Characterising droplet breakup rates of shear-thinning dispersed phase in microreactors

Wong, Voon-Loong; Loizou, Katerina; Lau, Phei-Li; Graham, Richard S.; Hewkandamby, Buddhika N.

Abstract

A two-phase flow predictive model with the integration of conservative level-set method (LSM) and Carreau-Yasuda constitutive equation was developed herein. The LSM was chosen as a potential interface capturing scheme for elucidating the interfacial phenomena including insight into the mechanism of shear-thinning droplets. In present paper, the dynamics of shear-dependent droplet emergence, growth, detachment and translocation in a Newtonian microsystem were examined via computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. Dilute sodium carboxymethylcellulose (Na-CMC) solution was treated as dispersed phase (70 mPa.s < ηo  C*˜0.40 wt%). This striking behaviour highlights the importance of rheological effects in flows with a shear-dependent fluid under various flow conditions. The viscous effect of Na-CMC fluids substantially affects the manipulation over the droplet pinch-off time and production rate. Thus, it necessitate the control of the shear rate by adjusting the flow conditions and aspect ratio of microchannels.

Citation

Wong, V., Loizou, K., Lau, P., Graham, R. S., & Hewkandamby, B. N. (2019). Characterising droplet breakup rates of shear-thinning dispersed phase in microreactors. Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 144, 370-385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2019.02.024

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 14, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Feb 23, 2019
• Publication Date: 2019-04
• Deposit Date: Feb 18, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 23, 2019
• Journal: Chemical Engineering Research and Design
• Print ISSN: 0263-8762
• Electronic ISSN: 1744-3563
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 144
• Pages: 370-385
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2019.02.024
• Keywords: General Chemistry; General Chemical Engineering
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1561872
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263876219300711?via%3Dihub
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Characterizing droplet breakup rates of shear-thinning dispersed phase in microreactors; Journal Title: Chemical Engineering Research and Design; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2019.02.024; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2019 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.