Age distribution and the degree of mixing in continuous flow stirred tank reactors

New development of mean age theory is discussed for quantitative analysis of mixing and age distribution in steady continuous flow stirred tank reactors. A new relationship between the moments of age and the moments of residence time are derived. With this new relationship the variance of residence time distribution can be computed much more efficiently and accurately. The relationships of three existing variances of age are described and a new set of variances and the degree of mixing are defined. The theory is used to characterize mixing performance in a CFSTR with different layouts of an inlet and an outlet. Mean age and higher moments of age in the reactors are obtained from CFD solutions of their steady transport equations. The spatial distribution of mean age reveals details of the spatial non-uniformity in mixing. Variances of age and the degree of mixing discussed by Danckwerts and Zwietering are computed for the first time in the literature for non-ideal stirred tank reactors. It is found that although these measures are useful, certain key features in non-uniform mixing are not reflected accurately. Results show that the new set of variances and the degree of mixing more accurately characterize the non-uniform mixing in the reactors.

► A method is developed to compute the variances of age and the degree of mixing.
► The method is used to measure various effects on mixing performance of CFSTRs.
► A new degree of mixing is defined to overcome shortcomings of the one in literature.
► This method is efficient and practical for designs of industrial reactors.