Mixing and recirculation characteristics of gas-liquid Taylor flow in microreactors

Thomas Abadie (1, 2) , Catherine Xuereb (2) , Dominique Legendre (1) , Joelle Aubin (2)

1 IMFT - Institut de mécanique des fluides de Toulouse
2 LGC - Laboratoire de Génie Chimique

The effects of operating parameters (capillary and Reynolds numbers) and microchannel aspect ratio (α = w/h = [1; 2.5; 4]) on the recirculation characteristics of the liquid slug in gas-liquid Taylor flow in microchannels have been investigated using 3-dimensional VOF simulations. The results show a decrease in the recirculation volume in the slug and an increase in recirculation time with increasing capillary number, which is in good agreement with previous results obtained in circular and square geometries (Thulasidas et al., 1997). In addition, increasing the aspect ratio of the channel leads to a slight decrease in recirculating volumes but also a significant increase in recirculation times.

Mots clés: Gas-liquid Taylor flow; Microchannel; Microreactor; Mixing; Recirculation; CFD; VOF

Domaines: Génie chimique; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]

Thomas Abadie, Catherine Xuereb, Dominique Legendre, Joelle Aubin. Mixing and recirculation characteristics of gas-liquid Taylor flow in microreactors. Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2013, 91 (11), pp.2225-2234. ⟨10.1016/j.cherd.2013.03.003⟩. ⟨hal-03524803⟩