Scale-up of mixing process based on constant power/volume and equal blend time using VisiMix simulation

Mixing in stirred tank are widely used in variety of process industries. For example pharmaceutical and drug, biofuel, wastewater treatment and several other industries. The quality of mixing is influenced by several factors, those are geometry of tank, geometry of impeller, baffles installation, density and rheological properties of the fluid. Scale-up of mixing process is essential to study before making a product on large scale. Power per volume and equal blend time can be used as scale-up parameters. the chosen parameters depend on desired needs like cost and efficiency. Before making a scale-up in reality, it must be better to make a simulation first to know the condition between lab scale and large scale then compare them. VisiMix can be used to simulate scale-up of mixing process. Simulation helps engineer to know the condition in large scale without doing experiment and cost efficiently. First major concern for making scale up is keep maintained the ratio of impeller diameter and tank diameter then doing trial and error on impeller operation. Scale-up by power per unit volume is more advisable to apply than equal blend time as it relates to capital and operating costs. However, if the mixing time is used as a priority in the scale-up, then equal blend time can be used with the risk of adding the cost of the mixing driver.