillation column a vapour and liquid are b
into contact and the more volatile substance is transferred from the liquid phase to the gas phase while the le
volatile substance is transferred in the opposite direction. In gas absorption, the soluble gas diffuses to the su
dissolves in the liquid and then passes into the bulk of the liquid (Coulson, 1999b). What distinguishes this m
transfer process is the transfer of mass across an interface.

The general mass balance equation can be applied on the interface. Thus the mass balance for oxygen transfe
the gas to the liquid phase is given by:

The FORMATION/DISAPPEARANCE term can be ignored in cases where there is no chemical rea
occurring within the system.
OUT is the amount of oxygen that leaves the system = 0
IN is the rate of oxygen mass transfer from the gas to the liquid phase = OTR

The oxygen mass balance is: ACCUMULATION = IN

)

Eq

Equation 2 can be integrated between appropriate boundary conditions to yield an expression for KLa

Substituting the boundary equations

(
Therefore

)
(

It can be seen from equation 3 that a plot of

Eq

) against time will yield a straight line and the value of K

be obtained from the slope of the graph.

2.2.1 Two-Film theory

The conditions in the region of the phase boundary can be represented by the to-film theory. Whitman (1923
suggested that the resistance to transfer in each phase could be regarded as lying in a thin film close to the in
The turbulence in the bulk liquid is assumed to die out at the interface and that a laminar layer exits in each o
two fluids.

Mass transfer in biological reactors involves the transfer of oxygen from the vapour to the liquid phase. The
which the gas dissolve sin the liquid is proportional to difference between the saturation concentration and th
dissolved concentration at that time. The overall mass transfer coefficient covers both film resistances and u
both the liquid and gas phase concentrations in calculating the driving force.

2.3 Mixing in a Stirred Tank Reactor

Mixing plays a major role in increasing the rate diffusion. The objectives of agitation and effective m
are: to circulate the fluid for sufficient time, to break up the gas bubbles in the liquid, to have more s
bubbles with higher interfacial surface area and to maintain uniform conditions for mass transfer ((Na
2007a).

Coulson (1990) found that contacting processes are required for physical and chemical changes spec
present or for the movement from one phase to the other. The energy can be supplied to the reactor
internally by mechanically agitated contactor in which the energy supply is through the rotating impe
shaft. The main reactor variables that affect the energy dissipation are: the tank diameter and height,
impeller type, impeller diameter, impeller position and impeller speed.

2.3.1 Power consumption

The power required for rotating an impeller of diameter D at the speed N in a specified geometry and suspe
given by:
Equ
It can be seen from equation 4 that the power input to the impeller is proportional to the impeller speed and
diameter. The power number is the strong function of Reynolds number, impeller type and weak function of
geometry.

The torque is defined as the rotational force acting on the agitator shaft. The calculation torque is essential fo
selection of the drive used for the impeller and is given by:
Equ
A combination of equation 4 and 5 gives the expression for the impeller power number:

Equ

2.4 Factors affecting kLa

2.4.1 Impeller type and speed

Impellers are categorised based on the flow pattern as either radial flow or axial flow impeller. Radial flow
impellers include flat blade turbine, Smith turbine, Rushton turbine and baffles. The impeller blade is paralle
impeller shaft; hence the rotation causes the fluid to move radially towards vessel wall. It results in good tur
mixing and is highly recommended for gaseous diffusion.

2.4.2 Aeration rate

Aeration is used as an oxygen source in most fermentation processes. The size of the air bubbles affects the
mass transfer (Najafpour, 2007b). Smaller bubbles are more efficient than large bubbles are they have more
area. The gas exposure into the liquid is increased and thus increases the rate of mass transfer. Gas diffusion
mainly related to the type of sparger used but to the impeller type used for agitation (Najafpour, 2007c)
.

2.5 Factorial design experiment

A factorial design experiment is defined as an experiment whose design consists of two or more
each with distinct possible values or levels. It can be written in the form kn , where: k is the number
and n is the number of the factors to be considered. This design allows investigation of the effect
potential contributing factor on the dependable variable, as well as the effects of the interactions
these factors on the dependable variable.

