Page : 1 of 53

Rev: 02
KLM Technology
Group
Practical Engineering Engineering Solutions Rev 01 Nov 2012
Guidelines for Processing
Plant Solutions Rev 02 April 2014

www.klmtechgroup.com

Co Author
KLM Technology Group Kolmetz Handbook
Rev 01 Aprilia Jaya
P. O. Box 281 Of Process Equipment Design Rev 02 Aprilia Jaya
Bandar Johor Bahru,
80000 Johor Bahru,
Johor, West Malaysia STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING
AND TROUBLESHOOTING Editor / Author

Karl Kolmetz
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION 4

Scope 4

General Design Consideration 5

DEFINITIONS 23

NOMENCLATURE 25

THEORY OF THE DESIGN

Reynolds Number 28

Pressure drop 31

Mixer Orientation 33

Effect of Inlet Position 34

Scale-up for Static Mixers 35

 Page 2 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

APPLICATION

Example 1: Liquid-Liquid Static Mixer Design 37

Example 2: Liquid-Gas Static Mixer Design 39

Example 3: Gas-Gas Static Mixer Design 42

REFEREENCES 48

LIST OF TABLE

Table 1: Rough Guidelines for Applications in the Laminar and Turbulent Flow
Regimesa 13

Table 2. Comparison of Static Mixers for Equivalent Homogeneity in Laminar Flow 18

Table 3: Pressure Drop Parameters for Static Mixers 33

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 3 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 1: General K KMS (right twist–left twist; angle of blade twist 180◦) 7

Figure 2: HEV Static mixer 7

Figure 3: Corrugated plate static mixer (SMV) 9

Figure 4: SMX static mixer shown with two mixing elements 9

Figure 5: KVM vortex static mixer shown in flanged housing 10

Figure 6: LPD (right rotation–left rotation; crossing angle θ = 90◦) 11

Figure 7: LLPD 11

Figure 8: Mixing profiles in most common static mixers 12

Figure 9: Correct static mixer design: applications 14

Figure 10: 2D turbulent flow regime 16

Figure 11: 2D laminar flow regime 18

Figure 12: Transition flow regime 19

Figure 13: Fanning friction factor 30

Figure 14: Pressure drop per element for 1” – 12” diameter static mixer 36

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 4 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

INTRODUCTION

Scope

This guideline covers the basic elements of static mixer design in sufficient detail to
allow an engineer to design a static mixer with the suitable size including diameter,
length, media velocity, and pressure drop.

For static mixers, as with any process equipment, successful sizing and selection is
always a combination of empirical observation/experience and analytical modeling. The
best static mixer is the one that delivers the mixing quality desired at the lowest
pressure drop, for lowest installed cost and fits in the space available. Ideally, it would
be useful to test the mixing ability of each of the various types available with the actual
materials to be processed.

The design of a static mixer may be influenced by factors, including process

requirements, economics and safety. In this guideline, there are tables that assist in
making these factored calculations from the various reference sources. Included in this
guideline is a calculation spreadsheet for the engineering design. All the important
parameters used in the guideline are explained in the definition section which helps the
reader understand the meaning of the parameters or the terms utilized.

The theory section explains source, type of static mixer and its characteristic of moving,
orientation and how to calculate pressure drop and selecting the static mixer. The
application of the static mixer theory with the example assist the engineer to study the
static mixer and be ready to perform the actual design of the mixer.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 5 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

General Design Consideration

A static mixer or motionless mixer is a device inserted into a housing or pipeline with the
objective of manipulating fluid streams to divide, recombine, accelerate/decelerate,
spread, swirl or form layers as they pass through the mixer. As a result of these
alterations in the fluid flow, mixture components are brought into intimate contact. Static
mixers are therefore utilized not only for strictly mixing requirements but also reaction
processes. Different designs are available, typically consisting of plates or baffles
positioned in precise angles in order to direct flow, increase turbulence and achieve
mixing.

Flow in an empty pipe produces some degree of radial mixing but in most cases,
adequate mixing can only be achieved by an impractical length of pipe. Inserting a static
mixer significantly accelerates inline mixing or reaction. This technique is essentially
desirable wherever a continuous, inexpensive and fast operation is required. Since
there are no moving parts in the static mixer, it is basically maintenance-free and can be
installed as easily as any piece of pipe.

Energy for mixing is available in the form of pressure. Whether material is gravity-fed or
forced through the mixer using external pumps, pressure loss is one consequence of
static mixing and is sometimes the limiting factor in mixer selection.

