The hydrodynamic performance of a stirred ladle, for an aluminum degassing system in turbulent regime, is analyzed experimentally. This study explores the dynamic flow features due to the bubble dispersion on the gas-liquid flow. Diverse impellers with geometrical differences are tested with the purpose of comparing the influence in the flow behavior. Three rotor-injector devices are compared, including two conventional designs and one new rotor design. The rotor performance is evaluated at two gas flow rates. The velocity fields are investigated in a water physical model under flow conditions similar to those encountered in the degassing process of molten aluminum. The particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique is employed to obtain the velocity fields during the degassing process. In such a way, instantaneous measurements of the water flow field for gassed and ungassed conditions were obtained. Considering the two gassing conditions, it is found that the flow patterns changed drastically with all the rotors tested. Moreover, the turbulent flow field results showed significant differences under gassing and ungassed conditions. Here, it is demonstrated that the rotor geometries strongly affect the distribution of turbulent intensities. It was found that the new rotor exhibits the better performance under gassed conditions, showing high turbulent intensities, producing a higher gas breakup rate and promoting the formation of small bubbles that can be easily distributed over the entire ladle. This is due to its asymmetrical geometry, as is exposed in the present analysis. (C) 2016 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.