Hydrodynamic effects of Rushton Impeller on Waste cooking oil transesterification

using CFD

Nabeel A. Adeyemi, AKM Mohiuddin Tariq Jameel

Mechanical Engineering, Malaysia Biotechnology Engineering Department
International Islamic University, IIUM, International Islamic University, IIUM,
Gombak, Malaysia Gombak, Malaysia
adeyemi.nabeel@student.iium.edu.my

Abstract— Abstract-This work is presented as part of a
preliminary study to model transesterification of Waste
Cooking Oil (WCO). A Computational Fluid dynamics (CFD)
technique was used to simulate flow of WCO in a 2 Liter
reactor. The turbulent model of the Naviers Stokes' equation
was solved for an axisymmetrical 2-D model and the effect of
different impeller bottom distance and baffle were analyzed.
Peak mean turbulence energy and dissipative energy rate were
recorded at impeller bottom clearance, 0.23T for both baffled
and unbaffled system. This provides a basis for a proposed
dynamic modeling of transesterification WCO.
Keywords-;Transesterification, Wastecooking oil,
hydrodynamics, CFD, mixing
I. INTRODUCTION
Mixing plays a very important role in WCO conversion to
biodiesel [3, 10, 17] due to the difference in rheological
properties of interacting fluids, more so as this mixing
involves reaction. The flow condition that characterizes the
mixing differs for different fluid and reaction, hence the
need to gain detailed knowledge of fluid flow in stirred
tanks for transesterification of WCO.
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods based on
the Navier–Stokes' equations have become a powerful tool
for studying fluid flow and reactive mixing in stirred tanks
with complex flow structures for different impellers and
baffle systems [5, 7, 22]. An advantage of CFD based
methods is that the fundamental equations governing fluid
flow are solved for complex geometries and thus flow
situation are better understood with less expensive
experimentation. The mixing mechanisms are determined by
variables such as impellers number and positions, impeller
diameter/ vessel diameter ratio, bottom clearance, bottom
shape, baffles and mixing intensity [3, 14, 23]. Hence, with
application of CFD modeling, detailed hydrodynamics of
fluid and reaction mixing are easily acquired [1]. An
example is the extension of CFD for reactive flow model [9]
for fast chemical reaction to describe the flow model
coupled with the kinetic of reaction.
With particular reference to transesterification of WCO
25] and partly linked to the hydrodynamics during the
mixing [3]. This hydrodynamics and kinetic interaction has
been put forward to describe the early termination of
transesterification of WCO. Reactor configuration has also
been found to affect chemical reaction kinetics [6, 18] with
particular reference to baffle, impeller and speed of stirring
[11, 13, 23]. Curiously, among the various studies on
transesterification, hydrodynamic effects are left out of
discussion. Our interest is in using CFD to model the
transesterification of WCO, hence the paper presents a
numerical simulation of WCO flow in a 2-Litre reactor used
for estimating kinetic data in transesterification of WCO.
The multiphysics coupling of the flow to the reaction is
excluded from this presentation. This is a precursor study to
a detailed examination of hydrodynamic and kinetic
interaction during transesterification of WCO.
II. PROBLEM DEFINITION
In this work, the WCO flow is at described viscosity,
density and temperature during transesterification [8, 15-
16]. The flow model combines the conservation of mass and
momentum equations to develop the necessary flow
equations describing the physical model used. The
conservation of mass and momentum transport were
modeled using the κ-ε model of Navier Stokes' equation for
incompressible fluid. This model is known to give better
prediction of highly turbulent flows for Rushton impeller
[20].
Governing Equations
The conservation of quantity φ is expressed as in cylindrical
coordinates
∂ ( ρϕ ) 1 ∂ 1 ∂ ∂
+ ( ρ rUϕ ) + ( ρ Vϕ ) + ( ρ Wϕ )
∂t r ∂r r ∂θ ∂z
(1)
=
1 ∂

r ∂r
( Γϕ r
∂ϕ

∂r
) +
1 ∂

r
⎛ Γϕ
⎜
∂θ ⎝ r
∂ϕ ⎞ ∂
⎟+
∂θ ⎠ ∂z
( Γϕ r
∂ϕ

∂z
) + Sφ

[2, 24-25] in stirred reactors, the reaction terminates early

[4], as a result of mass transfer and kinetics limitation [21, Where momentum, mass fraction, turbulent kinetic energy,
 mass, velocity are substituted for φ. For an axisymmetric model the dependent variable related
to the κ-ε model equation and the numerical values for the
The flow as described by the Navier Stokes' equation constants C μ , Cε 1 , Cε 2 , σ ε , σ κ are as in [8].
for incompressible fluid

