(541h) Drop Breakage in a Pump-Mixer: The Influence of Interfacial Tension and Dispersed-Phase Viscosity

The influence of interfacial tension and dispersed-phase viscosity on droplet breakup in a pump-mixer is determined using the direct measurement approach. Two typical breakup patterns, tensile breakup and revolving breakup were observed. The statistical results show that the binary breakage is the most frequent breakage event in this study while the multiple breakage shouldn't be neglected. For the sake of simplicity, the multiple breakage is treated as a series of binary breakups. The daughter droplet size in this study shows a bell-shaped distribution, and fits well with the proposed empirical correlation. The experimental results demonstrate that the drop breakup frequency increases with the decreases of interfacial tension or dispersed-phase viscosity. Then the influence of the interfacial tension and the dispersed-phase viscosity on drop breakup frequency is quantified and the empirical correlation is established based on the drop restoring stress. The correlation shows a good agreement with the experimental results. Moreover, the correlation displays a clearer physical relationship between the variables of physical properties and hydraulic behaviors, which strengthens its generality when applied to other systems or equipment.