Effect of Inlet Contactors of Splitting Distributors for Parallel Microchannels

Abstract

The upstream effect of inlet contactors (T, Y, Cross-T, and Cross-Y) with splitting distributors for parallel microchannels on gas–liquid flow uniformity were studied. Splitting distributors were designed to have a width reduction by a factor of √2 between successive blocks to ensure a flow uniformity in terms of relative lengths of bubbles/slugs (LBubble/Slug/WChannel). Hydrodynamic parameters such as formation dynamics, splitting dynamics, relative lengths, and dimensionless volumes of bubbles/slugs were investigated for different inlet contactors. For Cross-T and Cross-Y inlet contactors, symmetrical splitting of bubbles/slugs and flow uniformity were observed for a wider range of continuous phase flow rates (QWater+SDS) at a fixed dispersed phase flow rate (QAir) than for T and Y inlet contactors channels. Nonsplitting of bubbles/slugs was observed for CaCritical > 0.0035 and 0.0038 for T and Y inlet contactors, respectively. However, the dimensionless volumes of bubbles/slugs in all blocks of Cross-T and Cross-Y channels were found to be constant for QWater+SDS > 5.32 mL/min. The slug flow regime was observed in all inlet contactors, whereas a bubbly flow regime was observed only in the Cross-Y contactor channel. On the basis of the experimental results, a unique correlation was proposed to predict the relative lengths of bubbles/slugs in parallel microchannels with a mean relative deviation of 14.65%.