Agitator Design Principles for Biofuels and Chemicals from Renewable Feedstocks

In Agitator Design Principles for Biofuels and Chemicals from Renewable Feedstocks, you'll learn ...

• General agitator design principles
• The principles and limitations of agitation scale-up
• Basic non-Newtonian rheology
• Guidance on the selection of agitator equipment suppliers

Overview

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Credit: 8 PDH

Length: 114 pages

This course presents a rather intense introduction to the major principles of agitator process design, as applied to liquid, solid-liquid and fibrous slurries as commonly found in the Biofuel/Biomass processing industries.

The course is intended for engineers who must specify, purchase or optimize fluid agitation equipment used for biofuels or chemicals from renewable feedstock applications. Such applications include, for example, simple tanks containing solutions, broth and slurry tanks, compounding tanks and fermenters/bioreactors. The application technology ranges from simple to complex. A basic introduction to general agitator design principles is given, but the focus is specifically on applications found in the Biofuel/Biomass/Renewable Chemical processing industries. Considerable time is spent on scale-up, non-Newtonian rheology and the special characteristics of cellulose hydrolysis reactors and fermenters. The same principles can be used for such applications as chemical cotton-to-soluble-gum and other non-fuel applications that use fibrous materials as reactive feedstock.

The course also provides guidance on the selection of agitator equipment suppliers. Having a working knowledge of the terminology and technology used by agitator designers enables the engineer to assume a more active role in the purchase and operation of such equipment, instead of leaving everything in the hands of the vendors. The result can be a lower capital cost by specifying clearly what is needed, while avoiding undersized or poorly designed equipment that can drive up life cycle costs due to lost productivity and higher energy usage.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Select appropriate impellers for a given agitation application.
• Calculate agitator power and pumping requirements.
• Explain the basic principles of heat transfer in agitated systems.
• Apply biofuel and biomass agitator-sizing guidelines.
• Explain the principles and limitations of agitation scale-up.
• Describe basic non-Newtonian rheology.
• Use an agitator as a viscometer.
• Explain how agitators for cellulosic hydrolysis reactors are designed.
• Describe how CFD can be used to aid process visualization.
• Distinguish between top-tier and lower-tier agitator suppliers.
• Apply the method presented in the course to perform an economic analysis of power-correction measures.
• Identify common past mistakes in agitator specifications.

Certificate of Completion

You will be able to immediately print a certificate of completion after passing a multiple-choice quiz consisting of 55 questions. PDH credits are not awarded until the course is completed and quiz is passed.