A new scale-up method for competitive chemical model reactions based on complete similarity

Abstract

The most common scale-up methods for predicting the product distribution of competitive chemical reactions (CCRs) aim for partial similarity by keeping the dominant mixing mechanism constant. Instead, methods aiming for complete similarity have been neglected, as they were assumed to allow scale-up for uneconomical process parameters only.However, within this work, we show that complete similar scale-up functions enable advanced application of competitive chemical model reactions (CCMRs) like the Villermaux-Dushman reaction (VDR). CCMRs are primarily used for characterizing mixing reactor geometries, mixing time measurements or fundamental studies. We derive complete similar functions for the product distribution and the mixing time of CCMRs in confined-impinging jet mixers (CIJMs). Furthermore, we successfully validate these functions by VDR experiments in geometrical similar CIJMs on different size scales.Our results question previous research on the impact of the Reynolds number on the product distribution of CCMRs. We can show that evaluation of this impact is only possible if the chemical concentrations are increased to keep the Damköhler number constant.Since the proposed method does not rely on a specific material or reactor geometry, we anticipate that this study will be a starting point for the general application of complete similar scale-up functions to CCMRs.