Mixing of viscous and non-Newtonian fluids in the laminar regime is usually difficult to achieve because of the flow structures generated under steady stirring conditions. Segregated regions namely, caverns and dead zones remain in the stirred vessel even after several mixing hours. As a consequence, long mixing times are required and undesirable by-products due to the poor reaction selectivity can be generated. Such regions can be eliminated by using wide impellers or by increasing the rotational speed which can be a drawback when mixing shear-sensitive media. The use of unconventional configurations leading to unsteady flow conditions are a good alternative for laminar mixing in stirred vessels. This paper gives a general overview of chaotic flows in laminar regime produced by atypical mixing configurations in stirred vessels.
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