2003 International Symposium on Hydrometallurgy Edited by C.

Young
TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society), 2003

CFD IN AUTOCLAVE CIRCUIT DESIGN

Lanre Oshinowo, Lowy Gunnewiek and Kevin Fraser
Hatch Associates Ltd.
2800 Speakman Drive
Mississauga, Ontario, CANADA L5K 2R7
Abstract
The trend in process engineering is to design compact, more efficient processes, there is the
paramount requirement to get the job done right the first time going from the drawing board to
full-scale commercial operation. To accomplish this goal, there is also the need for tools
beyond the traditional engineering toolkit to evaluate designs through virtual prototyping,
thereby reducing the risks associated with making design decisions. One of the most important
tools that has recently come to the forefront of process design and development is
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). CFD has been used at HATCH to address the key
process parameters that drive the design of hydrometallurgical unit operations. This paper will
detail the role of CFD at HATCH in achieving a superior level of confidence in the process
design of autoclave circuits. Specifically, the optimum application of multiphase modeling
including hydrodynamic, heat and mass transfer to hydrometallurgy operations, the impact of
non-Newtonian slurry rheology on autoclave performance, and the challenges of optimizing the
mixing of key reactants into slurries in autoclave reactors, is discussed.
Introduction
Modern metallurgical operations require process intensification and higher efficiencies while
striving to protect capital investment, market position and return on investment capital. With
process enhancements and the application of new technology that pushes the envelope on
materials of construction, new plants become a very expensive capital and risky investment.
Hence, the efficiency and optimization of process design is paramount to achieving targets for
the unit operations. And requires an in-depth evaluation and understanding of the process. The
traditional approach of employing a combination of process experience, simplified analytical
and empirical models with trial and error are no longer acceptable. A multidisciplinary group at
Hatch is experienced in the design, construction and operation of modern hydrometallurgical
facilities and autoclave circuit design. CFD is one of the indispensable tools utilized by Hatch
and has been integrated into the autoclave circuit design practice and is used to manage the
technological risk of unit operation design. CFD is the science of predicting fluid flow, heat
transfer, mass transfer, chemical reactions, phase change, multiphase flow, and related
phenomena by solving the mathematical equations that govern these processes. The results of
CFD analyses are relevant engineering data used in conceptual studies of new designs, detailed
process development, troubleshooting and redesign. Using CFD, many variations in design can
be made, virtually, before deciding on an optimal configuration and committing to building a
physical prototype. The commercial CFD software, FLUENT (1), is used at Hatch and for the
work presented in this paper.
Hydrometallurgical process operations involve the transport and conversion of an ore through
various unit operations with water as the primary phase. When autoclaves are used in
hydrometallurgical processes, the unit operations typically operate at temperature and pressure
with corresponding chemical reactions. Unit operations in an autoclave circuit include mixers,
settlers, clarifiers, hydrocyclones, off-gas systems, heat exchangers, flash vessels, and the
autoclave(s). It is typically difficult to establish similarity between the commercial and lab scale

for the important dimensionless groups when testing on lab or pilot scale equipment. This
makes CFD one of the only means to evaluate the performance of industrial-scale designs.
The fluid flow phenomena in the autoclave circuit and in hydrometallurgical applications are
complex due to the presence of multiple phases. The complexity of modeling multiphase
systems is one of the reasons that CFD is not as widely deployed in the chemical and
metallurgical process industry as it is in the aerospace and automotive industries. However,
faster computers, better numerical models of more complex physics and more user-friendly
commercial CFD codes has now made the challenging applications in the hydrometallurgical
process more accessible than in the past (2). A survey of metallurgy literature on the subject of
CFD reflects the rapidly growing trend with an order of magnitude increase over the past 10
years (See Figure 1). Two databases were used as a basis for the survey: The Engineering
Compendex, a comprehensive interdisciplinary engineering database referencing 5,000
engineering journals and conference materials and; the Metadex index is a source for
publications in the field of metallurgy and material sciences. The growth in usage is indicative
of the utility of CFD as a tool for enabling engineers to design and troubleshoot systems when
traditional correlations and rules-of-thumb are not.
This paper will address the application of CFD to unit operations in the autoclave circuit. This
paper is not fully comprehensive since many applications are yet to be addressed. However, it
does provide an assessment of the application of CFD in the field of hydrometallurgy, in
particular, the autoclave circuit. First, a description of the modeling methodology as pertaining
to the multiphase flows will be discussed followed by the presentation and discussion of
different applications.

