Agitation and Aeration: an Automated Didactic Experiment
Abstract
In this article, automated didactic equipment for practical lessons in agitation and aeration unit operations is presented. During the production of baker's yeast, students could monitor and visualize changes in major variables, such as stirrer speed, air flow-rate, dissolved oxygen concentration, and power consumption through a supervisory computer in communication with a set of Programmable Logic Controllers. A simple method of determining the volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient was used and traditional correlations for the control and scale-up of agitated and aerated tanks were obtained.