Microfluidic field strategy for enhancement and scale up of liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical processes by optimization of 3D spiral baffle structure

Abstract

To achieve scale-up on the premise of ensuring high mixing efficiency, liquid-liquid homogeneous chemical processes are intensified through microfluidic field strategy formed by an optimal 3D spiral baffle structure (3SBS). Due to the scale effect, the uniform distribution of reagents in continuous flow reactor becomes bad when the channel is enlarged to tens of millimeters. Microfluidic field strategy was proposed to produce high mixing efficiency in large-scale channel. A 3D spiral baffle structure (3SBS) was designed and optimized to form microfluidic field disturbed by continuous secondary flow in millimeter scale Y-shaped tube mixer (YSTM). Enhancement effect of the 3SBS in liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical processes was verified and evaluated through the combination of simulation and experiment. Compared with 1 mm YSTM, 10 mm YSTM with 3SBS increased the treatment capacity by 100 times, shortened the basic complete mixing time by 0.85 times, which proves the potential of microfluidic field strategy in enhancement and scale-up of liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical process.