The Power Requirement of an Agitating Impeller in Spherical Agglomeration in a Tank.

The power requirement characteristics of an agitating impeller in a spherical agglomeration tank were investigated. Two spherical agglomeration systems were adopted in the experiment: coal-heavy oil-water; and CaCO3-CaCl2aq. soln. -CCl4. The uniform suspension in the tank was maintained through the agglomeration process.During the progress of spherical agglomeration, the particle size distribution of agglomerates shifted to the large size range, and the compaction of the agglomerates was promoted. The power requirement increased with increasing mean agglomerate size, with the bulk volume of agglomerates in the slurry, and with the density of the agglomerate.The empirical equation, which shows the relationship between the ratio of the power number in the spherical agglomeration to that in the agitation of the disperse medium without agglomerates and the suspending conditions of the agglomerates, was obtained.