Showing papers on "Slug flow published in 2010"

Effective interfacial area for mass transfer in the liquid-liquid slug flow capillary microreactors

Abstract: Liquid–liquid biphasic reactions play an important role in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The liquid–liquid slug flow capillary microreactor offers considerable potential benefits over the conventional liquid–liquid contactors. Though the hydrodynamics and mass transfer have been investigated for this reactor concept, so far the effective interfacial area available for mass transfer has not been experimentally quantified. Despite the well-defined flow patterns arising in the capillary microreactor, the wetting behaviour of the liquids at the capillary wall is inadequately integrated into the models and thus, the true interfacial area being used for mass transfer is uncertain. In the present work, experiments were carried out to determine the mass transfer rates and effective interfacial area using physical and chemical methods. The effective interfacial areas measured by physical and chemical methods were compared and it confirms the presence of the previously conjectured organic wall film, which provides a much higher interfacial area including both, the ends and sides of the non-wetting slugs. Overall volumetric mass transfer coefficients were obtained by physical extraction and compared to the chemical method. The organic wall film is visualised by a light induced fluorescence method, which shows the organic phase completely covering the hydrophobic capillary wall, indicating that the effective interfacial area for mass transfer in this reactor concept can significantly differ from the physical interfacial area.

Experimental and Numerical Investigations of Two-Phase (Liquid−Liquid) Flow Behavior in Rectangular Microchannels

Abstract: The interaction between kinetics and mass-transfer effects is determined by the flow regime in liquid−liquid multiphase microreactors. The operating conditions under which the various flow regimes such as slug flow and stratified flow occur in liquid−liquid systems has not been extensively studied and is not well-understood. The effect of operating conditions on slug length for instance is not well-known. The present study focuses on microreactors fabricated in Perspex (poly(methyl methaacrylate) (PMMA)), which are essentially microchannels with a rectangular cross-section. Experiments are carried out for a wide range of flow rates, channel sizes, and fluid systems with varying properties. Two different kinds of flow regimes, slug flow and stratified flow, are experimentally observed, and these are predicted using numerical simulations. We divide the space of operating conditions (the two liquid flow rates) into different regions such that in each region the flow regime is distinct. The dependence of slug...

CFD modelling of liquid–liquid multiphase microstructured reactor: Slug flow generation

Abstract: Microreactor technology, an important method of process intensification, offers numerous potential benefits for the process industries. Fluid–fluid reactions with mass transfer limitations have already been advantageously carried out in small-scale geometries. In liquid–liquid microstructured reactors (MSR), alternating uniform slugs of the twophase reaction mixture exhibit well-defined interfacial mass transfer areas and flow patterns. The improved control of highly exothermic and hazardous reactions is also of technical relevance for large-scale production reactors. Two basic mass transfer mechanisms arise: convection within the individual liquid slugs and diffusion between adjacent slugs. The slug size in liquid–liquid MSR defines the interfacial area available for mass transfer and thus the performance of the reactor. There are two possibilities in a slug flow MSR depending on the interaction of the liquids with the solid wall material: a dispersed phase flow in the form of an enclosed slug in the continuous phase (with film—complete wetting of the continuous phase) and an alternate flow of two liquids (without film—partial wetting of the continuous phase). In the present work, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methodology is developed to simulate the slug flow in the MSR for both types of flow systems. The results were validated with the experimental results of Tice et al. (J.D. Tice, A.D. Lyon and R.F. Ismagilov, Effects of viscosity on droplet formation and mixing in microfluidic channels, Analytica Chimica Acta 507 (1) (2004), pp. 73–77.).

Experiments and Numerical Simulations of Horizontal Two-Phase Flow Regimes Using an Interfacial Area Density Model:

Abstract: Stratified two-phase flow regimes can occur in the main cooling lines of Pressurized Water Reactors, Chemical plants and Oil pipelines. A relevant problem occurring is the development of wavy stratified flows, which can lead to slug generation. In the last decade, stratified flows have increasingly been modelled with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes. In CFD, closure models are required that must be validated. Recent improvements of the multiphase flow modelling in the ANSYS CFX code, now make it possible to simulate these mechanisms in detail. In order to validate existing and further developed multiphase flow models, a high spatial and temporal resolution of measurement data are required. For the experimental investigation of co-current air/water flows, the HA WAC (Horizontal Air/Water Channel) was built. The channel allows in particular the study of air/water slug flow under atmospheric pressure. Parallel to the experiments, CFD calculations were carried out. The two-fluid model was applied with a special turbulence damping procedure at the free surface. An Algebraic Interfacial Area Density (AIAD) model based on the implemented mixture model was introduced, which allows the detection of the morphological form of the two-phase flow and the corresponding switching via a blending function of each correlation from one object pair to another . As a result, this model can distinguish between bubbles, droplets and the free surface using the local value of the volume fraction of the liquid phase. The behaviour of slug generation and propagation was qualitatively reproduced by the simulation, while local deviations require a continuation of the work.

