CFD Simulation of Liquid-Liquid Extraction Columns and Visualization of Eulerian Datasets

In this joint work, a complete framework for modeling, simulating and visualizing multiphase fluid flow within an extraction column is presented. We first present a volume-of-fluid simulation, which is able to predict the surface of the droplets during coalescence. However, a fast and efficient model is needed for the simulation of a liquid-liquid extraction column due to the high number of occurring droplets. To simulate the velocity and droplet size in a DN32 extraction column, a coupled computational fluid dynamic-population balance model solver is used. The simulation is analyzed using path-line based visualization techniques. A novel semi-automatic re-seeding technique for droplet path-line integration is proposed. With our technique, path-lines of fluid droplets can be re-initialized after contact with the stirring devices. The droplet breakage is captured, allowing the engineer to improve the design of liquid-liquid columns layout.