Abstract
The droplet flow regime in microchannels can increase the mass transfer and chemical reactions considerably. In this work, the mass transfer of immiscible fluids of water as the solvent and butyl acetate containing 5 vol% of acetic acid as the feed is experimentally studied in a vertical flow inside a microchannel with the inner diameter of 8 mm. Effect of total flow velocity, Re number and volumetric flux ratio of two phases (Qaq/Qor) on the extraction fraction of acetic acid, mass transfer coefficient and droplet size were investigated. Based on the experiments, increasing the flux ratio can shift the flow regime from the plug to the droplet. Compared to the plug flow, the extraction fraction increased by 2–3 times in the droplet regime, depending on the total velocity, while the average diameter of the droplets decreased. Moreover, with the increase in the total velocity, the extraction fraction is reduced by 22%. However, in the case of the plug flow, the extraction fraction does not change appreciably with the increase in the total flow velocity. The mass transfer coefficient was found to increase monotonously with increasing Re number and an enhancement of 133% was achieved in the droplet flow regime.
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