Mixing Chemicals Simulation

Simulating chemical reactions in mixing processes

Okay, I start my thinking about it. The simulation of the chemical reaction processes that occur during mixing is perhaps the primary issue in this field because company profit depends on the efficient conversion of raw material to product. In the chemical manufacturing industry, that efficiency depends on the chemical reactions.

First, if we’re able to generate the conditions to have high yield and high selectivity by controlling the pathway of the desired reaction, then the main reaction that generates the material will be improved as well. Second, once high purity or high selectivity is achieved, I will not need to clean my material by crystallization or precipitations, or phase transfer between liquids because all the work up after the reaction will be very simple; I am really clean. I need only to obtain my material in the adequate form, in the adequate phase—solid or liquid—as my product is dissolved.

This is a fundamental part of the process because it directly affects the conversion between my raw material and my product. Higher conversion means higher profit. The reaction by itself, the chemical reactions, and a mass transfer that comprise the mixing process are competitive phenomena. When the process is controlled by the chemical reaction, any change in the mixing will not change the chemical process. On the other hand, when the process is controlled by mixing, I can change a concentration or temperature and it will not change anything. Hence, these are competitive phenomena that must be considered. The chemical reaction by itself will not change. Molecules will react while they have the conditions for it. Therefore, any process will change the chemistry by itself, but we are providing different conditions in the mixing environment where we control the pathway of the reaction to the place that is required or is good for us.

It is, therefore, important to calculate and simulate chemical reactions in the environment during the mixing process. It is our recommendation to take care; this is fundamental to managing the process. It is not only the integration, it is the fundamental one that is controlling the process. So simulate, understand your chemistry, understand the relationship between them, and in this way we’ll be able to gain more and to generate more profit to the company.

Mixing Chemicals Simulation 

 

Visimix is really the definition of “chemical mixing simulation.”

Visimix was developed in order to understand the influence of mixing in the chemical process by solving the momentum balance to know the velocity of the flow. Based on the flow velocity, calculations can be made to select the best mixing parameters to achieve the desired result. This is exactly what chemical mixing simulation is all about. The easy-to-use Visimix interface was developed by software engineers whose focus is on a manufacturing process that will be efficient, with no problems in its operation, and resulting in a product of good quality. This is exactly what Visimix software provides.

So, if we talk about chemical mixing simulator, our intention is regarding the compatibility between materials in our process. It is not mixing simulation.. You know the chemistry or you know the formulation, and you know the action of every material.

The mixing simulator is providing to you, the conditions we are providing to these group of materials that you have in the tank, to interact in the way that you want that they will interact, and to generate the results that will be efficient with no problem in operation, and good quality. The software is providing it in every kind of unit operation . The mixing simulator can be used for fast reactions, for the formulation of two materials that are not miscible, for some kinds of suspensions, or to identify intrinsic problems like mass transfer, heat transfer, solids deposition, and phase separation. The simulator ensures that the equipment used in different stages will be compatible with the process and provide the conditions required to generate good results.

We may need to also differentiate between the physical properties of each material and its compatibility with the process. There are two different fields. The first field, the compatibility between materials, you know from your industry, if the compatibility will be good, then the mixing will be good, if we will provide the mixing conditions from the knowledge we want to provide to you based on VisiMix results, like mixing times, gas hold up, solid time distribution and more, and the parameters for generating the best conditions for the materials’ interaction to generate the desired compound.

In summary, the chemical mixing simulator can establish the ideal conditions for materials mixing based on the user’s expert knowledge of the compatibility of the materials used in your process.

Mixing Chemicals Simulation

There is a very typical question that customers and people involved in the chemical industry are
asking: How do we simulate chemical reactions? This question is a very general one that should
be addressed according to the main and basic principles of two transport phenomena: mass
transfer and heat transfer.
When we talk about a chemical reaction, we need to remember that a chemical reaction is not
a function of the equipment we are working with. A chemical reaction is a phenomenon where
molecules come in contact under conditions that allow them to react with enough energy of
reactivation and enough energy to interact, breaking chemical bonds and generating new ones.
Still, in order for those molecules to be able to react, we need to provide the environment
suitable enough for them to come in contact with each other and progress with the reaction.
We can confuse ourselves if we think that the equipment is changing the chemistry; such an
assumption is completely not true, because the equipment is separate. The environment, flow,
mixing—the interaction between the materials, and the chemical reaction phenomena—they
all have some similar space, which can be seen when we talk about the competence between
the rate of the reaction and the rate of the interaction, diffusivity, or mass transfer between the
materials.


These two rates are in competence all the way. So, on one hand, we have the reaction rate: the
time required for the reactants to interact in the chemical field and generator products. On the
other hand is the capability to approximate these materials to be together in the place under
the condition they will react in. This is diffusivity, or mass transfer, and these two rates are in
competence. The slower rate will determine the process.
So, if the chemical rate is lower than the diffuser mass transfer, the process will be determined
by the chemical kinetics—a rate in the chemical process. Even if we accelerate the mixing or
interaction between the materials, we will not change dramatically anything because the
process will be determined by the reaction rate. And oppositely, if the reaction rate is very fast
but we are not able to provide at the same rate the proximity the molecules need to generate
contact and a reaction, the process will be determined by the mixing. Mixing becomes critical in
regulating the mass transfer that will be controlled in the sterile vessel.

So, if we can simulate the chemical reaction in the point of view of equipment, of course, we
will provide the conditions that will approximate the materials and they will interact. The
chemical reaction by itself is a completely different field; it's a thermodynamic field, even a
Quantic field that requires more information about the molecular structure and affinity and is
not a function of the equipment we are using. So, we need to be careful about what we're
talking about. In our field of the industry and manufacturing of chemicals, we mainly talk about
data we get from the laboratory about the kinetics of a reaction, and we learn if our equipment
will be able to provide the conditions for our desired reaction to progress. This, of course, we
are able to calculate, and not only this but also the connection between the mixing parameters
that generate the contact reactants need to generate products. It is really not simple to do, but
it is possible to do, and we have a name for it. In so many days, we will be able to release a
complete software that deals with the interaction between the mass transfer and the kinetics
of complex systems of reactions that are very typical in the industry.

VisiMix Video

The Influence of Mixing in the Process
New methodology using VisiMix software for the purpose of checking the influence of mixing in the processes.

VisiMix Demo Operation
Learning how to input data into the VisiMix software and get results the will help us understand the influence of mixing in our processes.

Lab Experiments
Learning how to set up the relevant experiments at the lab scale, to develop the processes from an engineering point of view.