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AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorsRobert T. Jubin, John D. Randolph
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The invention is directed to a centrifugal contactor for solvent extraction systems. The centrifugal contactor is provided with an annular vertically oriented mixing chamber between the rotor housing and the rotor for mixing process liquids such as the aqueous and organic phases of the solvent extraction process used for nuclear fuel reprocessing. A set of stationary helically disposed vanes carried by the housing is in the lower region of the mixing chamber at a location below the process-liquid inlets for the purpose of urging the liquids in an upward direction toward the inlets and enhancing the mixing of the liquids and mass transfer between the liquids. The upper region of the mixing vessel above the inlets for the process liquids is also provided with a set helically disposed vanes carried by the housing for urging the process liquids in a downward direction when the liquid flow rates through the inlets are relatively high and the liquids contact the vane set in the upper region. The use of these opposing vane sets in the mixing zone maintains the liquid in the mixing zone at suitable levels.
A centrifugal contactor comprising housing means having inner wall portions defining an elongated vertically extending cylindrical cavity therein, elongated cylindrical rotor means having openings therein at an upper end and at a lower end thereof disposed in said cavity and having outer vertical wall portions thereon radially inwardly spaced from said inner wall portions of the housing means for defining therewith a vertically oriented annular liquid mixing volume between said inner wall portions and said outer vertical wall portions, two circumferentially spaced apart and tangentially oriented inlet passageway means penetrating said housing means and in registry with said annular mixing volume at a location intermediate the upper and lower ends of said rotor means for introducing liquids into said annular mixing volume for subsequent reception in said rotor means through the opening in the lower end thereof, and stationary vane means carried by said housing means on said inner wall portions at locations vertically spaced from said inlet means and projecting radially inwardly into said annular mixing volume to a location adjacent to said outer vertical wall portions of said rotor means with said vane means being oriented in said annular mixing volume for urging liquid toward said inlet passageway means when said rotor means is rotated and the liquids are in said annular volume.
A method for mixing process liquids in a centrifugal contactor having an open vertically oriented housing with a vertically oriented rotor disposed therein at a location radially inwardly spaced from the housing so as to define therebetween an annular liquid mixing volume for process liquid of different phases introduced into the mixing volume through inlets in registry with the mixing volume at a location intermediate upper and lower regions thereof, said method comprising the steps of contacting process liquid in the lower region of the mixing volume with vane means disposed on said housing at a location underlying said inlets for urging the process liquid in an upward direction toward said inlets when process liquid is in said mixing volume for enhancing the mixing of the process liquid within the mixing volume and maintaining the level of the process liquid within the mixing volume at a sufficient height to inhibit the creation of vortices and air entrapment in the process liquid due to an insufficient volume of process liquid in the annular mixing volume, and contacting process liquid in an upper region of said mixing volume with further vane means disposed on said housing at a location overlying the inlets for urging the process liquid contacted thereby in a downward direction towards said inlets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.