In this practical, two factors will be considered: impeller speed and aeration rate. The effects of thes
on the dependable variable KLa will be considered at three levels: low, medium and high. T
experiment is an example of a 32 experiment. Three factorial design experiments can be analysed us
way ANOVA with two independent variables.

3 Experimental
3.1 Experimental programme

The aim of this experiment is to determine the effect of the impeller speed and aeration rate on the oxygen tr
rate. In this experiment, a three level factorial design experiment will be performed to consider the effect of
factors on the oxygen transfer rate at three levels: low, medium and high. The factorial design helps in findi
optimal conditions and to identify the critical conditions.

3.2 Apparatus
The apparatus consists of:

A 60 litre pilot scale autoclave agitated by a Smith turbine.

Oxygen meter
Oxygen electrode
Nitrogen and compressed air
Variable speed motor

3.3 The experimental set-up

Oxygen electrode

P-14

Autoclave
Speed
motor

Nitrogen gas
Oxygen gas

Figure 3 The experimental

set-up

3.4 Experimental procedure

The following procedure was followed:

The tank was filled with pure liquid water.

The impeller was set at an initial speed reading of 200RPM.
The nitrogen gas was sparged to deoxygenate the water.
Once the oxygen concentration decreased to less than 2.0L/min, the nitrogen gas flow was stopped a
oxygen was sparged at an initial flowrate of 3.9L/min.
The dissolved oxygen concentration was recorded in mg/L every ten seconds until the concentration
oxygen approached the saturation concentration of 40 mg/L.
The procedure was repeated at 250 and 300 RPM, keeping the oxygen flowrate constant at 3.9L/min
The gas flowrate was then changed 5.85 L/min and the procedure was repeated at 200, 250 and 300 R
spurging the nitrogen gas before changing the speed everytime.
Three repeats were performed at 5.85L/min and 250RPM to calculate the experimental error.
The procedure was repeated at 7.8 L/min and 200, 250 and 300 RPM respectively.
The mass displaced at each speed setting was recorded and the power input was calculated by calcula
torque.
A graph of
) against time was plotted in excel and the KLa values were obtained from the slop

4 Results and Discussion

Impeller speed
RPM
200
250
300
200
250
300
200
250
300

L/min
3.9
3.9
3.9
5.85
5.85
5.85
7.8
7.8
7.8

kLa
1/s
0.0064
0.0075
0.0102
0.0068
0.0092
0.0141
0.0078
0.0118
0.0172

Table 1: Experimental determined mass transfer coefficients values

Ln(Cs/(Cs-C) versus Time at 3.9 L/min

200 RPM

Ln(Cs/(Cs-C)

1.5000

250 RPM

300 RPM
y = 0.0075x + 0.0269
R = 0.994

y = 0.0102x - 0.0737
R = 0.9822

1.0000
0.5000

y = 0.0064x + 0.0687
R = 0.9835

0.0000
-0.5000

Figure 4: Plot

20

40

60

80

100

120

Time (s)

of ln(Cs/Cs-C) versus time at 3.9 L/min to determine KLa from the slope at: 200, 250 and 300 R

respectively.

In figure 4, the linear plot of

) against time was produced using equation 3 and the KLa values were o

from the slope of the graph. The R2 values at the different impeller speeds are closer to one hence the data ca
model as linear. Table 1 show that both an increase in the impeller speed and the aeration rate results in an in
in the KLa value as predicted. Increasing the aeration rate, increases gas exposure into the liquid is increased
thus increases the rate of mass transfer.

Run

KLa

1
2
3

0.00900
0.00930
0.00950

Table 2 KLa

values for the three repeats performed at 5.85 L/min and 250 RPM.

