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Optimize Mixing by
Using the Proper
Baffles
It is common knowledge that baffles
Kevin J. Myers,
University of Dayton
promote better flow in an agitated vessel,
but how to apply them and what kind to
Mark F. Reeder and
Julian B. Fasano,
use take some ingenuity.
Chemineer, Inc.
4
gaps are left to permit the flow to clean the baffles.
Recommended gaps are equal to 1/72 of the vessel dia.
(T/72) between the baffles and the vessel wall, and 1/4 3
to one full baffle width between the bottom of the baf-
fles and the vessel base. 2
Radial Impellers
Why use standard baffling? 1 Mixed Impellers
The decision to use standard baffling is often an easy Axial Impellers
one. First, standard baffling typically provides near-op- 0
timal performance, and because of the symmetric place- 0 1 2 3 4
ment of the baffles around the vessel periphery, stan-
Number of Standard Baffles
dard baffling provides a high degree of mechanical sta-
bility. In addition, in turbulent operation, many impeller
characteristics, such as the power and pumping num- ■ Figure 2. Increased baffling increases the power draw of an agitator.
bers (Pgc/N3D5ρ and NQ = Q/ND3, respectively), are es-
sentially independent of the impeller Reynolds number
1.0
Radial Impellers
Nomenclature 0.8 Mixed Impellers
Relative Blend Time
es as the number of standard width baffles (T/12) is in- there are situations in which no baffling is used. Baffles
creased. Data are presented for three impeller styles: ra- are rarely used with side-entering agitators or with
dial-flow impellers, such as straight-blade and Rushton close-clearance impellers, such as gates, anchors and
turbines, mixed-flow impellers, such as pitched-blade helical ribbons, for which the impeller-to-tank dia. ratio
turbines, and axial-flow impellers, such as high-effi- is typically greater than 90% (D/T > 0.90). Baffles are
ciency impellers. All data in this figure are normalized also generally not used in rectangular or square tanks
with respect to the unbaffled condition, with each im- that prevent swirl by providing some natural baffling in
peller style being normalized individually, rather than their sharp corners as illustrated in Figure 4. The flow
with respect to a common reference. “Normalized” field in the unbaffled square vessel in this figure is
means that, if the unbaffled radial-flow power number quite similar to that of the baffled cylindrical vessel in
is 2.5 and the unbaffled high-efficiency impeller num- Figure 1 (all conditions, such as speed, impeller and
ber is 0.2, then all of the radial-flow impeller data are solids, are the same in Figures 1 and 4: only the vessel
divided by (normalized) 2.5 and all of the high-efficien- has been changed).
cy impeller data are divided by 0.2. For impeller Reynolds numbers less than about 50, the
The power number of radial-flow impellers is most viscous action of the liquid at the vessel wall causes a
strongly influenced by the extent of baffling, continual- natural baffling effect, eliminating the nearly solid-body
ly increasing with the number of baffles. The mixed- rotation that can occur during agitation of low-viscosity
flow and axial-flow impeller power numbers are affect- liquids in unbaffled vessels. Thus, no baffles or narrow
ed to a lesser extent, approximately doubling for a sin- baffles might be used (6). Simply for convenience, small
gle baffle compared to an unbaffled system, but in- agitated vessels, less than a few hundred gallons, also
creasing only marginally as the number of baffles is may not be baffled. In these systems, angled and/or off-
further increased. center mounting of the agitator can be used to eliminate
Non-standard baffling
applications
■ Figure 4. Even when Despite the popularity
unbaffled, the flow in square
of standard baffling, there
and rectangular vessels is ■ Figure 5. Off-center agitator mounting (left) reduces swirl in unbaffled
similar to that in fully-baffled are many instances in which
non-standard baffling is vessels, while angled, off-center mounting (right) approximates the flow in
cylindrical vessels. fully-baffled vessels.
commonly used. In fact,
20
Relative Drawdown Power
16 S = 0.5D
S=D
12
■ Figure 7. Common baffle styles for glass-lined vessels are the beavertail ■ Figure 9. The power required to draw down floating solids is affected by
baffle (left) and the concave baffle. the baffle system and the impeller submergence, S.
an improvement over an unbaffled system, but the flow baffled. An impeller, often a pitched-blade turbine,
is still highly tangential (note the small surface vortex placed near the liquid surface, will generate a con-
at the top of the impeller shaft). The flow field in a ves- trolled vortex that aids in the incorporation of material
sel equipped with two standard baffles very closely ap- into the liquid.
proximates that in a fully-baffled vessel. Figure 9 compares the power requirements to draw
There are two primary challenges for baffling in down floating solids with a single down-pumping
glass-lined vessels. First, the surface of the baffle must pitched-blade turbine and various baffle systems. Data
be contoured because sharp corners cannot be coated are presented for impeller submergences below the liq-
with glass. As a result, the most common type of baffle uid surface equal to one-half of the impeller diameter (S
used in glass-lined vessels consists of a pipe flattened = 0.5 D) and the impeller diameter (S = D). All data in
to yield an elliptical cross section. This type of baffle is Figure 9 are normalized with respect to a common ref-
commonly referred to as a beavertail (Figure 7, left). erence. The power requirements of the unbaffled sys-
The second challenge is that glass-lined vessels are tem are the lowest, but as shown on the left of Figure
under-baffled, and it can be difficult to provide suffi- 10, the unbaffled system does a poor job distributing
cient power input to achieve process objectives. To the solids throughout the liquid. Further, this system
overcome both of these challenges, a patented concave has a large vortex, reaching into the impeller and lead-
baffle has been developed (7, 8) (photo at the right of ing to undesired air entrainment and the potential for
Figure 7, shown without the glass coating). mechanical instability.
The data of Figure 8, taken with a retreat-curve im- As the extent of baffling in the system is increased,
peller, the most commonly used impeller in glass-lined from unbaffled to one, two and four standard baffles,
vessels, illustrates that the concave baffle increases the power requirement continually increases, particular-
power input relative to the beavertail baffle and that ly for the larger impeller submergence. The power re-
two concave baffles approach the power input of four quirement of the system consisting of four lower-half
standard baffles. Studies with the concave baffle con- baffles is substantially lower than that of the fully-baf-
firm that the higher power input associated with this de- fled system, being comparable to that of the two-baffle
sign leads to process improvements, such as more uni- system. The advantage of the half-baffle system com-