Drop behavior in a pilot plant asymmetric rotating disc extraction column for three various liquid-liquid systems

Among the liquid dispersion properties affecting the ARDC column behavior, the drop size distribution is one of the important parameters. Its control could positively contribute to optimize the column performance. The experimental works were carried out in a pilot plant ARDC column with three different systems. The effect of operating parameters on the Sauter mean drop diameters and drop size distributions were investigated. The drop size distribution is largely dependent on the agitation conditions in the column, but, the effect of phase flow rates is not significant. The empirical drop size distributions in the ARDC column are compared with the five common theoretical distribution functions (normal, log-normal, Gamma, Inverse Gaussian, Weibull). The constant parameters in these functions were correlated with operating conditions and physical properties of three systems. The Weibull is found to perform adequately and accurately in fitting the drop size distributions. Except for these findings, an empirical correlation is proposed for estimation of the Sauter mean drop diameter in terms of operating variables, column geometry and physical properties. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers.