The CFD Simulation Of Liquid-Liquid Flow Field Of Sieve Tray Extraction Column For Production Of Hydrogen Peroxide By Anthraquinone Process

Sieve tray liquid-liquid extraction column, which is one of the most important equipments for production of hydrogen peroxide by anthraquinone process, has been practiced for many years, but its investigation and development have been rather poor. Based upon previous works, the liquid-liquid extraction column were simulated and the structure of nozzle was improved in this work. Besides, working solution was used as the materials in this simulation. The research carried out in this paper was very important and instructive to the fluid-dynamic theory study of sieve-plate extraction column and nozzle designing.Based on commercially available Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software (FLUENT) and preprocessing software (GAMBIT), 2D mesh was generated and optimized using Laminar model and VOF multiphase theory. The simulation results were verified through experiment and previous experience. The flow fields in three general nozzles with different nozzle aspect ratios and improved nozzle were simulated.The single nozzle was studied when the continuous phase is quiescent in this work. Several quantities, which consisted of inlet and outlet velocity distribution of nozzles, interior and surface velocity distribution of jets, stability curve and drop diameter were investigated. The influence of the nozzle aspect ratio on the flow fields in nozzles and jets was studied in this paper. The structure of nozzle was improved and its strongpoints were pointed out.The verification results indicated that the simulation results were in good agreement with experiment and previous experience. The following conclusions were drawn from this work: the reduce of radial velocity fluctuation by the increase of nozzle diameter and height was helpful to jet, as a result, the surface velocity fluctuation of jet was more uniform and the stability of jet was improved. After improving nozzle, bigger radial velocity fluctuation in the nozzle and smaller growth rate and length of disturbance wave were obtained. It was found that jet length was increased and drop diameter was reduced. As a result, larger interfacial area was created and the mass transfer of two liquid phases was enhanced.