Fluid dynamics simulation and pilot test for polycarbonate liquid-liquid separator
Zhenbo Fu · 2013
The calculated Sauter average drop size of the dispersed phase is 330 μm in the liquid-liquid static settlement experiment for the polycarbonate mixture.The liquid-liquid separation process is simulated and analyzed using mixture multiphase flow model.Different types of coalescence plates are compared,including parallel plates,corrugated plates and inclined plates.The results show that inclined plates are more suitable to the polycarbonate liquid-liquid separation.For the water-oil volume ratio of 0.6,the optimal parameters for the inclined plates are:inclined angle 20°,board length 0.8 m,and plate spacing 40 mm.The maximal flow rate in the separator is 5.3×10-3 m·s-1.According to the calculation results,a polycarbonate liquid-liquid separator is designed and applied in the pilot scale test,which presents a good separation effect.The concentration of water/oil phases is close to the solubility.The maximal material flow rate in the actual liquid-liquid separator is 3.9×10-3 m·s-1.The common disc centrifuges can be replaced by the designed static separators,reducing the cost of equipment and operation greatly.