Effect of the arrangement of cavitation generation unit on the performance of an advanced rotational hydrodynamic cavitation reactor

Xun Sun; Gaoju Xia; Weibin You; Xiaoqi Jia; Sivakumar Manickam; Yang Tao; Shan Zhao; Joon Yong Yoon; Xiaoxu Xuan

doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2023.106544

Effect of the arrangement of cavitation generation unit on the performance of an advanced rotational hydrodynamic cavitation reactor

Ultrason Sonochem. 2023 Oct:99:106544. doi: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2023.106544. Epub 2023 Jul 29.

Authors

Xun Sun¹, Gaoju Xia², Weibin You², Xiaoqi Jia³, Sivakumar Manickam⁴, Yang Tao⁵, Shan Zhao⁶, Joon Yong Yoon⁷, Xiaoxu Xuan²

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China; National Demonstration Center for Experimental Mechanical Engineering Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China. Electronic address: xunsun@sdu.edu.cn.
² Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China; National Demonstration Center for Experimental Mechanical Engineering Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Fluid Transmission Technology of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
⁴ Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Brunei, Bandar Seri Begawan BE1410, Brunei Darussalam.
⁵ College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
⁶ Shandong Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China.
⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering, BK21 FOUR ERICA-ACE Center, Hanyang University, Ansan 15588, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

Hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) is widely considered a promising process intensification technology. The novel advanced rotational hydrodynamic cavitation reactors (ARHCRs), with considerably higher performance compared with traditional devices, have gained increasing attention of academic and industrial communities. The cavitation generation unit (CGU), located on the rotor and/or stator of an ARHCR, is utilized to generate cavitation and consequently, its geometrical structure is vital for the performance. The present work studied, for the first time, the effect of the arrangement of CGU on the performance of a representative ARHCR by employing computational fluid dynamics based on the "simplified flow field" strategy. The effect of CGU arrangement, which was neglected in the past, was evaluated: radial offset distance (c), intersection angle (ω), number of rows (N), circumferential offset angle (γ), and radial spacing (r). The results indicate that the CGU, with an arrangement of a low ω and moderate c, N, γ, and r, performed the highest cavitation efficiency. The corresponding reasons were analyzed by combining the flow field and cavitation pattern. Moreover, the results also exposed a weakness of the "simplified flow field" strategy which may induce the unfavorable "sidewall effect" and cause false high-pressure region. The findings of this work may provide a reference value to the design of ARHCRs.

Keywords: Arrangement of CGU; Computational fluid dynamics; Hydrodynamic cavitation; Hydrodynamic cavitation reactor; Process intensification.