Analysis of the Hydrodynamics Behavior Inside a Stirred Reactor for Lead Recycling

This work focuses on an analysis of hydrodynamics to improve the efficiency in a batch reactor for lead recycling. The study is based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods, which are used to solve Navier-Stokes and Fick's equations (continuity and momentum equations for understanding hydrodynamics and concentration for understanding distribution). The reactor analyzed is a tank with a dual geometry with a cylindrical body and a hemisphere for the bottom. This reactor is symmetrical vertically, and a shaft with four blades is used as an impeller for providing motion to the resident fluid. The initial resident fluid is static, and a tracer is defined in a volume inside to measure mixing efficiency, as is conducted in laboratory and industrial practices. Then, an evaluation of the mixing is performed by studying the tracer concentration curves at different evolution times. In order to understand the fluid flow hydrodynamics behavior with the purpose of identifying zones with rich and poor tracer concentrations, the tracer's concentration was measured at monitoring points placed all around in a defined control plane of the tank. Moreover, this study is repeated independently to evaluate different injection points to determine the best one. Finally, it is proved that the selection of an appropriate injection point can reduce working times for mixing, which is an economically attractive motivation to provide proposals for improving industrial practices.