Abstract
Micromixers were fabricated from emulsion-templated macroporous polymers, known as polymerizing high internal-phase emulsions (polyHIPEs). Micromixers are mixing elements containing submillimeter channels, in which mixing occurs by molecular diffusion in the laminar flow regime. PolyHIPEs possess an interconnected pore structure with connected channels, which are ideal to mix liquids. We investigated the residence time distribution of polyHIPE micromixers in comparison to a helix static mixer using a tracer method, which allows for quantifying the deviation from ideal plug flow. The axial dispersed flow was modeled, and the obtained axial dispersion number is in good agreement with that of commercial split-and-recombination micromixers. Two competitive parallel reactions (4th Bourne reaction) were performed to characterize the efficiency of micromixing of polyHIPE mixers. We show that polyHIPE micromixers are more efficient than a commercial helix static mixer.
Highlights
Mixing of fluids is important for both laboratory and industry processes for a plethora of reasons, including chemical and biological reactions.[1]
The degree of interconnectivity (DoI) increased with increasing amount of surfactants, which were added to the primary Pickering-HIPE prior to polymerization
With increasing DoI, the tortuosity decreased, while gas permeability of the poly-Pickering-HIPEs increased indicating less resistance to fluid flow, which is reflected in the decreasing Rep for water pumped through the micromixer
Summary
Mixing of fluids is important for both laboratory and industry processes for a plethora of reasons, including chemical and biological reactions.[1]. The reason for the higher axial dispersion numbers of poly-Pickering-HIPE micromixers is that they have larger pore throat diameters, resulting in a higher DoI between possible flow paths (Figure 2), which results in increased radial dispersion and increased fluctuation between the pore walls and the pore centers within the micromixers compared to SAR chip micromixers, consisting of parallel microchannels. This indicated that fluids mixed more efficiently and more homogeneously within the pores of macroporous polymers resulting in more consistent decomposition yields.
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