Modelling, Simulation and Experimental

Characterization of T-Jets Reactors

Ph.D. Dissertation in
Chemical and Biological Engineering
by

Mohamed Ashar
Supervisors
Ricardo Jorge Nogueira dos Santos
José Carlos Brito Lopes

Universidade do Porto
April 2013
Outline
Introduction: Mixing in Opposed Jets Reactors

T-Jets Mixer - Main focus

PLIF Experimental Study

3D CFD Study of T-Jets Mixers

Micromixing in T-Jets Mixers

Conclusions

Future work

April 2013 2
Mixing in Opposed Jets Reactors
Mixing is a critical issue in the design of microreactors.
“Ultimately, the design of a micromixing unit is a trade of
between mixing speed, pressure drop, reactor volume,
throughput, feasibility of microfabrication and integration with
chemical detection devices”.. Jensen .K.F.(2001).

Opposed Jets Mixers / Reactors

Two inlet jet streams impinge in a confined chamber

Static Mixers with no moving parts

Types of Opposed Jets Mixers

Confined Impinging Jets (CIJ) – Cylindrical Chamber

T-jets Mixers / Reactors – Prismatic Chamber

April 2013 3
T-Jets Mixers
Main Motivation
Last 2 decades – Our group in LSRE has been working
with CIJ…. Lopes et al. (2005) patent
The knowledge gained from previous work has raised
interest in T-jets reactors

Main Features of T-Jets Mixers

Direct contact of reactants
Minimum deceleration …. Santos et al. (2010)

April 2013 4
Thesis Objectives
h  2 mm
right inlet
Influence of geometrical parameters in T-jets
mixers Left inlet w

Chamber width to Inlet jets width ratio - (W/w)

d
width ratio
Chamber width to chamber depth ratio - (W/d)
W
depth ratio
H  50 mm
Effect of head space above the injectors (h)

Operational parameters
inj w
Re  Jets Reynolds number d = Depth of the T-jets mixer

H = Height of the mixing chamber
Identify the different flow regimes
h = head space above the injectors
determined by these parameters
W= Width of the mixing chamber
w = width of the jets inlet / injector

April 2013 5
Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF)
Experimental Study

April 2013 6
PLIF Experimental Study
List of T-jets geometries
Chamber Jet Width Chamber W/w W/d
Width (W) (w) Depth (d) ratio ratio
(mm) (mm) (mm)
2 0.5 4 4 0.5
2 1 4 2 0.5
2 2 4 1 0.5
6 1 1 6 6
6 1 2 6 3
6 1 3 6 2
6 1 4 6 1.5
6 1 6 6 1

April 2013 7
PLIF Experimental Study
PLIF Experimental set-up
Fluids: Clear water and Rhodamine dyed
water
Temp = 24℃
Rhodamine 6G
Concentration 3.5 ×10-4 g/l

Linear range between concentration and light

emission intensity

Image Acquisition
4 Mega Pixel camera with 15 f/sec

Set of 16-bits grayscale images captured

April 2013 8
PLIF Experimental Study Re=50 W/w= 6 Re=300

W/d=1

Effect of Depth ratio 164-200

W/d
W/d=1.5
White – Rhodamine dyed liquid Black
– clear water 164-175
W/d=1, 1.5 and 2 the flow is chaotic with
vortices W/d=2
W/d=1, 1.5 and 2 transition occurs between
Re 150-200 187-199

W/d= 3 and 6 the flow is segregated with W/d=3

absence of vortices
W/d= 3 and 6 the transition occurs at higher 338-356
Re
W/d=6
500-550
April 2013 9
PLIF Experimental Study
Effect of Width ratio – W/w W/d=0.5
Re=50 Re=300

W/w=1 no vortices are formed W/w=2 and 4 small vortices are formed and flow pattern
similar to Kelvin-Helmholtz instability
W/w=1, 2 and 4 vortices that occupy half of mixing chamber is not formed similar to W/w=6

April 2013 10
PLIF Experimental Study W/w= 6 Is - outlet

W/d= 1 W/d= 3

W/d= 1.5 W/d= 6

Effect of depth (W/d)

