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.-L., Loizou, K., Lau, P.-L., 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.
• Contract Date: Feb 18, 2019