

FOLLOWUS
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Department of Industrial Chemistry “Toso Montanari”, University of Bologna, Bologna 40131, Italy
State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing 400044, China
Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Corresponding author. E-mail address: liuzuohua@cqu.edu.cn (Z. Liu).
Received:29 July 2025,
Revised:2025-09-25,
Accepted:25 September 2025,
Online First:11 November 2025,
Published:2026-02
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Meng Tong, Wang Yu, Tian Yijuan, et al. Multiscale synergistic enhancement mechanism of solid—liquid mixing in multi-shaft stirred reactors under variable-speed operation[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2026, 90(2): 293-307.
Research on the solid—liquid mixing process and its enhancement mechanisms in multi-shaft stirred reactors still face challenges that limit its industrial applications. This work employs the RNG
k
—
ε
model combined with the EE-KTGF model to numerically simulate the solid—liquid mixing process within a multi-shaft stirred reactor
yielding satisfactory results when compared to experimental data. Comparative analysis of the solid—liquid mixing performance under four different operational conditions reveals that applying variable speed conditions to the bottom impeller results in a smaller solid concentration gradient
reduced particle settling rates
and an improvement in solid homogeneity by 2.74% to 3.22% compared to other operational conditions. This operational condition enables more effective suspension and uniform distribution of solid particles throughout the reactor
thereby enhancing overall mixing efficiency. Flow field analysis under different operational conditions indicates that applying variable speed to the bottom impeller significantly improves flow field stability
reduces axial back-mixing
and optimizes the axial distribution of solid particles. Further dynamic mode decomposition of the flow field and time series analysis of modal coefficients elucidate a multi-scale synerg
istic nesting chaos-enhanced mechanism characterized by “macroscopic stability
mesoscopic matching
and microscopic resonance”. This work provides a theoretical foundation for the design and operational optimization of multi-shaft stirred reactors.
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