Number of Publications

10000

Engineering Compendex (http://www.ei.org)

Metadex (http://alt1.csa.com)

1000

100

10

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

1993

1992

1991

1990

Figure 1. Number of publications on CFD on the Engineering Compendex and

Metadex scientific publication databases.
Modeling Multiphase Flow using CFD
Modelling multiphase flows using CFD is complicated by the physics of the phenomena that
makes the solution of said problems to be typically computationally expensive. Most
multiphase models use empirical or semi-empirical descriptions of phase momentum, heat and
mass interactions. Therefore, validation and verification of the models is required for each
application.
There are a number of models that are used to model multiphase flow: Lagrangian-Eulerian
model, drift flux or slip mixture models, Eulerian and Eulerian Granular models. The
applicability, and therefore, the choice of these models, is typically dependent on a knowledge
of the volume concentration of the secondary solid phase in the primary fluid phase with the
exception of the Eulerian models. The Lagrangian Eulerian model solves the equation of
motion for the discrete particle trajectories. The coupling between the phases through drag

terms can be modeled but accumulation of particles cannot be modeled. The drift flux and slip
mixture models are homogeneous mixture models for modeling multiphase flows. These
models are ideally suited to modeling particles with relaxation times less than 0.001-0.01
seconds and in low concentrations. The Eulerian models are the most rigorous of the multiphase
models and model the multiple phases as interpenetrating continua. A separate set of
momentum equations is solved for each phase. The interaction between the phases is modeled
through the momentum exchange terms and includes the drag exerted by the continuous phase
on the dispersed phase. In the Eulerian Granular model, the granular momentum equation
includes a solids stress tensor that is modeled based on the kinetic theory for granular flow.
Numerics
All transport equations are solved using second-order discretization and the typical residual
convergence criteria are 1x10-4 for continuity, momentum and turbulence equations and 1x10-5
for the scalar equations. The residual computed by FLUENT's segregated solver is the
imbalance in the equation solved at the cell center summed over all the computational cells and
scaled by a factor representative of the flow rate of the variable through the domain. A scaled
residual of 1x10-4 represents an error magnitude of approximately 0.01% in the transport
equation.
Validation and Verification
Validation is essential to ensure that CFD can be used with confidence. Our approach is to
validate the models based on the efficacy of the sub-models in predicting the macrohydrodynamics of the process. For example, the Eulerian Granular multiphase model requires
sub-models for the interphase interactions of momentum, heat and mass transfer and the default
models available in the CFD software FLUENT are not always applicable. If this occurs,
additional models, determined by validation work to be more accurate, are added through
custom subroutines. In this section, two applications of the Eulerian Granular multiphase model
were validated against experimental data in the literature.
Solids Suspension in Mixing Tanks
Measurements of the axial distribution of solids concentration by Godfrey & Zhu (3) were
considered for validation to determine the influence of agitation speed and particle diameter on
the axial distribution of solids concentration. The axial distribution of solids is an important
design requirement for autoclave design. A summary of the stirred tank geometry and liquid
and solid property data are listed in Table I.
Table I: Tank, impeller and material properties from Godfrey and Zhu (3). D impeller
diameter, C off-bottom clearance, T tank diameter, N shaft speed, H liquid level.

