Title : Characterization of Stirred Tank Reactors by 4D Particle Tracking Velocimetry and Mixing Time Distributions
Contact : Martin Obligado
Abstract : Stirred tank reactors are frequently used for mixing as well as heat and mass transfer processes in chemical and biochemical engineering due to their robust operating behavior. In addition, stirred tank reactors have been intensively investigated and documented, especially in chemical process engineering. For cell culture processes, however, special requirements must be met to ensure optimal cell growth and product quality.
For this reason, an industrial scale stirred tank reactor made of acrylic glass was set up at the Institute for Multiphase Flows in Hamburg and has been characterized regarding power input and mixing time performance experimentally in detail. In addition, the complete optical access to the system enables the measurement of mixing time distributions and flow trajectories for the validation of numerical simulations.
In the presentation, the system and the measurement methods will be introduced. It will be discussed how these new methods can enable novel and much deeper insights into mixing processes compared to common approaches.
