Thirty Stage Annular Centrifugal Contactor Thermal Profile Measurements

A thirty stage 5cm annular centrifugal contactor cascade was assembled and tested to obtain thermal profiles during both ambient and heated input conditions of operation. Thermocouples were installed on every stage as well as feed inputs, and real-time data was taken during experiments lasting from two to eight hours at total flow rates of 0.5 to 1.4 liters per minute. Ambient temperature profile results show that only a small amount of heat is generated by the mechanical energy of the contactors. Steady state temperature profiles mimic the ambient temperature of the lab but are higher toward the middle of the cascade. Heated inlet solutions gave temperature profiles with smaller temperature gradients, more driven by the temperature of the inlet solutions than ambient lab temperature. Temperature effects of solution mixing, even at rotor speeds of 4000rpm, were not measurable.