The best static mixer is the one that delivers the mixing quality desired at the lowest
pressure drop, for lowest installed cost and fits in the space available. Ideally, it would
be useful to test the mixing ability of each of the various types available with the actual
materials to be processed. However, in a practical sense, that is not possible. It is
necessary to rely upon recommendations and the literature of the various mixer
suppliers.

Since static mixers rely on external pumps to move product across the mixer elements,
pressure drop often serves as a basis for selecting the appropriate static mixer. In many
cases, the type and number of mixer elements are chosen so as to affect the best
mixing possible without exceeding a maximum allowable pressure drop.

Over the years a large number of companies have produced static mixers all based on
the principle of moving the streams radially by a series of metal baffles. These baffles

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 6 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

may consist of twists of metal, corrugated sheets, parallel bars, small-diameter

passages, or tabs sticking out from the wall. They are essentially plug flow devices with
some small degree of back mixing, depending on the exact design.

Examples of the most commercially significant static mixers for pipelines are by type.

General Static Mixer K

The General K in-line mixer consists of a number of elements of alternating right and
left-hand 180◦ helices. The elements are positioned such that the leading edge of each
element is perpendicular to the trailing edge of the preceding element. The length of the
elements is typically one and a half tube diameters. This type of static mixer is used for
mixing under laminar flow conditions, such as the mixing of polymers or food products
like peanut butter and chocolate.

In the General K, a set of twisted elements with left- and right-hand twists caused the
material to move from the wall to the center and from the center to the wall. The flow in
each channel circulates around its own hydraulic center causing radial mixing. After
traveling through a number of these elements, the fluid is homogenized with respect to
age, composition, and temperature. Since for each element the rotation is in the
opposite direction than in the previous element the shear at the interface of the two
becomes great (Paul et al, 2004).

1. KMS: twisted ribbon or bowtie type, with alternating left- and right-hand twists. An
element is 1.5 or 1.0 diameter in length. The KME variation is edge sealed to the
tube wall.
2. KMX: a series of inclined retreat curve rods forming an X lattice; alternating in
direction every diameter an element is one diameter in length.
3. HEV: a series of four tabs spaced around the pipe. An element consists of four tabs
symmetrically placed. Axially, the tabs are about 1.5 diameters apart. The traditional
helical mixing element is used primarily for in-line blending under laminar and
transitional flow conditions. The high efficiency vortex (HEV) mixer is used for
turbulent blending of gases or miscible liquids. It consists of a series of tab arrays,
which are placed along a length of pipe. The advantages of this design are that it is
easily adapted to both cylindrical and square pipe cross-sections and that it has a
relatively low pressure drop. HEV mixers have been in use in the process industries

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 7 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

for several years now, for both liquid–liquid and gas–gas mixing. Applications
include wastewater treatment, burners, exhaust stacks, beverage manufacturing,
and many others.

Figure 1: General KMS (right twist–left twist; angle of blade twist 180◦)

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 8 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Figure 2: HEV Static mixer

General G

The General G mixer is constructed of corrugated panels with the corrugation at a 45o
angle to the linear axis. Separate panels, all one diameter long, are welded together
lengthwise, with each panel having the corrugations running in a perpendicular direction
to its neighbor. This set of panels, defined as one element, cause a two dimensional
mixing pattern. Successive elements are rotated 90o forming one long unit as well as a
third mixing dimension.

1. SMV: several stacked sheets of corrugated metal running at 30 or 45◦ to the pipe
axis. Each element is 0.5 to 1.0 diameter in length and adjacent elements are
rotated 90◦ relative to each other. Mixer hydraulic diameter is determined by the
height of the corrugation or the number of stacked corrugated sheets.
2. SMX: guide vanes are intersecting bars at 45◦ to the pipe axis. Each mixing
element is 1.0 diameter length. Adjacent elements are rotated 90◦.
3. SMXL: similar to the SMX but with intersecting bars at 30◦ to the pipe axis.
Typically, fewer bars per element, and the element length is variable, depending on
application.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 9 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

4. SMR: guide vanes are hollow tubes through which heat transfer fluid circulates. The
tubular bundle is arranged similar to the shape of the SMX design.
5. KVM: single inclined tab mounted off the tube wall. Axially, tabs are about 2.5
diameters apart.
6. KHT: twisted ribbon with alternating right- and left-handed twists.
7. SMF: three guide vanes project from the tube wall so as not to contact each other.
This is a special design for high plugging applications. Element length is
approximately 1.0 diameter.
8. KFBE: special version of the SMX/SMXL design with guide bars for exclusive
application in gas fluidization of solid particles.

Figure 3: Corrugated plate static mixer (SMV).

