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Designing a Mixing Tank

Q: I want to design a mixing tank to prepare a slurry of very fine catalysts in water. This tank will have an agitator to keep solids suspended. In this case how would you consider the vortex height generated during mixing?

A: If you want to suspend solids, the best advice is to not have a vortex.  For solids suspension, you want  baffles or an angle-offset mounting to minimize or eliminate the vortex.  If you have a vortex on the surface, you will likely have a pile of solids in  the middle on the bottom.  Your agitator should pump downward to sweep the solids off the bottom.