Geometry
Single, pitched-blade
turbine (four blades at 45)
D = T/3; C = T/5
N = 1000, 1600 rpm
T = H = 0.154 m

Liquid
Solids

Properties
= 1096 kg/m3
= 1.76 cp
= 2480 kg/m3
d50 = 231, 390m

No-slip boundary conditions (u=v=w=0) for both phases are applied on the tank walls and shaft
with the latter having a prescribed rotational velocity. The free surface of the suspension is
described by zero gradients of velocity and all other variables. Since the shear stress is zero, the
free surface can be interpreted as a slip wall. The impellers were modeled implicitly using
internal boundary conditions based on laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) data supplied by the
impeller manufacturers. The impellers can also be modeled explicitly in three-dimensions using

the multiple reference frames or sliding mesh models but add to the computational expense of
the calculations. Due to the simplicity of the mixing tank geometry and the implicit treatment of
the impellers, the stirred tanks were set up as 2D axisymmetric models with a transport equation
for swirl. The system was also modelled in 3D for comparison. To account for the presence of
the baffles, the tangential velocity is reduced to zero in the baffle region. By modeling the
mixing tank in two dimensions, the simulation runtime is considerably reduced. The 2D
computational grids consisted of approximately 3,000 cells.
Figure 2 shows the flow field and volume fraction distribution of 390 m particles in the tank
with an agitation speed of 1000 rpm. The axial pumping impeller establishes a single flow loop
in the bottom half of the vessel. The cloud height of the suspension is constrained to this region.
Figure 3(a) shows the axial profiles of normalized solids concentration X (local solids
concentration/average solids concentration, the average solids concentration was 12vol%) for
390 m particles at 1000 and 1600-rpm agitation speeds. The solids concentration
measurements were made mid-way between the impeller and the baffle. Both the 2D and 3D
CFD predictions of the solids concentration profiles are in good agreement with the
experimental measurements and the cloud height is predicted correctly. At the lower agitation
speed, the solids are not completely suspended and a cloud height forms as shown by the
transition in the axial concentration profile. The height of the particle cloud coincides with the
change in direction in the bulk flow pattern (see Figure 2(a)). As the agitator speed is increased
to 1600 rpm, the suspension becomes more homogeneous or completely suspended and no
appreciable transition in the axial concentration profile is observed. Figure 3(b) shows the axial
profiles of normalized solids concentration X for 231 and 390 m particles at an agitation speed
of 1000 rpm. There is good agreement between the predictions and the experimental
measurements. As the particle diameter decreases, the drag and slip velocity decrease allowing
the solids phase to be transported more easily by the continuous phase increasing the dispersion
of solids in the tank. Therefore, by reducing the particle diameter, at constant impeller speed,
the suspension becomes more complete.
The agreement with experimental data from the literature is very good demonstrating that CFD
can be used to predict the suspension of solids, including the velocity distribution of the solids
and liquid, and the cloud height of the suspension.
(-)

(a)

(b)

Figure 2: Flow Field Distribution at N = 1000 rpm and 390 m particles (a) Liquid
flow field vectors: 0 - 0.95 m/s (b) Solids Volume Fraction showing the cloud height
just past mid-way up the tank.

VESSEL TOP

1
N=1000rpm (Expt.,
Godfrey&Zhu)

0.9
0.8

VESSEL TOP
dp=0.39mm (Expt.,
Godfrey&Zhu)

0.9

dp=0.231mm (Expt.,
Godfrey&Zhu)

0.8

N=1600rpm (Expt.,
Godfrey&Zhu)

0.7

0.7
0.6

N=1000rpm; 2D
(80x40)

0.6

Z 0.5

N=1000rpm; 3D
(48x30x70)

Z 0.5

0.4

N=1600rpm; 2D
(160x80)

0.3

dp=0.39mm; 3D
(48x30x70)
dp=0.231mm; 2D
(80x40)

0.4
0.3
0.2

0.2

(a)