Mean
Standard deviation
Standard deviation of the mean
Coefficient of variance (%)
Lower 95% confidence interval of the standard deviation
Upper 95% confidence interval of the standard deviation
Lower 95% confidence interval of the mean
Lower 95% confidence interval mean
Table 3 Regression

0.00927
0.000252
0.000145
2.716
0.000131
0.001582
0.008365
0.010168

constants for the three repeats.

X Variable 1 Residual Plot

0.15
Residuals

0.1
0.05
0
-0.05 0

50

-0.1

Figure 5:

100

150

X Variable 1

Residual plot for repeat 1.

X Variable 1 Residual Plot

Residuals

0.1
0.05
0
0

50

100

150

Figure 6: Residual

plot for repeat 2.

X Variable 1 Residual Plot

0.15
Residuals

0.1
0.05
0
-0.05 0

50

-0.1

Figure 7: Residual

100

150

X Variable 1

plot for repeat 3.

Three repeats were performed for data at 5.85 L/min and 250 RPM to determine the experimental error. The
values for these repeats are shown in Table 2. It can be seen that these values are not the same. Repeat 1 and
to be close whereas repeat 3 is different. This is confirmed by the residual plots of all repeats. A residual is t
difference between the observed and the predicted variable. In figure 4 and 5, the points in the graphs are ran
dispersed around the axis hence a linear regression model is appropriate for the data. In figure 6, the points a
randomly distributed hence non-linear model is more appropriate.
Table 3 presents the regression constants and the confident intervals for the three repeats. It is observed that
mean and the standard deviation are within the lower and the upper limit at 95 % confidence level. Hence th
no outliers in the data.

Gas flowrate*Impeller speed; LS Means

Current effect: F(4, 3)=46.971, p=.00488
Effective hypothesis decomposition
Vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals
0.020
0.018

kLa (1/s)

0.016
0.014
0.012
0.010
0.008
0.006
0.004
200

250
Impeller speed (RPM)

300

Aeration rate
Aeration rate
Aeration rate

50
75
100

Gas flowrate*Impeller speed; LS Means

Current effect: F(4, 3)=46.971, p=.00488
Effective hypothesis decomposition
Vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals
0.020
0.018

kLa (1/s)

0.016
0.014
0.012
0.010
0.008
0.006
0.004
50

75

100

Aeration rate (L/min)

Figure 9: Mass

transfer coefficient against aeration rate at the required impeller speed.

Univariate Results for Each DV (prAC 3 (1))

Sigma-restricted parameterization
Effective hypothesis decomposition
Degr. of
kLa
kLa
kLa
kLa
Effect
Freedom
SS
MS
F
p
Intercept
1 0.001005 0.001005 23189.10 0.000001
Gas flowrate
2 0.000027 0.000013 310.45 0.000333
Impeller speed
2 0.000072 0.000036 830.60 0.000077
Gas flowrate*Impeller speed
4 0.000008 0.000002
46.97 0.004879
Error
3 0.000000 0.000000
Total
11 0.000108

Table 4: Two-Way ANOVA

table generated in statistica

Impeller
200
Impeller
250
Impeller
300

Gas flowrate*Impeller speed; LS Means (prAC 3 (1))

Current effect: F(4, 3)=46.971, p=.00488
Effective hypothesis decomposition
Gas flowrate Impeller speed
kLa
kLa
kLa
kLa
N
Cell No.
Mean Std.Err. -95.00% +95.00%
1
50
200 0.006400 0.000208 0.005738 0.007062 1
2
50
250 0.007500 0.000208 0.006838 0.008162 1
3
50
300 0.010200 0.000208 0.009538 0.010862 1
4
75
200 0.006800 0.000208 0.006138 0.007462 1
5
75
250 0.009250 0.000104 0.008919 0.009581 4
6
75
300 0.014100 0.000208 0.013438 0.014762 1
7
100
200 0.007800 0.000208 0.007138 0.008462 1
8
100
250 0.011800 0.000208 0.011138 0.012462 1
9
100
300 0.017200 0.000208 0.016538 0.017862 1

Table 5 Confident

intervals for Two-Way ANOVA.