A.Boundary conditions and reference frame

∇.u = 0 (2)
1) Impeller
⎛ ∂U ( ) ⎞⎟ = ∇ ⎡⎣− pI + η ( ∇u+ ( ∇u ) )⎤⎦ + F
T This is specified as a sliding wall. All velocity
ρ⎜ + ∇ . UU (3)
⎝ ∂t ⎠ components in the plane are zero, except those in the
angular direction.
where F represents the force acting thru radial (r) and ww = ω × r (11)
axial (z) co-ordinates for an axisymmetric, 2D cross section
which were adopted as the body forces in the co-ordinates. 2) Cylinder surface
Equation 4 and 5 accounts for the centrifugal and coriolis No slip condition is applied stating that all velocity
terms as a result of the rotating reference frame components equal zero:
Fcoriolis = 2ωV (4) u = (0, 0, 0) (12)
3) Axial symmetry
Fcentrifugal = ω × ω × r (5)
This specifies flow in the tangential direction of the
boundary but not in the normal direction with radial velocity
For the closure of the equation, κ-ε turbulent model is
to zero [24] Referred for Equation 1 – 13
employed, which describes turbulent flow using the
effective viscosity and eddy viscosity assumption for a
u=0 (13)
Newtonian fluid,
III. CFD METHOD
η eff = η + ηT (6)
A 2 liter stirred reactor with a Rushton impeller was
2 employed with WCO as the working fluid. The geometry
k
ηT = ρ C μ (7) details are as stated in table 1 and the stirring speed for the
ε impeller was chosen based on previous optimized
The momentum transport and continuity of the transesterification data [12, 18]. In this work, the reactor
incompressible fluids in a transient state. geometry is considered as rotationally symmetric and the
symmetrical cross-section for the 2D model was employed.
Even though the geometry is in 2D the model all three
⎛ ∂U ⎞
ρ⎜ + ∇. (UU ) ⎟ = −∇π + ρ g + F (8) velocity components are included. The velocities in the
⎝ ∂t ⎠ angular direction have a value different from zero.
π, g and F are the molecular flux, gravitational and
acceleration force respectively while the transport equations TABLE I
for κ-ε model are as follows Stirrer reaction configuration
Impeller speed, rpm 600

