(264b) Extraction Kinetics and Hydrodynamics in Miniature Annular Centrifugal Contactors

Annular centrifugal contactors have become attractive equipment in the recycling process of spent nuclear fuel for their high efficiency, throughput, and rapid operational properties. Various sizes of contactors ranging from laboratory scale to commercial scale have been manufactured for different needs and process scales, possibly allowing us to study the scaling effects on the extraction efficiency. The Robatel BXP012 is a lab scale French made contactor with a 12mm inner rotor diameter. In this study, the hydrodynamics of the miniature contactor is studiued including residence time of both the aqueous and the organic phases by using residence time distribution analysis. The measured values proved not to reflect the residence time of the phases inside the mixing zone possibly due to the relatively large collection rings of the contactor. The effect of rotation speed, phase continuity, and flow rate on the extraction efficiency have also been investigated in this study. Comparison with the larger CINC contactor (50 mm rotor) is made and the results are discussed.