Microfluidic field strategy for enhancement and scale up of liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical processes by optimization of 3D spiral baffle structure

doi:10.1016/j.cjche.2022.07.016

Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering ›› 2023, Vol. 56 ›› Issue (4): 255-265.DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2022.07.016

Microfluidic field strategy for enhancement and scale up of liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical processes by optimization of 3D spiral baffle structure

Shuangfei Zhao¹, Yingying Nie¹, Wenyan Zhang¹, Runze Hu¹, Lianzhu Sheng¹, Wei He¹, Ning Zhu^1,2, Yuguang Li³, Dong Ji³, Kai Guo^1,2

1. College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China;
2. State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China;
3. Institute of Nanjing Advanced Biomaterials & Processing Equipment, Nanjing 211299, China

Received:2022-03-15 Revised:2022-07-03 Online:2023-06-13 Published:2023-04-28
Contact: Kai Guo,E-mail:guok@njtech.edu.cn
Supported by:
The research has been supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFC2101900 and 2019YFA0905000); National Natural Science Foundation of China (21908094, 21776130 and 22078150); Nanjing International Joint Research and Development Project (202002037); Top-notch Academic Programs Project of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

Microfluidic field strategy for enhancement and scale up of liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical processes by optimization of 3D spiral baffle structure

Shuangfei Zhao¹, Yingying Nie¹, Wenyan Zhang¹, Runze Hu¹, Lianzhu Sheng¹, Wei He¹, Ning Zhu^1,2, Yuguang Li³, Dong Ji³, Kai Guo^1,2

1. College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China;
2. State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China;
3. Institute of Nanjing Advanced Biomaterials & Processing Equipment, Nanjing 211299, China

通讯作者: Kai Guo,E-mail:guok@njtech.edu.cn
基金资助:
The research has been supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFC2101900 and 2019YFA0905000); National Natural Science Foundation of China (21908094, 21776130 and 22078150); Nanjing International Joint Research and Development Project (202002037); Top-notch Academic Programs Project of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

Abstract

Abstract: Due to the scale effect, the uniform distribution of reagents in continuous flow reactor becomes bad when the channel is enlarged to tens of millimeters. Microfluidic field strategy was proposed to produce high mixing efficiency in large-scale channel. A 3D spiral baffle structure (3SBS) was designed and optimized to form microfluidic field disturbed by continuous secondary flow in millimeter scale Y-shaped tube mixer (YSTM). Enhancement effect of the 3SBS in liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical processes was verified and evaluated through the combination of simulation and experiment. Compared with 1 mm YSTM, 10 mm YSTM with 3SBS increased the treatment capacity by 100 times, shortened the basic complete mixing time by 0.85 times, which proves the potential of microfluidic field strategy in enhancement and scale-up of liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical process.

Key words: Mixing efficiency, Chemical process intensification, Scale up, Reactor, Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), Numerical simulation

摘要： Due to the scale effect, the uniform distribution of reagents in continuous flow reactor becomes bad when the channel is enlarged to tens of millimeters. Microfluidic field strategy was proposed to produce high mixing efficiency in large-scale channel. A 3D spiral baffle structure (3SBS) was designed and optimized to form microfluidic field disturbed by continuous secondary flow in millimeter scale Y-shaped tube mixer (YSTM). Enhancement effect of the 3SBS in liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical processes was verified and evaluated through the combination of simulation and experiment. Compared with 1 mm YSTM, 10 mm YSTM with 3SBS increased the treatment capacity by 100 times, shortened the basic complete mixing time by 0.85 times, which proves the potential of microfluidic field strategy in enhancement and scale-up of liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical process.

关键词: Mixing efficiency, Chemical process intensification, Scale up, Reactor, Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), Numerical simulation

Shuangfei Zhao, Yingying Nie, Wenyan Zhang, Runze Hu, Lianzhu Sheng, Wei He, Ning Zhu, Yuguang Li, Dong Ji, Kai Guo. Microfluidic field strategy for enhancement and scale up of liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical processes by optimization of 3D spiral baffle structure[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2023, 56(4): 255-265.

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Microfluidic field strategy for enhancement and scale up of liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical processes by optimization of 3D spiral baffle structure

Microfluidic field strategy for enhancement and scale up of liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical processes by optimization of 3D spiral baffle structure

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