0.1

(b)

0.1
0

0
0

Figure 3: Axial distribution of solids concentration (a) Influence of agitation speed

(Particle diameter of 390 m) (b) Influence of particle diameter (Agitation speed of
1000 rpm). Experimental data from Godfrey and Zhu (3). Z is normalized height in the
vessel. CFD grid sizes are shown in parentheses.
Liquid-Solid Fluidization
The fluidization or suspension of a solid by a liquid using non-mechanical means provides
another rigorous test for the Eulerian Granular model. An example of a conical fluidized was
selected due to the complex flow regimes that develop as the flow in the bed increases. At low
superficial liquid velocities, the bed remains in a fixed state. As the velocity in increased, the
smaller cross-section at the bottom of the reactor allows for the liquid superficial velocity to
exceed the minimum fluidization of the solids. The bottom part of the bed is fluidized while the
top remains fixed until the liquid velocity is increased sufficiently to fluidize the entire bed.
The data for validation was obtained from Maruyama and Sato (4) who performed experimental
studies in a conical vessel 90 cm in height, a 3 cm diameter distributor at the cone bottom, and a
cone angle of 15.2. The liquid used was tap water and the solids are glass beads with an
average diameter of 189 m and density of 2,486 kg/m3. A 2D axisymmetric CFD model of the
bed was used and the solution was obtained as a transient simulation. However, the data
presented is time-averaged for comparison with the experimental data.
Figure 4(a) shows the CFD and experimental bed height as a function of superficial velocity at
the liquid distributor. The prediction of overall void fraction is excellent over a wide range of
water flow rates: from the fixed, low velocity to the fluidized, higher velocity flow regimes.
Figure 4(b) shows the CFD and experimental bed pressure drop. At low superficial velocity, the
conical bed is fixed. As the liquid velocity is increased, the superficial velocity exceeds the
minimum fluidization velocity and the fluidization is initiated. The pressure is a maximum at
this point. As the superficial velocity is increased further, the bed becomes fully fluidized.
There is good agreement between the CFD multiphase model and the experimental pressure
drop in the fluidized bed. The fixed bed pressure drop determined from the Ergun equation is
shown for comparison and highlights why it cannot be used to predict the pressure drop in the
fluidized flow regime. Figure 5 shows the root mean square liquid volume fraction in the bed.
This highlights the portion of the bed where the presence of higher liquid volume fraction
predominates. The pattern shows that the liquid preferentially channels up the center of the bed
and disengages forming a spout at the bed surface. Maruyama and Sato (4) made similar
observations.

45

44

Maruyama and Sato (1991)

CFD

43

2.5

42

41

Bed
40
Height, cm

P, kPa 1.5

38

39

37

0.5

(a)

36

Maruyama&Sato (1991)
CFD
Ergun Eqn.

35

(b)

10

20

30

40

Superficial Velocity at Distributor, cm/s

50

10

20

30

40

Superficial Velocity at Distributor, cm/s

Figure 4: (a) Bed height as a function of distributor superficial velocity (b) Bed
pressure drop as a function of distributor superficial velocity
(-)

Figure 5. RMS void fraction in the bed for a distributor superficial velocity of 10 cm/s.
Application Areas
There are a number of different application areas in hydrometallurgy that CFD can be applied
to, including flotation, milling, leaching, solid-liquid separation (slurry transport, clarifiers,
decantation, and filtration), precipitation processes, ion exchange processes, heat exchangers,
and other processes sensitive to hydrodynamics. The following section describes briefly the
application of CFD to the design or trouble-shooting of selected unit operations in the autoclave
circuit.
Scale-up/Scale-Down Criteria for Solids Suspension
The problem of how to scale-up solids suspension systems has not been adequately solved,
despite much research. The commonly used scale-up exponent is -0.85, suggested by
Zwietering (5), which results in a decreasing power input per unit volume when the process is
scaled up. Corpstein et al. (6) refined this further by linking the scale-up exponent to the
particle settling velocity, which addressed the problem of the seemingly inconsistent values for
the scale-up exponent found in the literature. Later, unpublished work by the same researchers