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 10 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Figure 4: SMX static mixer shown with two mixing elements.

Figure 5: KVM vortex static mixer shown in flanged housing.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 11 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

General M

1. General M mixer: crossed elliptical plates with a flat at the centerline. Adjacent
mixing elements are rotated 90◦.

General R

1. ISG: solid tube inserts with shaped ends so that adjacent elements form a
tetrahedral chamber, each with four holes drilled at oblique angles.

ISG Sample Applications

 Color blending
 Delustering of polymer dopes
 Water/fuel oil emulsions
 Blending of viscous fluids
 Injection molding and extrusion applications (mounted in the nozzle)
 Submicron emulsions
 Resin-catalyst mixtures
 Fiber-reinforced composites
 Sanitary emulsions

2. LPD (Low Pressure Drop): Static Mixer consists of a series of semi-elliptical plates
discriminately positioned in series. As the product moves through each element,
flow is continuously split into layers and rotated 90 degrees in alternating clockwise
and counterclockwise directions.

3. LLPD: LLPD mixer is constructed of semi-elliptical panels. Two panels are

connected together in the middle at a 120o angle (one element). Each element is
fitted in a pipe with each neighboring reversed and rotated 90o along linear axis.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 12 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

LPD and LLPD static mixers are used in many processes including:

 Blending different grades of oil or gasoline

 Mixing two or more liquid resins
 Dilution of concentrated solutions
 Water and wastewater treatment
 Gas-liquid dispersions
 Pipeline reactions
 Oil/water and water/oil emulsification
 Biodiesel production
 Blending anti-oxidants and other additives
 Chlorine dioxide bleaching of pulp
 Inline addition of flocculants
 Homogenizing process streams for sampling
 Adjusting viscosity
 Chemical suspensions
 pH control

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 13 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Figure 6: General R LPD (right rotation–left rotation; crossing angle θ = 90◦)

Figure 7: General R LLPD

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 14 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Start element 1 element 2 element 3 element 4 element 5

General K

LPD

LLPD

SNX

Figure 8: Mixing profiles in most common static mixers (Anderson et al, 2012)

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 15 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Table 1 provides rough guidelines for applications in the laminar and turbulent flow
regimes. Equipment selection and sizing should be based on application engineering to
meet specific process requirements.

Table 1: Rough Guidelines for Applications in the Laminar and Turbulent Flow
Regimesa (Paul et al, 2004)

Flow Regime Static Mixer Design

KMS KMX HEV SMV SMX SMXL SMR KVM SMF ISG
Laminar
Mixing/blending c a c c a a
High–low viscosity a c a a
Dispersion a a c a a
Heat transfer c b c c
Plug flow b c b c*
Turbulent
Mixing/blending
High turbulence a c c’ c
Low turbulence c c a a a
Dispersion
Liquid–liquid c c a a c* a
Gas in liquid c c a a a* a
Liquid in gas a c a
Fluidized beds c”
a, Applicable; b, typically applied; c, best design choice. *, Where temperature control is
required; ‘, especially for very large diameters and nonround cross-sections; “, gas fluidized
solid particles, specialized design

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 16 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Basic Unit Operation Fluid Application Mixer

Narrow residence time
distribution (Laminar Highly viscous fluids Plug flow laminar SMX/SMXL
regime)

Laminar flow heat Highly viscous heat Heat transfer with

sensitive SMXL/SMR
transfer viscous liquids

Highly viscous Blending laminar liquids SMX/SMXL

Laminar flow mixing miscible
blending High & low viscosity, Mixing high/low
miscible SMX
viscosity

Laminar flow dispersing High & low viscosity, Dispersing high/low

immiscible SMX
viscosity

Mass transfer for SMV, KMS

dissolution of gases
Liquid as continuous
phase with gas Mass transfer with SMV, KMS
chemical reaction

Mass transfer for SMV

absorption
Turbulent flow Gas as continuous Mass transfer with SMV
dispersing phase with liquid chemical reaction

Vaporization SMV

Dispersing emulsifying SMV, KMS

Low viscosity, Mass transfer for
SMV, KMS
immiscible liquids extraction, washing

Mass transfer with SMV, KMS

chemical reaction
Turbulent flow Low viscosity, miscible Blending low viscosity KVM, SMV,
mixing/blending fluids HEV,KMS

Narrow residence Low to medium viscosity Plug flow low viscosity

fluid fluid SMV/SMVP, KMS
timedistribution

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 17 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Figure 9: Correct static mixer design: applications (Paul et al, 2004)

Static mixer in turbulent flow

Static mixers are well established in multiphase turbulent flow and meet industrial
requirements for absorption, reaction, extraction, and heat transfer/phase change.
Designs are engineered to achieve specific results at minimum cost and energy
expenditure. The mixers are very compact, making them very attractive for single-stage
contacting applications versus countercurrent flow options such as packed, tray, or
mechanically driven towers.

