IMAGING STIRRED-VESSEL MACROMIXING USING ELECTRICAL-RESISTANCE TOMOGRAPHY

An 8-plane 16-sensor ring electrical resistance tomography (ERT) syste m was designed and installed within a 1.5-m-dia. plant-scale stirred v essel. Results are reported for the unsteady dynamic macromixing of mi scible liquids following a pulse addition of brine tracer. Acquired da ta, after reconstruction, is conveniently represented as a stack of 2- D tomograms and 3-D solid body isosurfaces, thereby providing an equiv alent of medical whole-body scanning for a chemical process unit. The results demonstrate the ability of ERT to distinguish the different mi xing patterns from two types of impeller in 3-D and to monitor plant-s cale miscible liquid mixing processes experimentally with good resolut ion in both space and time.