Heat Management in Single and Multi-injection Microstructured Reactors: Scaling Effects, Stability Analysis, and Role of Mixing

Design, Heat Transfer, and Visualization of the Milli-Reactor by CFD and ANN

This paper proposes a milli-reactor design method incorporating reactor runaway criteria. Based on Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulation, neural networks are applied to obtain the optimal reactor structure according to the target reaction requirements. Varma’s theory, the critical Nusselt number for stable operation of the flow reactor, is derived. Inserts of the multi-blade structure are designed and investigated to enhance mixing and heat transfer performance. The flow field and heat transfer capacities are obtained by CFD calculations in the range of Re 50–1800. The internal components increase the heat transfer performance up to 21 times, and the pressure drop up to 16 times. The inclined angle of the blade is recommended to be 45°, which can effectively improve heat transfer without generating excessive pressure drop. By partial least squares regression (PLS) analysis, Re and the number of blades are the most critical factors affecting heat transfer, and the five blades and smaller tilt angles are recommended. The CFD calculation results are in good agreement with the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experimental results.

Local and overall heat transfer of exothermic reactions in microreactor systems

Heat transfer performance of plate-type metallic microreactors.

Liquid phase oxidation chemistry in continuous-flow microreactors

This review gives an exhaustive overview of the engineering principles, safety aspects and chemistry associated with liquid phase oxidation in continuous-flow microreactors.

A micropillar array for sample concentration via in-plane evaporation

We present a method to perform sample concentration within a lab-on-a-chip using a microfluidic structure which controls the liquid-gas interface through a micropillar array fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane between microfluidic channels. The microstructure confines the liquid flow and a thermal gradient is used to drive evaporation at the liquid-gas-interface. The evaporation occurs in-plane to the microfluidic device, allowing for precise control of the ambient environment. This method is demonstrated with a sample containing 1 μm, 100 nm fluorescent beads and SYTO-9 labelled Escherichia coli bacteria. Over 100 s, the fluorescent beads and bacteria are concentrated by a factor of 10.