Effects of flow unsteadiness and chemical kinetics on the reaction yield in a T-microreactor

Abstract

Experimental flow visualizations and velocity measurements are used jointly with numerical simulations to investigate the mixing and monitor the reaction progress in the periodic flow regimes occurring in a T-shaped microreactor. We considered the effects of different kinetic constants, with very different characteristic chemical time scales resulting in a wide range of Damköhler numbers.A remarkable agreement between experiments and simulations is found both in terms of flow pattern and reaction progress. Two different flow regimes are present for increasing Reynolds number. The first is the periodic asymmetric regime, characterized by the shedding of vorticity-blobs along the mixing channel leading to a further increase of the mixing performance compared to the steady engulfment regime. The second regime is the periodic asymmetric one, which is mainly a poorly mixed segregated regime with periodic oscillation at the interface between the two reactants. The mixing degree significantly increases in the unsteady asymmetric regime, whereas it predictably drops down in the unsteady symmetric regime. In the periodic asymmetric regime the reaction yield follows the same function of the Damköhler number, describing the residence to chemical time-scale ratio, and of a non-dimensional kinetic constant, taking into account also fluid properties, previously proposed for the steady vortex and engulfment regimes. In the periodic symmetric regime, the reaction yield is found to depend only on the Damköhler number, with the same dependence previously highlighted for the steady segregated regime.