Numerical Simulation and Analysis of Flow in a DTB Crystallizer

This research numerically simulates the two-phase (liquid and vapor) flow in a 1 m3 draft tube baffle (DTB) crystallizer with fines removal streams. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) commercial software ANSYS CFX-10.0 was employed to perform 3-D simulation using the finite volume method with an unstructured mesh topology. The influence of hydrodynamics in the crystallizer, as characterized by the momentum source strength and fines removal flow, on the flow characteristics and the classification of crystals are investigated. The results showed the liquid flow is fully uniform in the main body of the crystallizer studied for momentum sources larger than or equal to 19.63 kg · m/s2. The uniformity of the suspension will strongly affect the product crystal size distribution. Momentum source strengths and fines removal flow rates also have a significant effect on the fines removal cut-size due to varying up-flow velocities in the fines removal section, altering the size at which particles are carried out in the fines removal stream. The CFD predictions are compared with the experimental results from the literature and can be used for the optimization of commercial-scale DTB crystallizer design.