Optimisation of the design and operation of mixing processes using computational fluid dynamics and high performance computing

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Mixing operations are an everyday routine in process industry and aim to produce manufactured fluids which cover varying needs of households, businesses and industries. The variety and the magnitude of mixing operations are easily perceived if one considers the range of industries (food, home & personal care, pharmaceutical, chemical etc.) where mixing techniques are applied and yield either intermediate or end-products. The possible outcomes of a mixing process can be broadly classified in terms of two factors; the phases involved (combinations of gas-liquid-solid) and the miscibility of the components with each other. If components are miscible the output is a solution. In case of immiscible components the outcome is either a colloid or a suspension. What distinguishes these two is the lengthscale of the dispersed phase [1]. In the former the dispersed phase ranges from a few molecules to several microns, while in the latter it is of micron order or larger [2]. Solutions are homogenous down to the molecular level, hence they are treated as a single phase fluid when the continuum approach is adopted. Colloids and suspensions, on the other hand, are of multiphase nature [3].