Micromixing performance in a rotating bar reactor

Abstract

AbstractA rotating bar reactor (RBR) was designed for adjusting micromixing efficiency. It consists of two concentric cylinders of inner rotating and outer fixed cylinders. Two feeding modes, named as radial and tangential feeding modes, were applied to modify the feeding at the bottom section of the RBR. The influence of feeding modes on the micromixing performance was measured with different rotational speeds, flow rates, viscosities, volumetric flow ratios, and hydrogen ion concentrations. Experimental results reveal that the RBR with tangential feeding mode has better micromixing performance than that with radial mode. The higher rotational speed has a positive impact on the segregation index (Xs). The values of Xs increased with the decrease of the flow rate, and the increase of the viscosity, volumetric flow ratio, and hydrogen ion concentration. The micromixing time, estimated by using an incorporation model, was in the range of 5.00 × 10−6‐1.13 × 10−5 seconds in the RBR with a tangential feeding mode, which indicates a promising prospect of the RBR for process intensification of fast and complex reactions.