Ricerc@Sapienza

The present research project aims to develop suitable fluid dynamic models for the simulation of hydrodynamic conditions established in chemical engineering equipment, such as spinning disk reactor (SDR) and stirred tank reactor (STR). The research activity will deeply investigate the operative parameters (rotational velocity, temperature, inlet flowrate, feed lines position, impeller clearance) and geometry (disk roughness and dimension, impeller geometry, baffle presence, vessel dimension) influence on mixing conditions (macro, meso and micro-mixing) generated in the above-mentioned reactors. The computational fluid dynamics simulations (CFDS) will be performed to interpret the experimental results obtained in the nanoparticles production field. Several nanoparticle¿s characteristics i.e. mean dimension, diameter distribution, aggregation and morphological structure, are directly influenced by the local mixing conditions established in the specific reactor. Polymeric and metallic nanoparticles employment in environmental, pharmaceutical, medical and food industries was widely increased in the last decade and the physical-chemical characteristics of the produced nanoparticles have to conform to stringent specifications. The experimental data regarding nanoparticles production (mainly metallic iron, titania, magnetite, hydroxyapatite) will be obtained from lab-scale equipment whereas the hydrodynamics experimental results will be taken from the literature. Therefore, the CFDS can be successfully used to compare the results obtained by SDR and STR providing the necessary parameters and knowledge for the industrial scale-up of these technologies and for the prevision of the most suitable operating parameter values to obtain a product with the required specifications.