Unsteady motion of the impeller is one of the several methods to improve mixing in unbaffled vessel. It is very important in pharmaceutical industry, crystallization processes or some chemical reaction with catalyst where baffles are not recommended. The literature data shows that unsteady mixing cause generation of axial flow for radial impellers (Rushton turbine). The purpose of this study was to investigate axial force for axial impellers like A315, HE-3 and SC-3. Moreover, the momentum number, flow number and pumping efficiency were analysed. Results shows that axial force for unsteady mixing is higher in comparison to steady-state mixing. Also, the comparison of axial force between impellers shows that blades influence momentum number and flow number. Impellers with larger blade surface generate stronger axial force. The obtained results reveal that unsteady mixing with axial impellers could be apply for solid-liquid mixing as suitable alternative to steady-state mixing.

This paper deals with the effect of impeller shape on off-bottom particle suspension. On the basis of numerous suspension measurements, correlations are proposed for calculating the just-suspended impeller speed for a standard pitched four-blade turbine and three types of hydrofoil impellers produced by TECHMIX for several particle sizes and for a wide range of particle concentrations. The suspension efficiency of the tested impellers is compared with the efficiency of a standard pitched blade turbine on the basis of the power consumption required for off-bottom suspension of solid particles. It is shown that the standard pitched blade turbine needs highest power consumption, i.e. it exhibits less efficiency for particle suspension than hydrofoil impellers produced by TECHMIX.