Study of the hydrodynamic behaviour of the batch and continuous torus reactor in laminar and turbulent flow regimes by means of tracer methods

In this work, the flow modelling of a toroidal reactor in batch or continuo us operating modes is obtained by the experimental determination of the tra cer concentration evolution in batch mode and the residence time distributi on in continuous configuration, for mixing Reynolds numbers between 15 and 8 x 10(4) with water and glucose solutions. The comparison of the mean circ ulation times measured at each rotation speed and how rate shows that for a ratio of the mean residence time to the mean circulation time lower than 2 0, the flow is accelerated by the inlet-outlet flow rate. Two different flo w regimes are respectively obtained for Re-m < 3000 and for Re-m > 6000 and a single correlation giving the volume flow number, N-v, as a function of Re-m can fit both how regimes. The how behaviour is modelled by a dispersed plug flow with recirculation. The value of the axial dispersion coefficien t is rather small and constant in the whole range of Re-m and for the two c onfigurations which means that the flow for each rotation of the fluid in t he torus reactor behaves like a plug one. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al l rights reserved.