Zuohua Liu

A green method to leach vanadium and chromium from residue using NaOH-H 2 O 2

Hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant was applied in leaching of vanadium and chromium in concentrated NaOH solution. Under the optimal reaction conditions (the liquid to solid ratio of 4.0 ml/g, residue particle size of <200 mesh, the mass ratio of NaOH-to-residue of 1.0 g/g, the volume ratio of H2O2-to-residue of 1.2 ml/g, reaction temperature of 90 °C and reaction time of 120 min), the leaching efficiency of vanadium and chromium could reach up to 98.60% and 86.49%, respectively. Compared with the current liquid-phase oxidation technologies, the reaction temperature was 90–310 °C lower, and the NaOH concentration of the reaction medium is lower by more than 50 wt% (the mass ratio of NaOH-to-residue of 1.0 g/g equals to concentration of 20 wt%). The kinetics study revealed that leaching process of chromium and vanadium were interpreted with shrinking core model under chemical reaction control. The apparent activation energy of chromium and vanadium dissolution was 22.19 kJ/mol and 6.95 kJ/mol, respectively.

CFD Simulation of Solid Suspension in a Stirred Reactor Driven by a Dual Punched Rigid-Flexible Impeller

Abstract Solid suspension characteristics were predicted by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation in a stirred tank driven by a dual rigid-flexible impeller and a dual punched rigid-flexible impeller. An Eulerian-Eulerian approach, standard k-ε turbulence model, and multiple reference frames (MRF) technique were employed to simulate the solid-liquid two-phase flow, turbulent flow, and impeller rotation in the stirred tank, respectively. The CFD results showed that dual punched rigid-flexible impeller could increase the axial velocity and turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, and decrease the quantity of sediment solid particles compared with dual rigid-flexible impeller. Less impeller power was consumed by dual punched rigid-flexible impeller compared with dual rigid-flexible impeller at the same impeller speed. It was found that punched rigid-flexible impeller was more efficient in terms of solid suspension quality than dual rigid-flexible impeller at the same Pw. The simulated results for the axial solid concentration were in good agreement with the experimental data.

Design of Impeller Blades for Intensification of Gas-Liquid Dispersion Process in a Stirred Tank

Abstract Gas-liquid dispersion characteristics were experimentally investigated by measuring largest Lyapunov exponent (LLE), relative power demand (RPD), and local gas holdup in a stirred tank with rigid impellers, rigid-flexible impellers, and punched rigid-flexible impellers. Results showed that punched rigid-flexible impeller could enhance the value of LLE, namely, the chaotic mixing degree of gas-liquid system compared with rigid impeller and rigid-flexible impeller. RPD for punched rigid-flexible impeller was higher than that for rigid impeller and rigid-flexible impeller. The local gas holdup of punched rigid-flexible impeller system was higher than those of rigid impeller system and rigid-flexible impeller system at the same Pg,m. In addition, a long flexible connection piece length could improve the chaotic mixing degree, RPD, and local gas holdup. The aperture diameter of 8 mm and free area ratio of 12 % of punched rigid-flexible impeller were particularly suitable for the gas-liquid dispersion process in this work.