Several commercially important chemical processes involve liquid–liquid phase separation. In the present work, we have developed a multi‐fluid Eulerian CFD model using OpenFOAM that incorporates binary and interfacial coalescence processes. We simulated separation of kerosene dispersed in water in a batch settler and validated the predictions using the measurements of time‐evolution of coalescing and settling interfaces, local dispersed‐phase volume fraction (α_O) and drop size distribution (DSD). Simulations are performed to understand the contributions of binary and interfacial coalescence processes to the phase separation process. While the time‐evolution of coalescing and settling fronts can be predicted reasonably well using the two‐fluid model with empirically‐corrected drag models, local α_O and DSD could not be predicted. We have shown that the comprehensive multi‐fluid Eulerian model, which incorporates binary and interfacial coalescence, predicts the time‐evolution of the coalescing and settling fronts, local α_O and the DSD in an excellent agreement with the measurements.

中文翻译：

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分批沉降器中液体-液体分散体的分离：结合界面合并的CFD-PBM模拟

几种商业上重要的化学过程涉及液-液相分离。在当前的工作中，我们使用OpenFOAM开发了一种多流体欧拉CFD模型，该模型结合了二进制和界面合并过程。我们模拟煤油分散在水中以分批沉降分离和验证使用聚结和沉降接口，本地分散相体积分数（的时间演变的测量预测α _Ò）和液滴尺寸分布（DSD）。进行模拟以了解二元和界面合并过程对相分离过程的贡献。使用结合经验校正的阻力模型的双流体模型可以很好地预测聚结和沉降前沿的时间演化，α _Ò和DSD无法被预测。我们已经表明，综合多流体欧拉模型，其中包含二进制和界面聚结，预测凝聚和沉淀方面，本地时间演化α _Ö并与测量极好的协议DSD。