Static mixers are recommended for multiphase flow applications with a continuous liquid
phase and a dispersed gas or immiscible liquid phase. Turbulent shear is applied
efficiently to the additive liquid or gas to create a dispersion or droplets or bubbles. The
mean drop size depends on the energy expenditure. Also important is the drop or
bubble size distribution. Static mixers are designed specifically for the application to
create uniform drop size distributions with the interfacial surface area required for
reaction or extraction.

Uniform size distribution also facilitates downstream separation of the phases in some
type of gravity or inertial separator. In addition to creating interfacial surface area, the
static mixer performs bulk homogenization, ensuring that all flow components are
distributed uniformly in the cross-section and exposed to similar levels of turbulent
energy dissipation in the fluid surrounding the droplet or bubble.

The required mixer pressure drop or energy dissipation depends on the amount of
interfacial surface area required for mass transfer-limited and reaction rate-limited
applications as well as the required residence time when reaction rate is limiting.
Surface area generation varies with power input per unit mass, and consequently, there
are turndown limitations that must be considered when designing static mixer processes
for multiphase applications. Scale-up criteria are well established for the static mixer
designs that are used in turbulent multiphase flows. This is a very important
consideration since many processes are lab scale or pilot scale tested prior to
commercialization.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 18 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Static mixers in multiphase applications where the gas is continuous are typically highly
structured designs, providing large surface area per unit volume. Surface area is
needed for absorption of gas phase components, stripping of components from the
liquid, condensation, or vaporization. The properly selected mixer is a compact, highly
efficient phase contactor. Turbulent flow energy is used to break up the liquid feed,
achieving some equilibrium droplet size and corresponding total surface area. Flow
turbulence is maintained uniformly over the pipe cross-section in individual
interconnected flow channels. Liquid that wets the mixer surfaces is continuously
stripped off and re-dispersed in the gas stream.

Flow stability is maintained over a greater range of gas–liquid flows versus what would
occur in an empty pipe, an important factor considering that liquid- and gas phase mass
and volume flow rates could change significantly during the process as a result of phase
change of all or part of the streams. As with all multiphase processes the initial drop (or
bubble in the continuous liquid analog) size is an important design factor. Spray nozzles
(with or without an atomizing fluid) are often used to create the initial drop size
distribution utilizing additive stream energy and designing for relatively low mixer
pressure drop.

In turbulent conditions, complete mixing is typically accomplished in just 4 or 6 elements

with relatively minor loss in pressure. For low flow and/or high viscosity requirements,
however, the number of static mixer elements of the design that is required to achieve a
homogenous blend increases significantly. If the process set-up is limited in length, a
move to a different style static mixer is recommended.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 19 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

DEFINITIONS

Axial Flow - Fluid flow directed axially along the mixer shaft from top to bottom (down-
pumping), or from bottom to top (up-pumping) is called axial flow.

Baffles - A separator found in a reservoir, tank or other chamber to divert fluid flow in
specific direction(s) for de-aeration of moving fluid. Plate or vane used to direct or
control movement of fluid or air within confined area.

Cavitation - A localized gaseous condition within a liquid stream that occurs where the
pressure is reduced to the vapor pressure.

Cavitation erosion - Progressive loss of original material from a solid surface due to
continuing exposure to cavitation.

Endothermic. Pertaining to a chemical reaction which is accompanied by an absorption

of heat.

Energy dissipation - The transformation of mechanical energy into heat energy. In

fluids, this is accomplished by viscous shear. The rate of energy dissipation in flowing
fluids varies with the scale and the degree of the turbulence. Baffles, the hydraulic jump,
and other damping methods are used to dissipate energy.

Exothermic - Gives off heat. A process is said to be exothermic when it releases heat.

Flow rate - The volume mass, or weight of a fluid passing through any conductor per
unit of time. Actual speed or velocity of fluid movement .

flow regime - The pattern of how water levels change in a stream.

Fanning friction factor - a dimensionless number used in fluid flow calculations. It is

related to the shear stress at the wall

Friction factor - express the ratio of total momentum transferred to momentum

transferred by turbulent mechanisms. Friction factor is a function of Reynolds number

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 20 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Froude number - Used in hydraulics as an analog to the Reynolds number. It is the

ratio of inertial forces to gravitational forces.

