A Numerical Study of the Global Performance of Two Static Mixers

Abstract

The use of in-line static mixers has been widely advocated for an important variety of applications, such as continuous mixing, heat and mass transfer processes, and chemical reactions. This paper extends previous studies by the authors on industrial static mixers and illustrates how static mixing processes of single-phase viscous liquids can be numerically simulated. Mixing of Newtonian, shear-thinning, and shear-thickening fluids through static mixer, as well as thermal enhancement by static mixer is studied. Using different measuring tools, the global performance and costs of SMX (Sulzer mixer X) and helical static mixers are studied. It is shown that the SMX mixer manifests a higher performance; however, the required energy to maintain the flow across a SMX mixer is significantly higher.