Work

3D-printed heart-shaped microreactor with mirror-scaling baffles for enhanced mixing and selective metal recovery from industrial waste

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Laminar mixing is still the bottleneck of microreactor industrialization. In this study, a novel 3D printed heart-shaped microreactor with a mirror proportional baffle was introduced to enhance the Dean vortex and induce the secondary flow. Six kinds of baffle configurations (K1-K6) were prepared by stereolithography (SLA) and evaluated by iodide-iodate reaction method and COMSOL multi-physics simulation. The mixing index (MI) of the concave mirror baffle (K7/K8) is greater than 0.9 in the range of Reynolds number (Re) 25–75, and the chaotic convection intensity is more than 300 % higher than that of the straight baffle (K1). The optimized K8 reactor was used for indium recovery from industrial waste. The extraction rate was 96.04 %. When the flow rate was 0.145 mL/min, the maximum In/Ge separation coefficient was 359.78. The integrated “Design-Simulation-Additive Manufacturing” framework introduced here provides a new paradigm for the development of high-performance industrial microreactors.

Source: Chemical Engineering Science

DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2025.122646

Authors: Jinhao Zheng, Jiaxuan Hu, Na Li, Yazheng Ren, Shaohua Ju

Institution: Kunming University of Science and Technology

Language: English

Topic: Innovative Microfluidic and Catalytic Techniques Innovation

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Responsible consumption and production

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,050