Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Microreactors are an important development in chemical engineering since the pharmaceutical industry needs flexible production rather than a large amount of product yield. The size of the microreactor may be so small that it requires the development of non-mechanical methods for reagent mixing. In this paper, we propose the design of a continuous-flow microreactor in the form of a narrow cell with a variable gap. By tuning the gap width in time and space, one can control the reaction rate and regulate the product yield. We show that the governing equation for the fluid flow can be reduced to the Darcy equation with permeability varying in space and time. As a test reaction, we consider the neutralization of nitric acid with sodium hydroxide resulting in the solutal convection in the presence of gravity. We show numerically that the prototyping spatially-distributed relief of the reactor walls can successfully separate the incoming and outgoing flows of reagents, control the mixing intensity, increase or decrease the product yield. We demonstrate also the dynamic control of the reactor efficiency via real-time local changes in the gap width.
Source: Actuators
DOI: 10.3390/act9010002
Authors: Dmitry Bratsun, Ramil Siraev
Institution: Perm National Research Polytechnic University
Language: English
Subfield: Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
Field: Chemical Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,013
OpenAlex ID: W2996260331