Numerical and Experimental Investigations of Non-Newtonian Polymer Heating in a Static Mixer

A non-Newtonian polymer is heated by co-current hot water in an insulated jacketed pipe. Both the viscosity and density depend on the temperature and shear rate. The polymer passes through two static mixers which are manufactured by KOFLO and are intended to accelerate the heating process. Each static mixer’s length to diameter ratio is approximately 16. An experiment was carried out in which the temperature of the polymer was measured directly downstream of the first static mixer with a thermocouple. The results from a 3D computational model were compared with those from an experiment. It was found that the polymer’s temperature rise with the simulation was within 6.5% of the experiment. The heating performance and residence time were also compared with a regular pipe.