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Hydrodynamic Studies in Miniature Rotating Disc Contactor


Affiliations
1 Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, India
2 Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, India
 

Objective: To employ the use of rotating disc contactor to extract leftover traces of Uranium and Plutonium from used fuel cells.

Methods/Statistical analysis: The hydrodynamic variables were studied under no mass transfer condition between 0.01N Nitric Acid (aqueous phase) and a solution of 30% Tri-Butyl Phosphate and 70% Dodecane (organic phase) in a miniature rotating disc contactor. There were two rounds, first with aqueous as continuous phase (organic as dispersed phase) and aqueous as dispersed phase (organic as continuous phase).The drop size analysis was carried out using Image J software and Microtrac S3500.

Findings: The empirical behavior of different hydrodynamic variables such as hold up, characteristic velocity, flooding and drop size, were observed by varying the rotor speed and inlet flow rate of the continuous phase. Consistency of empirical results were checked with standard literature correlations. Finally, discrepancy in the theoretical and experimental values were identified and explained.

Improvements: This project leaves an opportunity for development of a unified correlation to obtain the value of hold up in no mass transfer condition for different rotor speeds.


Keywords

Rotating Disc Contactor, Hydrodynamic Variable, Liquid-Liquid Extraction Process, Aqueous Phase, Organic Phase.
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Notifications

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  • Hydrodynamic Studies in Miniature Rotating Disc Contactor

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Authors

Mahesh Agrawal
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, India
S. Balasubramonian
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, India
Shekhar Kumar
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, India

Abstract


Objective: To employ the use of rotating disc contactor to extract leftover traces of Uranium and Plutonium from used fuel cells.

Methods/Statistical analysis: The hydrodynamic variables were studied under no mass transfer condition between 0.01N Nitric Acid (aqueous phase) and a solution of 30% Tri-Butyl Phosphate and 70% Dodecane (organic phase) in a miniature rotating disc contactor. There were two rounds, first with aqueous as continuous phase (organic as dispersed phase) and aqueous as dispersed phase (organic as continuous phase).The drop size analysis was carried out using Image J software and Microtrac S3500.

Findings: The empirical behavior of different hydrodynamic variables such as hold up, characteristic velocity, flooding and drop size, were observed by varying the rotor speed and inlet flow rate of the continuous phase. Consistency of empirical results were checked with standard literature correlations. Finally, discrepancy in the theoretical and experimental values were identified and explained.

Improvements: This project leaves an opportunity for development of a unified correlation to obtain the value of hold up in no mass transfer condition for different rotor speeds.


Keywords


Rotating Disc Contactor, Hydrodynamic Variable, Liquid-Liquid Extraction Process, Aqueous Phase, Organic Phase.

References