50

suggested that the scale-up exponent is also affected by scale itself, although to a much lesser
degree than it is affected by particle settling velocity. Furthermore, it was observed in
experiments that the scale-up exponents for just-suspended speed and to obtain the same
relative cloud height were actually different. Therefore, the scale-up methods used to predict
the conditions for suspension are not necessarily suited for predicting the solids distribution
uniformity in the vessel, which is of principal importance for process performance and is the
main parameter predicted by CFD. Another issue that destabilizes the foundation of the
Zwietering-type correlations used by engineers, including agitator vendors, is that the
correlations are based on solid material types, such as glass or sand, with much lower specific
gravities of the materials typically found in the hydrometallurgical process industry.
The present case is an investigation into an existing design and the planned modifications for
the agitation system in an autoclave reactor. The autoclave had experienced operational
difficulties due to the possibility of incomplete suspension. The d80 of the solids was 150 m
and was 30wt% or 8.5vol% of the reactor contents. The particle size distribution in the feed
slurry, with a solids specific gravity of approximately 5, was higher after process start-up than
the original design values and the large size fractions were not being suspended with the
existing agitation system (impellers, shaft and drive motor). However, complete suspension was
a design requirement for the autoclave, and process performance would be compromised with
poor suspension. A lab study by the agitator vendor was performed to evaluate the performance
of the impellers. The lab tests involved making qualitative visual observations of the solids on
the bottom of the vessel. CFD was used to model the scale-down and scale-up configurations
using the Eulerian Granular model in FLUENT 6 and grid refinement in the impeller region and
at the walls. The grid sizes are in the range of 4,000 to 8,000 quadrilateral cells depending on
the level of refinement in the regions of interest.
Existing Autoclave Commercial Scale
The existing configuration has an impeller/tank-diameter (D/T) ratio of 0.4, and off-bottom
clearance/tank-diameter (C/T) ratio of 0.36. Figure 6(a) shows the predicted liquid flow
distribution in the existing commercial-scale reactor illustrating the axial pumping
characteristics of the dual down-pumping hydrofoil impellers. Adding solids to the calculations
severely disrupts the single flow loop on either side of the impellers as shown in Figure 6 (b).
Two distinct flow loops are observed; one for each impeller. Figure 6(c) shows the distribution
of the solids and the complete lack of suspension at the bottom of the autoclave verifying the
operational performance of the autoclave.

(a) Velocity Vectors (Liquid only;

No solids in the autoclave)

(b) Velocity Vectors (Liquid and

solids in the autoclave)

(c) Distribution of solids volume

fraction

Figure 6. The flow and solids distribution in the commercial-scale autoclave reactor design
configuration.

Lab Scale Existing Configuration

The lab test rig was a 1/8th scale model of the commercial scale autoclave (diameter, liquid
height and impeller diameters). The shaft speed was scaled based on power per unit volume.
Figure 7(a) shows the flow distribution with the liquid and solids in the autoclave. The double
flow loop is observed at the lab scale as well. Figure 7(b) shows the distribution of the solids in
the lab-scale autoclave. The suspension of the solids is slightly better than in the commercial
scale though there is not off-bottom suspension. The lab tests verified that the solids were not
off-bottom. This demonstrates that the level of agitation is insufficient.