3D Surface Plot of kLa against Gas flowrate and Impeller speed

prAC 3 (1) 3v*12c
kLa = 0.0328-0.0002*x-0.0002*y+2.8E-7*x*x+1.12E-6*x*y+3.9E-7*y*y

kLa (1/s)

24
0. 0 2
2
0. 0 0
2
0
.
0 8
1
0. 0 6
1
0
.
0 4

1
0. 0 2
1
0
.
0 0
1
0. 0 8
0
0
.
0 6
0
0
0. 2 0
3

Im 3 0 8 0
10 10
pe
0
2
9
0
lle
80 0
r s 26 0
n)
7
4
mi
pe
(L/
ed 2 2 2 0
60 0
e
(R
rat
PM 2 0 0 0 4 50
flow
0
s
8
)
1
Ga

3D Surface Plot of kLa against Gas flowrate and Impeller speed

prAC 3 (1) 3v*12c
kLa = -0.0135+8.4667E-5*x+6.8333E-5*y

kLa (1/s)

20
0.0
18
0. 0
16
0. 0
14
0. 0
12
0. 0

10
0. 0
08
0
0.
06
0
0.
04
0. 0
02
0. 0
32

30

80
Im
pe 2
60
lle
rs 2
pe
40
ed 2
20
(R
PM 2
0
20
)

Figure 11: Linear

0 4
18 0

50

60

80

70
Ga

90

e
rat
flow

10
0

m
(L/

11
0

in)

>
<
<
<
<
<
<
<

0.01
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

surface plot of KLa coefficient against impeller speed and gas flowrate.

In table 4 and 5, the results obtained using the statistica program are presented. Two-Way factorial ANOVA
used to the effect of the impeller speed, aeration rate and the interaction between the two factors on KLa. The
that there two independent factors which affects the dependent variable. Each factor will have two or more l
within it, and the degrees of freedom of each factor is one or less than the number of levels.

The p-value for the impeller speed and the aeration rate is less that 0.05 hence both factors affect the value o
However, agitation has more effect on KLa than the aeration rate since the p-value of agitation is the smalles
p-value of the interaction of the factors is also less than one hence the interactions are also significant. This c
be seen in figure 7 and 8. KLa was plotted against the impeller speed at required aeration rate vice versa. In b
graphs the lines are not parallel to one another hence there is interaction between the two factors.

Figure 9 and 10 shows both the quadratic and linear 3D surface plots generated in statistica. The dependable
variable on the z-axis KLa is plotted against the impeller speed and the aeration rate.

RPM
200
250
300

rev/s
3.33
4.17
5.00

Force
N
8.82
14.06
19.16

N.m
0.88
1.41
1.92

Power
Watts
18.47
36.82
60.19

NP
4.76
4.85
4.59

D
0.634
0.288

Np
3.16 0.11
2.29 0.10

Table 7 Impeller power numbers for comparison purposes.

Adamiak and karcz (2007) determined power numbers for Smith turbine under turbulent conditions and thei
are presented in table 7.

5 Conclusion

The objectives of practical were to optimise the oxygen transfer rate by varying the impeller speed and aerat
to investigate the interactive effects of impeller speed and aeration rate on KLa using factorial 2-way ANOV
to determine the impeller power number for the Smith turbine.

An increase in impeller speed and aeration rate resulted in an increase in the KLa value. The results in Two-W
factorial ANOVA shows that the impeller speed and aeration rate both affect the KLa and the interaction bet
these factors is significant. Hence all tested hypotheses are true.

The determined power numbers for the Smith turbine were found to be comparable to those found in literatu

6 Recommendations

I recommend that more repeats should be performed for all set of data for determination of experime
error.
The impeller speed and aeration rate should be set on their optimal levels to optimise the oxygen mas
transfer rate in the autoclave.