Bubble lengths in the gas–liquid Taylor flow in microchannels

Abstract: Experimental results of measurements of the bubble and slug lengths in Taylor (slug) flow are presented. The experiments were carried out using 3 different straight microchannels (microreactor with square cross-section made of polydimethyloxosilane (PDMS); microreactor with circular cross-section made of glass; microreactor with rectangular cross-section made of polyethylene terephthalate modified by glycol (PETg)) and 4 different liquids (water, ethanol propanol and heptane). The results have been compared with the available literature correlations. It is concluded, that the values obtained from the correlation proposed by Laborie et al. [Laborie, S., Cabassud, C., Durant-Bourlier, L., Laine, J.M., 1999. Characterization of gas–liquid two-phase flow inside capillaries. Chem Eng Sci 54, 5723–5735] do not agree with the results of measurements, while the agreement of these results with the predictions obtained using the correlation proposed by Qian and Lawal [Qian, D., Lawal, A., 2006. Numerical study on gas and liquid slugs for Taylor flow in a T-junction microchannel. Chem Eng Sci 61, 7609–7625] is good. New, corrected values of the pre-exponential constant and the exponents in the Qian and Lawal [Qian, D., Lawal, A., 2006. Numerical study on gas and liquid slugs for Taylor flow in a T-junction microchannel. Chem Eng Sci 61, 7609–7625] correlation are proposed.

Impact of wall hydrophobicity on condensation flow and heat transfer in silicon microchannels

Abstract: While microchannel condensation has been the subject of several recent studies, the critical impact of wall hydrophobicity on the microchannel condensation flow has received very little attention. The paper experimentally studies steam condensation in a silicon microchannel 286 µm in hydraulic diameter with three different wall hydrophobicities. It is found that the channel surface wettability has a significant impact on the flow pattern, pressure drop and heat transfer characteristic. Spatial flow pattern transition is observed in both hydrophobic and hydrophilic channels. In the hydrophobic channel, the transition from dropwise/slugwise flow to plug flow is induced by the slug instability. In the hydrophilic channel, the flow transition is characterized by the periodic bubble detachment, a process in which pressure evolution is found important. Local temperature measurement is conducted and heat flux distribution in the microchannel is reconstructed. For the same inlet vapor flux and temperature, the hydrophobic microchannel yields higher heat transfer rate and pressure drop compared to the hydrophilic channel. The difference is attributed to the distinction in flow pattern and heat transfer mechanism dictated by the channel hydrophobicity. This study highlights the importance of the channel hydrophobicity control for the optimization of the microchannel condenser.

Design and Control Techniques for the Numbering-up of Capillary Microreactors with Uniform Multiphase Flow Distribution

Abstract: The results of experimental studies on the parallelization of both single-phase and biphasic liquid−liquid slug flow in capillary microreactors are presented. Various flow distributor designs were investigated with respect to the uniformity of liquid−liquid flow in eight parallel capillaries and the two most promising concepts were identified. A novel multichannel phase splitting unit was installed at the downstream end of the capillaries to ensure well-defined phase separation. Further investigations on more complex reaction systems, in which the hydrodynamics depend on conversion and/or selectivity (e.g., polymerization), suggest that an active flow control for individual capillaries will be necessary in such cases. The uniformity of flow rate and flow structure could be achieved using a noninvasive capacitative measurement to characterize the flow in conjunction with specially developed microvalves and actuators for the regulation of flow rates and the manipulation of slug flow structure in each capillary.

Simple Models for Laminar Thermally Developing Slug Flow in Noncircular Ducts and Channels

Abstract: Solutions to the classical Graetz slug flow problem (uniform velocity distribution) in noncircular ducts are examined. These solutions have applications where a constant uniform velocity distribution exists across a channel or duct. These are most often realized in the laminar flow of low Prandtl number liquids, such as liquid metals, and low Reynolds number flows through porous media. Expressions are developed for a number of applications using the asymptotic correlation method of Churchill and Usagi. These expressions vary depending on the definition used for the dimensionless heat transfer coefficient, in the case of constant wall temperature boundary condition (T), and the dimensionless wall temperature for the constant flux boundary conditions (H) and (H1). Finally, simple expressions are developed for predicting the thermal entrance length and fully developed flow Nu values for noncircular ducts.

Flow Boiling Visualization of R-134a in a Vertical Channel of Small Diameter

Abstract: The present work reports on flow boiling visualization of refrigerant R-134a in a vertical circular channel with an internal diameter of 1.33 mm and 235 mm in heated length. A quartz tube with a homogeneous Indium Tin Oxide coating is used to allow heating and simultaneous visualization. Flow patterns have been observed along the heated length with the aid of high-speed complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) digital camera. From the flow boiling visualization, seven distinct two-phase flow patterns have been observed: isolated bubbly flow, confined bubbly flow, slug flow, churn flow, slug-annular flow, annular flow, and mist flow. Two-phase flow pattern observations are presented in the form of flow pattern maps. The effects of the saturation temperature and the inlet subcooling degree on the two-phase flow pattern transitions are elucidated. Finally, the experimental flow pattern map is compared with models developed for conventional sizes as well as to a microscale map for air-water mixtures available in literature, showing a large discrepancy.