Process for providing a homogenous slurry containing particles

A process for providing a homogeneous particle-containing slurry comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a vessel comprising at least one impeller rotating around a vertical axis of the vessel, the vessel further comprising an inlet and an outlet;
• (b) introducing a particle-containing slurry into the vessel or introducing components forming the particle-containing slurry into the vessel;
• (c) rotating the at least one impeller at least around the vertical axis for homogenizing and/or maintaining a homogeneous particle distribution within the slurry;
• (d) withdrawing the homogeneous particle-containing slurry via the outlet;
• (e) stopping the at least one impeller for a maximum time T, whereby T is calculated according to the following relations:
• u
• T
• =
• 4
• ⁢
• g
• ⁡
• (
• ρ
• p
• -
• ρ
• f
• )
• ⁢
• D
• p
• 3
• ⁢
• ρ
• f
• ⁢
• C
• D
• (
• 1
• )
• C
• D
• =
• 24
• Re
• ⁡
• [
• 1
• +
• 0.173
• ⁢
• Re
• 0.657
• ]
• (
• 2
• )
• T
• =
• h
• u
• T
• (
• 3
• )
• with
• uT=terminal velocity in the vessel for particles with average diameter Dp,
• g=gravitational constant,
• ρp=particle density in the slurry,
• ρf=density of the liquid phase of the slurry,
• Dp=average diameter of the particles in the slurry
• CD=drag coefficient,
• Re=Reynolds number,
• h=pre-determined height (of the vessel height);
• wherein the stopping of the at least one impeller is effected when the level of the slurry during withdrawal is within a range from 0.5*Da to 0.1*Da above the vertically upper end of the at least one impeller, with Da being the diameter of the impeller.