7 References

1. Vogelaar, J.C.T., Klapwijk, A., Van Cier, J.B. and Rulkens, W.H., 1998, Temperature effects
the oxygen transfer rate between 20 and 55C, Water Research, 34(3), 1037-1041.
2. Chavan, A. and Mulkherji, S., 2008, Dimensional analysis for modelling oxygen transfer rate
rotating biological contactor, Bioresources Technology, 99,3721-3728.
3. Juarez, P. and Orejas, J., 2001, Oxygen transfer in a stirred reactor in laboratory scale, Lati
American Applied research, 31, 437-439.
4. Badino, A.C., Facciotti, M.C.R. and Jchmidell, W., 2001, Volumetric oxygen transfer coeffici
(kLa) in batch cultivations involving non-Newtonian broths, Biochemical Engineering Journa
111-119.
5. Coulson, J.M. and Richardson, J.F., 1991, Fluid flow, Heat Transfer and Mass transfer , Ch
Engineering, 1, sixth ed, 573-620.

8 Appendix
8.1 Raw data

O2 flowrate = 50 = 3.9 L/min

Impeller
speed
(RPM)
Time (s)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
Table 8: Data

200
mg/L
1.9
3.3
7.4
10.8
12.2
12.8
14.6
16.4
16.8
17.7
20.6
21.7
22.6

250
mg/L
1.8
5.1
7.0
8.3
10.5
12.7
15.0
16.6
18.3
19.8
21.6
23.5
24.7

300
mg/L
1.9
2.4
4.3
6.9
9.9
12.6
15.3
17.9
20.7
22.8
24.9
26.4
28.0

200
ln(Cs/Cs-C)
0.0487
0.0861
0.2046
0.3147
0.3638
0.3857
0.4541
0.5276
0.5447
0.5843
0.7236
0.7820
0.8324

250
ln(Cs/Cs-C)
0.0460
0.1364
0.1924
0.2326
0.3045
0.3820
0.4700
0.5361
0.6116
0.6832
0.7765
0.8855
0.9610

for measurements at 3.9 L/min and the required impeller speeds.

300
ln(Cs/Cs-C)
0.0487
0.0619
0.1137
0.1893
0.2844
0.3783
0.4821
0.5933
0.7288
0.8440
0.9742
1.0788
1.2040

O2 flowrate = 75 = 5.85 L/min

Impeller
speed
(RPM)

200

250

300

Time (s)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120

mg/L
1.9
3.7
7.6
8.5
10.5
10.9
14.3
16.9
18.1
20.1
21.0
21.6
22.5

mg/L
1.9
2.6
3.7
6.2
8.9
11.7
14.7
18.2
19.8
20.9
22.7
24.9
26.2

mg/L
1.9
4.1
7.3
10.2
13.9
16.4
20.3
23.2
25.5
27.5
29.6
31.3
32.7

Table 9: Data

200

250

300

ln(Cs/Cs-C)
0.0487
0.0971
0.2107
0.2389
0.3045
0.3181
0.4424
0.5490
0.6024
0.6982
0.7444
0.7765
0.8267

ln(Cs/Cs-C)
0.0487
0.0672
0.0971
0.1684
0.2517
0.3460
0.4581
0.6070
0.6832
0.7392
0.8382
0.9742
1.0642

ln(Cs/Cs-C)
0.0487
0.1081
0.2015
0.2944
0.4269
0.5276
0.7083
0.8675
1.0147
1.1632
1.3471
1.5256
1.7010

for measurements at 5.85 L/min and the required impeller speeds.

Ln(Cs/(Cs-C) versus Time at 5.85 L/min

200 RPM

Ln(Cs/(Cs-C)

2.0000

250 RPM

300 RPM
y = 0.0092x - 0.0461
R = 0.9873

y = 0.0141x - 0.0832
R = 0.986

1.5000
1.0000
0.5000

y = 0.0068x + 0.0416
R = 0.9878

0.0000

0
-0.5000

Figure 12: Plot

respectively.