(a) Velocity Vectors (liquid and solids)

(b) Distribution of solids volume fraction

(-)

Figure 7. The flow and solids distribution in the lab scale autoclave reactor design
configuration.
Lab Scale Proposed Configuration
Based on the suspension achieved with the level of agitation in the existing configuration, the
proposed improvement to the autoclave agitation was to increase the power per unit volume to
the autoclave. The bottom impeller was changed to a high-solidity hydrofoil and the impeller
diameter was increased to a D/T of 0.5. Figure 8(a) shows the flow distribution with the liquid
and solids with the proposed mixer configuration in the lab-scale autoclave. The double flow
loop is not completely eliminated. Figure 8 (b) shows an improved distribution of the solids in
the lab-scale autoclave. However, there is not off-bottom suspension. The lab tests verified that
the solids were not off-bottom. Further lab tests were run to show that lowering the impellers
and increasing the shaft speed could achieve complete off-bottom suspension. However, these
additional modifications would require a much larger motor (4 times the size of the existing
motor) and a larger shaft seal to handle the larger shaft diameter and length.
Commercial Scale-Up
The lab-scale proposed configuration was scaled-up at constant power per unit volume. The
actual process conditions are modelled so that the liquid phase properties of density and
viscosity at operating temperature and pressure are used in the analysis. Figure 9(a) shows the
flow pattern in the commercial-scale autoclave with the proposed mixer configuration. The
proposed mixer configuration is under-sized and unable to establish the single- loop flow
pattern needed to distribute the solids throughout the autoclave. Figure 9 (b) shows the resulting
distribution of solids. The suspension in the commercial-scale is worse than the lab-scale
indicating that the vendor-proposed changes will not work in the field and the scale-up
methodology used is flawed. Further modification to the mixer configuration, including
lowering the off-bottom clearance and increasing the shaft speed, should be considered to
improve the distribution of the solids suspension in the vertical autoclave.

(a) Velocity Vectors (liquid and solids)

(b) Distribution of solids volume fraction

(-)

Figure 8. The flow and solids distribution in the lab scale autoclave reactor proposed
configuration.

(a) Velocity Vectors (liquid and solids)

(b) Distribution of solids volume fraction

(-)

Figure 9. The flow and solids distribution in the commercial-scale autoclave reactor proposed
configuration.
Non-Newtonian Blending of Acid into Slurry
In pressure acid leaching autoclaves, highly concentrated sulphuric acid is injected into the
slurry. The acid must be rapidly blended by the mixer configuration, since the leach kinetics are
typically fast, and to avoid contact of poorly mixed blobs of high concentration sulphuric acid
with the mixer or autoclave walls to minimize corrosion. Due to the small particle size and
medium solids loading (24 35 wt%), the particles remain relatively uniformly suspended for a
period of time far less than the hold-up time of the slurry in the autoclave. As such, the slurry
can be considered homogeneous with a non-Newtonian fluid rheology, i.e., shear thinning with
a yield stress. The apparent slurry viscosity is an order of magnitude greater than the acid
viscosity, increasing the difficulty of mixing between the two fluids.
In order to characterize the behaviour of the autoclave with respect to the dispersion of acid into
the slurry, the transient dispersion of acid using an acid tracer was modelled. Chemical reaction
and mass transfer are neglected in order to simulate the worst-case scenario. An ideal reactor is
a well-mixed one, or CSTR, so the deviation of the reactor residence time distribution (RTD)

