Simulation of turbulent precipitation in a semi‐batch Taylor‐Couette reactor using CFD

A finite‐mode probability density function method was used with a computational fluid dynamics code to model the semibatch precipitation of barium sulfate from aqueous solutions of barium chloride and sodium sulfate in a Taylor‐Couette reactor. It was simulated in turbulent flow at high Taylor numbers under the assumption of axial symmetry. The flow field was modeled using two different turbulence models, and flow predictions were validated using experimental tracer dispersion measurements. The crystal‐size distribution (CSD) was calculated in terms of the first five moments considering both nucleation and growth, while neglecting the effect of aggregation. The effect of the operating conditions on the CSD was studied, and code predictions were compared with experimental data.