∂κ ⎡⎛ ηT ⎞ ⎤ impeller bottom clearance, C (mm) 0.11T-0.27T

ρ − ∇. ⎢⎜ η + ⎟ ∇ κ ⎥ + ρ U .∇ κ = Height, H (mm) 150
∂t ⎣⎝ σκ ⎠2 ⎦ (9)
( )
Tank diameter, T (mm) 130
( )
1 T
ηT U∇ + U.∇ − ρε Total Liquid Height, L (mm) 0.34T
2
Impeller Diameter, D (mm) 0.23T
∂ε ⎡⎛ ηT ⎞ ⎤
ρ − ∇ . ⎢⎜ η + ⎟ ∇ε ⎥ + ρ U.∇ε The flow solution was obtained by solving the governing
∂t ⎣⎝ σ ε ⎠ ⎦ 2 (10)
( )
ε ε
2 equations in COMSOL Multiphysics 3.5 using the
( )
1 T
= Cε 1 ηT U∇ + U.∇ − ρ Cε 1 stationary segregated solver. The CFD flow simulation was
2 κ κ
carried out by discretizing the 2-D domain for fluid,
impeller and baffle using maximum mesh size of 0.003 at
474 triangular mesh elements. All simulations were carried
out on a Dell Inspiron Desktop equipped with an Intel (R)
Core(TM) 2 Duo 2.80 GHz processor and 3GB of random
access memory (RAM).
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Hydrodynamics in Reactor
The simulated flow for the WCO (500g) was obtained
using COMSOL Multiphysics. 3.5 for a baffled and
unbaffled system. [1, 14, 20] were referred guide for this
model. The limitation of this 2-D model has been
considered.
Figure 1: Simulated of swirl flow of WCO in 2L baffled reactor using
Rushton impeller at C=0.23T
Figure 2: Simulated of swirl flow of WCO in 2L unbaffled reactor using
Rushton impeller at C=0.23T
It is considered that the WCO does not cover the entire
volume of the tank unlike in other CFD stirred tank reports
and that there is not recirculation above the impeller (Figs 1
and 2) [14, 20]. However, the attempted comparison with
[20] should assist in the interpretation of the proposed
model. Fig 3 presents the comparison of axial velocity of
our model with [20].
Figure 3: Comparison of axial velocity profile (-) present work, (-)
Ochieng et al, 2008
B. Tangential, radial and axial Velocity flow field
This region of velocity measured is guided by [14] where
the region closest to the impeller gave better simulation
prediction. The velocity profile at x=0.35T and x=0.19T for
impeller bottom clearance, 0.11T, 0.17T, 0.23T in baffled
and unbaffled system were obtained and that of the
unbaffled system is presented in Fig 4. The effect of
clearance on tangential, radial and axial is as in Fig 5 for
unbaffled system. The velocity peaked at the x=0.23T and
dropped afterward. This was observed for both baffled and
unbaffled system. [20] reported same as the systematic
suppression of the lower circulation loop while decreasing
clearance from 0.4T to 0.15T led to a loss in momentum as
the fluid hits the bottom earlier before recirculation.
Figure 4: Axial velocity profile for unbaffled reactor above (x=0.35T) and
below (x=0.19T) impeller at bottom distances, C (a) 0.11T (b) 0.17T (c)
0.23T
The mean turbulent kinetic energy (maximum) and turbulent simulation. Although, the 2-D model still requires further
dissipation rate are also summarized in Fig 6. The type and validation, this preliminary finding would be useful for
volume of fluid in use (WCO) would explain the relative multiphase mixing during WCO transesterification.
variation in the result compared to [14, 19-20].

In literature, the Rushton impeller generates two

recirculation loops above and below it with the maximum
velocity close to the wall or baffle [7]. Our model represents
a WCO flow of less than 500 mL (< 50 mm liquid height).
The recirculation loop is obviously only below the impeller
and results in subsequent sloshing on the reactor wall. This
profile is maintained after the initiation of impeller motion.
The described circulation in the area below the impeller is
only noticeable at x=0.223T in Fig 6 and 7 as reported in
[14].

Figure 6: Simulated mean turbulent kinetic and dissipation energy rate for
baffled and unbaffled reactor at C=0.23T

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Figure 5: Simulated mean tangential, radial and axial velocity at impeller
bottom clearance, C= 0.11T, 0.15T, 0.19T, 0.23T and 0.27T for unbaffled This is to acknowledge the grants of International
Islamic University, Malaysia PG Ummatic scholarship to
undertake this PhD programme.
CONCLUSION

The simulation carried out was used to understand the NOMENCLATURE

swirling flow in a 2 Liter tank for 500g of WCO. The 2 D C Impeller bottom clearance
axisymmetrical model was solved in COMSOL F Force
multiphysics to show the hydrodynamic characteristics of g gravitational force
the Rushton impeller at different impeller bottom clearance. U average velocity field
Turbulent kinetic and dissipation rate energy peak at V radial velocity
C=0.23T for both baffled and unbaffled system. While this w tangential velocity
information is part of a preliminary study and will be further r tank radial co-ordinate
compared and validated with other turbulent models, the Sφ Momentum Source
information gathered would guide in modeling WCO T tank diameter
transesterification where stirring is recommended for an t time
extended period beyond the earliest completion time of Greek symbols
reaction [4]. The stirrer might to be raised above this level, φ conservation quantity
if not completely withdrawn to allow the glycerol layer to ρ density
ω angular velocity
settle. The deliberate use of 500g WCO in the simulation
μ dynamic viscosity
was to be able to know the flow dynamics and use the
κ turbulent kinetic energy
solution for multiphysics application of reactive flow
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