Hydrodynamic simulation-informed compartment modelling of an annular centrifugal contactor

Abstract

The geometrical and hydraulic parameters have a great impact on the mass transfer characteristics of annular centrifugal contactors. The objective of this study is to evaluate the mass transfer performance of a single annular centrifugal contactor by applying the computational fluid dynamics informed compartment modelling approach. In the study, a steady state compartment model of an annular centrifugal contactor is developed in gProms general purpose process modeller by using the hydrodynamic parameters obtained from computational fluid dynamics simulations performed in OpenFOAM with the GEneralised Multifluid Modelling Approach (GEMMA). The mass transfer rate predicted by the developed compartment model is compared with data obtained from uranium extraction with Tributyl Phosphate experiments performed with a laboratory-scale annular centrifugal contactor. Uranium concentrations in the organic and aqueous outlets and the mass transfer rate evaluated by the developed compartmented contactor model are in good agreement with the experimental data. The results reveal that the use of a hydrodynamic-informed compartment modelling approach raises the possibility of designing full-scale annular centrifugal contactors without the need for detailed computational fluid dynamics simulations and the prediction of mass transfer performance of the whole system from laboratory scale experiments.