Homogenized - cause to become equal or homogeneous as by mixing; "homogenize

the main ingredients"

Housing - A rigid casing that encloses and protects a piece of moving or delicate
equipment.

Immiscible - The inability of two or more substances or liquids to readily dissolve into
one another, such as soil and water. Immiscibility The inability of two or more
substances or liquids to readily dissolve into one another, such as soil and water.

Impeller - The device responsible for the actual mixing action in a process. The rotating
impeller is responsible for flow and shear imparted to the fluid as it rotates.

Laminar Flow - Laminar flow occurs when adjacent layers of fluid move relative to each
other in smooth streamlines, without macroscopic mixing. In laminar flow, viscous
shear, which is caused by molecular momentum exchange between fluid layers, is the
predominant influence in establishing the fluid flow. This flow type occurs in pipes when
Re < 2,100.

Miscible - Able to be mixed. Two liquids are said to be miscible if they are partially or
completely soluble in each other. Commonly, the term miscible is understood to mean
that the two liquids are completely soluble in each other.

Multiphase flow - In fluid mechanics, multiphase flow is a generalisation of the

modelling used in two-phase flow to cases where the two phases are not chemically
related (e.g. dusty gases) or where more than two phases are present (e.g. in modelling
of propagating steam explosions).

Physical state - Those properties familiarly discussed in physics, exclusive of those

described under mechanical properties; for example, density, electrical conductivity, co-
efficient of thermal expansion.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 21 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Pressure drop - Decrease in pressure from one point in a pipe or tube to another point
downstream. Pressure drop occurs with frictional forces on a fluid as it flows through the
tube.

Radial Flow - Impellers that draw from above and below the impeller and discharge it
toward the tank wall, perpendicularly from the mixer shaft, are radial flow impellers. This
type of flow is called radial flow.

Reynolds Number, Re - A dimensionless number which expresses the ratio of inertial

to viscous forces in fluid flow

Specific gravity - Is a relative measure of weight density. Normally pressure has not
significant effect for the weight density of liquid, temperature is only condition must be
considered in designating the basis for specific gravity.

Static mixer or motionless mixer - A static mixer or motionless mixer is a device

inserted into a housing or pipeline with the objective of manipulating fluid streams to
divide, recombine, accelerate/decelerate, spread, swirl or form layers as they pass
through the mixer.

Transition Flow - Flow regime lying between laminar and turbulent flow. In this regime
velocity fluctuations may or may not be present and flow may be intermittently laminar
and turbulent. This flow type occurs in pipes when 2,100 < Re < 4,000.

Turbulent Flow - Turbulence is characterized by velocity fluctuations that transport

momentum across streamlines; there is no simple relationship between shear stress
and strain rate in turbulent flow. Instantaneous properties cannot be predicted in a
turbulent flow field; only average values can be calculated. For engineering analyses,
turbulent flow is handled empirically using curve-fits to velocity profiles and
experimentally determinate loss coefficients. This flow type occurs in pipes in industrial
situations when Re > 4,000. Under very controlled laboratory situations, laminar flow
may persist at Re > 4,000.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 22 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

NOMENCLATURE

Ap Pipe area (m2)

D Internal diameter of pipe (m)
f Fanning friction factor
Fr Froude number
KL Pressure drop ratios for static mixers in laminar flow
KT Pressure drop ratios for static mixers in turbulent flow
L Element length (m)
L/D Ratio element length with diameter
Lpipe Pipe length (m)
Lpipe Pipe length (m)
∆P Total pressure drop (Pa)
∆Pg Gas pressure drop in empty pipe (Pa)
∆Pl Liquid pressure drop in empty pipe (Pa)
∆Ppipe Empty pipe pressure drop (pa)
∆Psm Static mixer pressure drop (pa)
Q Flow rate (m3/s)
Qg Gas flow rate (m3/s)
Ql Liquid flow rate (m3/s)
R Scale,
Re Reynolds Number with symbol
v Mean velocity of flow (m/s)
vg Gas velocity
vl Liquid velocity
X Liquid/gas pressure drop ratio=

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 23 of 53
KLM Technology Kolmetz Handbook
Group Of Proess Equipment Design Rev: 02

Practical Engineering STATIC MIXER SELECTION, SIZING

Guidelines for Processing Plant
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
April 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Greek Leters

 Absolute viscosity (Pa.s)

 Weight density of fluid (kg/m3)
σ Interfacial or surface tension

Superscript

A Pipe area (m2)

D Internal diameter of pipe (m)
Q Flow rate (m3/s)
R Scale,

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final
design must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will
greatly reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines
are a training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.