Design and analysis of an electroosmotic micro-reactor and its application on controlling a chemical reaction

Abstract

This paper introduces a micro-reactor based on advection-diffusion-reaction in electroosmotic driven flows. The idea is to use species flow rates to control the production rate of the device. In this study, the electroosmotic chemical reaction is simulated numerically based on the Nernst-Planck equation as one of the most accurate approaches for electroosmotic driven flows. Results showed that for high Damkohler numbers, the production rate will be controlled by the species with a lower flow rate, while the species flow rate itself, depends on the flow concentration ratio, and micro-reactor geometry. For the first time, the maximum production rate of the micro-reactor, and the device sensitivity to electrical voltage tolerance are investigated, revealing that among all geometrical and working fluid parameters, the flow concentration ratio is the most dominant parameter to control the upper limit of the reactor productivity. Nevertheless, a higher concentration ratio increases the performance sensitivity to the applied voltage tolerances. This deficiency can be partially cured by increasing the inlet length or longer distances between inlet branches. The findings presented in this study represent a further step towards designing and developing more effective reactors, specifically in micro scales.