Studies of dispersed phase size in a helical tube reactor with a liquid-liquid heterogeneous system

Abstract

The size of the dispersed phase was a key variable of the liquid-liquid heterogeneous flow system. In this work, the Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of the dispersed phase in a novel helical tube reactor (HTR) was evaluated by using a castor oil-water system. Experimental results showed that the SMD decreased with the increased Reynolds number and volumetric flowrate ratio of water to oil. The SMD in the HTR with vertical charging was smaller ion between calculated and experimental data was within ±20% than that with parallel charging. A dimensionless correlation of SMD in the HTR was proposed and the deviation between calculated and experimental data was within ±20%.