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Time (s)

of ln(Cs/Cs-C) versus time at 5.85 L/min to determine KLa from the slope at: 200, 250 and 300

Impeller
speed
(RPM)

250
(Rep1)

250
(Rep2)

250
(Rep
3)

Time (s)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120

mg/L
1.9
2.4
3.9
5.7
8.6
11.2
14.3
18.7
20.0
21.2
22.5
24.4
26.0

mg/L
1.9
3.2
5.2
7.7
11.3
13.4
15.8
17.9
20.0
22.0
24.2
26.1
27.5

mg/L
1.9
3.0
4.1
6.6
9.8
12.1
14.9
18.3
20.2
21.5
23.5
25.5
26.7

Table 10: Data

250
(Rep1)
ln(Cs/CsC)
0.0487
0.0619
0.1026
0.1537
0.2421
0.3285
0.4424
0.6302
0.6931
0.7550
0.8267
0.9416
1.0498

250
(Rep2)
ln(Cs/CsC)
0.0487
0.0834
0.1393
0.2138
0.3320
0.4080
0.5025
0.5933
0.6931
0.7985
0.9289
1.0570
1.1632

250 (Rep
3)
ln(Cs/CsC)
0.0487
0.0780
0.1081
0.1803
0.2810
0.3603
0.4660
0.6116
0.7032
0.7711
0.8855
1.0147
1.1011

for the three repeats at 5.85 L/min and 250 RPM.

Ln(Cs/(Cs-C) versus Time at 5.85 L/min

Repeat 1

Ln(Cs/(Cs-C)

1.4000
1.2000

y = 0.009x - 0.0549
R = 0.9795

Repeat 2

y = 0.0093x - 0.0512
R = 0.9851

1.0000

Repeat 3
y = 0.0095x - 0.0373
R = 0.9881

0.8000
0.6000
0.4000
0.2000
0.0000

-0.2000 0
Figure 13: Plot

analysis.

20

40

60

Time (s)

80

100

120

140

of ln(Cs/Cs-C) versus time at 5.85 L/min to determine KLa at from the slope at 250 RPM for e

O2 flowrate = 100 = 7.8 L/min

Impeller speed
(RPM)
Time (s)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
Table 11: Data

200
mg/L
1.9
3.6
7.3
10.6
11.7
12.6
14.0
16.1
17.9
19.6
21.9
24.7
25.6

250
mg/L
1.9
4.1
7.1
9.8
10.8
16.0
19.5
22.0
23.7
25.5
27.1
28.9
30.4

300
mg/L
1.9
5.5
9.4
13.4
16.8
20.2
23.9
26.5
28.5
30.6
32.5
33.7
35.1

200
ln(Cs/Cs-C)
0.0487
0.0943
0.2015
0.3079
0.3460
0.3783
0.4308
0.5150
0.5933
0.6733
0.7930
0.9610
1.0217

250
ln(Cs/Cs-C)
0.0487
0.1081
0.1954
0.2810
0.3147
0.5108
0.6685
0.7985
0.8977
1.0147
1.1317
1.2819
1.4271

for measurements at 7.8 L/min and the required impeller speeds

Ln(Cs/(Cs-C) versus Time at 7.8 L/min

200 RPM

250 RPM

300 RPM

Ln(Cs/(Cs-C)

2.5000
y = 0.0172x - 0.0768
R = 0.9905

2.0000

y = 0.0118x - 0.0531
R = 0.9888

1.5000
1.0000
0.5000

y = 0.0078x + 0.0193
R = 0.9759

0.0000
-0.5000

Figure 14: Plot

respectively.

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Time (s)

of ln(Cs/Cs-C) versus time at 7.8 L/min to determine KLa from the slope at: 200, 250 and 300

8.2 Sample calculations

The following calculations were performed to calculate the Impeller power number:
Data
m = mass displaced in each speed setting = 0.90 kg
D = 16 cm = 0.16 m
x = distance for mass displaced = 10 cm = 0.1 m
g = gravitational constant = 9.8 m/s2
= 1000 kg/m3
= 200 RPM

8.82 N

Equation 5 was used to calculate the power input.

Equation 6 was then used to calculate Np

The same calculations were performed at 250 and 300 RPM respectively.