from the ideal RTD is used to quantify the behaviour of the reactor and the efficacy of the
blending/mixing process. To produce an RTD, a pulse of acid is made into the compartment
and the concentration of acid is monitored at the overflow to the second compartment as a
function of time. The RTD or exit-age distribution of the acid indicates whether the reactor is
well-behaved: rapid and complete blending of the acid into the slurry.
The impellers are modelled in 3D to allow the power draw to be computed explicitly and
compared to the vendor data, and the acid concentration on the blade surfaces can be
determined. The time-dependent sliding mesh model was used to compute the transient flowfield and time-dependent dispersion of acid into the autoclave. Due to the range of Reynolds
numbers resulting from the pseudoplastic rheology of the slurry, it was necessary to model
turbulence in the autoclave. The boundary condition for all solid surfaces (walls) is a zero slip
condition. A rotational speed is applied to the impellers and shaft surfaces. The free surface
(liquid level) is modelled as a slip boundary. The overflow is modelled as a pressure-outlet. The
computational domain consisted of approximately 1 million cells.
Figure 10 is a time-sequence of acid injection into the autoclave showing the dispersion of the
acid in the flow field. Figure 11 shows the exit age distribution of the acid pulse injection
monitored at the overflow for two acid injection locations (Configuration A and B) compared
with an ideal CSTR. Configuration A shows a significant overshoot of the ideal CSTR RTD
indicative of acid short-circuiting to the outlet without adequate blending in the compartment.
Short-circuiting leads to underutilization of the acid and compartment. Configuration B shows
an improvement of the RTD with minimal short-circuiting occurring. The ideal CSTR RTD
starts at unity and decays asymptotically since the assumption is that the tracer is instantly
blended uniformly throughout the autoclave. In actuality, the RTD starts at zero since it takes a
finite amount of time for the tracer to travel from the tip of the acid injection lance to the
overview outlet. This the reason for the short time-lag in the RTD signals for configurations A
and B at the start of the distribution.

Figure 10. Time sequence showing the injection of acid (iso-surface of constant acid mass
fraction equal to 0.0001) into the autoclave ( E = E t , = t / t , E = C / Cdt , residence time
t = tCdt / Cdt , C is acid concentration and t is time). For an ideal CSTR, E = exp( ) .

Configuration A

4.5

Configuration B

Ideal CSTR
3.5
3

E 2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.15

0.45

0.75

1.05

1.35

1.65

Figure 11. Exit age distribution of acid tracer as a function of dimensionless time. Note
different abscissa values.
Splash Tower Performance
Splash towers or direct contact heat exchangers eliminate the impermeable barrier between the
hot and cold fluids in conventional heat exchangers by directly contacting the fluids. The
advantages are simple design, less corrosion, lower maintenance costs, higher specific transfer
areas, and higher transfer rates (7).In addition to the high heat transfer rates obtained by direct
contact, the direct contact heat exchangers can handle fouling materials, such as slurries. Figure
12 shows a schematic of a splash tower used to condense steam to heat up slurry. In addition to
hydrometallurgy applications, direct contact heat exchangers are used in geothermal power
stations for feed water heating, in condensers of space vehicle power units, in flash evaporation
units for water desalination, and in the chemical and food industries (8). Despite the widespread
use, rigorous design methodologies are lacking (9).

Hatch has developed and implemented, in several successful installations worldwide, a design
methodology for splash towers and has used CFD to optimize the hydrodynamics and heat
transfer. Splash towers are designed with the intent to maximize contact between the cold slurry
and hot condensable vapour. As with counter-current flow in columnar unit operations, there is
a maximum throughput of both phases at which point the column is said to be flooded. As
spreading over the splash plates increases the surface area of the cold slurry, flooding occurs at
lower gas flow rates. Flooding correlations exist (10) for horizontal splash plate in narrow
columns but not for towers typical of an autoclave circuit. The splash plates must also be
inclined to allow the yield stress slurry to flow. Ultimately, the heat transfer characteristics are
affected by the hydrodynamics in the splash tower though the methodology and results of the
splash tower heat transfer will not be presented here.
Due to the complexity of the hydrodynamics, primarily a consequence of the difference in
dimensions between the film (in order of millimetres thick on the splash plate) to the diameter
of the vessel (in order of meters), it was necessary to reduce the problem into solvable parts.
The first step is to establish the mechanism of slurry flow as it is introduced onto the splash
plate. Next, the trajectory of the slurry sheet leaving one plate the next is studied. Finally, the
overall heat transfer performance is modeled with counter-current steam and slurry flow where
the slurry flow is modelled as discrete particles with plastic normal and elastic tangential
restitution coefficients on impact with the splash plates.

Non-condensables OUT

Cold slurry IN
Splash plates

Slurry Sheets in Flight

Slurry Film on Plates

Steam IN

Hot slurry OUT

Figure 12. Splash tower used to condense steam on a slurry.
A 3D CFD analysis of the slurry impingement on a splash plate was performed to determine the
characteristics of the film formation on the baffle and predict the lip loading. The slurry-steam
flow was modelled using the VOF model for the free-surface flow. This approach solves a
single momentum equation and an equation for the volume fraction. A phase is either present in
a computational cell with a volume fraction of 1 or it is not and the volume fraction is zero. If
the volume fraction is between 0 and 1, then the interface between the phases exists in the cell
and a tracking scheme is implemented to refine the interface shape. The explicit scheme
employed here is the geo-reconstruct interface-tracking method. The slurry is introduced to the
plate through a distributor and the 3D model represents the top-most splash plate in the tower.
The slurry was modeled as a non-Newtonian fluid with a yield stress and shear-thinning
properties. The time-dependent VOF calculation was run until the slurry film height reached a
steady value as determined from the average slurry volume fraction at the exit boundary of the
380,000 unstructured hexahedral cell computational domain shown in Figure 13.

1
Normalized
Interface
Height, -

0
0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

Time, seconds

Figure 13. Time-history of the slurry-steam interface at the edge of the splash plate.

Figure 14 shows the slurry-steam interface. The slurry jets impinge on the splash plate and
spread into a sheet that leaves the edge of the plate. The main features of the flow show that the
slurry film is not uniformly distributed at the edge of the plate. The non-uniform distribution
results in a variation of the film velocity at the edge of the plate since the flow is still
developing. As such, simple 1D analytical models describing flow down an inclined plate will
not capture the correct film thickness and velocity of the film. Figure 15 shows the temperature
distribution in the splash plate due to the cooling of the slurry film. The results are used by
design engineers to size the heat exchanger and better understand how to design for stress in the
splash plates.
Splash plate

Feed slurry
to distributor

Tower wall

Slurry-steam
interface

Edge of plate

Figure 14. Slurry-steam interface at an instant in the transient VOF solution showing
the jets of slurry impinging on the inclined splash plate.
C

Figure 15. Splash plate temperature distribution and slurry-steam interface.

Future work will predict splash tower performance using the Eulerian multiphase model by
directly integrating the interfacial area available for heat and mass transfer. The results of a 2D,
cold flow, simulation is shown in Figure 16. The counter-current flow of steam and slurry is
shown. The variation in the slurry velocity in the film on the splash plate leads to a variation in
the trajectory of the slurry in the film impacting the subsequent plate over a wide area. Overall,
the CFD modeling of the splash towers has produced better designed units for contact between
the slurry and the steam and have reduced the risk by verifying the splash tower hydrodynamic
capacity and heat transfer performance.

(-)

Figure 16. Slurry volume fraction and steam pathlines in a splash tower.
Summary
The application of CFD to modelling unit operations in the autoclave circuit to improve and
enhance process design is a reality. Recent advances in the capabilities of commercial CFD
software, in particular FLUENT, has enabled engineers at HATCH to understand the
performance of the design and perform pre-construction optimization based on the results of
CFD analysis.

1 Fluent Inc., Lebanon, NH, USA. Available at http://www.fluent.com

2 A. Bakker, A. Haidari and L. Oshinowo, Realize Greater Benefits from CFD, Chemical
Eng. Progress, March 2001, pg.45-53, 2001, http://www.cepmagazine.org/pdf/030145.pdf
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Symposium Series. 299, (1994), 181-185.

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8 A.P. Solodov, Calculation Models of Heat Transfer with Contact-Type Condensation,
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9 F. Kreith and R.F. Boehm (Eds.), Direct Contact Heat Transfer. (1988).
10 J.R., Fair, Designing Direct-Contact Coolers/Condensers, Chemical Engineering, June 12,
(1972), 91- 100.