 C2
 
2
W/d= 2 Is  A
 2
 CA  CA

CA 1  CA  Danckwerts (1952)
CA

1 Fluid is completely segregated

Is
0 Fluid is completely mixed
Intensity of segregation April 2013 11
PLIF Experimental Study
W/w= 1

Effect of Width ratio

(W/w)
W/d=0.5
W/w= 2
Transition of Re is around
200 and no steep decrease
in Is as seen in W/w=6

W/w= 4

April 2013 12
PLIF Experimental Study
Segregation profile Re=300

W/d=1, 1.5 and 2 steep and fast

decrease in Is

Is – highest at y=2 to 3mm

W/w=6 fast decrease in Is than in

W/w=1, 2 and 4

April 2013 13
3D CFD Study of T-Jets Mixer

April 2013 14
3D CFD Study
3D CFD model & Boundary Conditions
Hydrodynamic Simulation by solving Continuity and N-S equations
   
 2 
   0   p      g
t
Inlet- Uniform Velocity Profile


  inj , 0, 0    inj , 0, 0 

No-slip conditions at the wall  0
Chamber outlet – Pressure outlet
Pressure is equal to atmospheric at the outlet
p  p0
3D CFD simulation with tracer
c 
 c  Dm 2c  r 6
Dm  1 10 m s2 1
3D Model
t
April 2013 15
3D CFD Study Path lines Effect of Depth ratio W/d
Re=300
W/w=6
W/d=1 Engulfment Flow regime

Optimum limit in depth

W/d=1.5 Self-Sustainable Chaotic Flow

regime

W/d=2 Self-Sustainable Chaotic Flow

regime

W/d=3 Vortex Flow regime

W/d=6 Segregated Flow regime

Bothe et al., 2006; Soleymani et al., 2008
April 2013 16
3D CFD Study
Flow field
Effect of Depth ratio W/d

Re predicted from PLIF experiments

Transition Re increase with the depth

ratio

Transition Reynolds
number

April 2013 17
3D CFD Study Flow field
Effect of Width ratio W/w Pathlines

W/w=2

Re=300
W/d=0.5
W/w=4

No vortices therefore no engulfment of fluid

W/w=2 show strong channeling of flow through the
mixing chamber
W/w=4 expansion of jets occurs two fold

April 2013 18
3D CFD Study 1
nsamples

Turbulence Intensity x 
nsamples
i 1
( x (i )   x ) 2

Higher values of turbulence intensity indicates

higher velocity fluctuations – directly associated
with mixing phenomena

velocity fluctuations promote mixing with surrounding

fluids through vortices

Higher for W/d= 1, 1.5 and 2

Confirms there is an optimum W/d value
Increase with W/w ratio

Re=300
April 2013 19
3D CFD Study Influence of head space
W/w=6 W/d=1.5 Re=300

Symmetric flow field particularly on the top view

No Vortices sequence
Head space has an effect on flow regime

April 2013 20
3D CFD Study Tracer simulation

W/w=6; W/d=1 W/w=6; W/d=1.5 W/w=6; W/d=2

Flow is dynamic with vortex street
Mixing is promoted through vortices Re=300
Role of vortices in mass transfer by engulfing surrounding fluids
Mixing through convective mechanism
April 2013 21
3D CFD Study Tracer simulation

W/w=6; W/d=6 W/w=2; W/d=0.5

Oscillation of jets observed at the interface
Strong wall effect Re=300
Main mixing mechanism is diffusion

April 2013 22
3D CFD Study
Intensity of Segregation

 A2  B2  A2  B2
Is    
C A .CB C A .CB C A .(1  C A ) CB .(1  CB )

1 Fluid is completely segregated

Is
0 Fluid is completely mixed

April 2013 23
Comparisons
W/w=6 Re=300

W/d=1, 1.5 and 2 vortices are formed

PLIF

W/d=1 W/d=1.5 W/d=2 W/d=6 W/d=6- Segregated flow regime

Similar flow patterns observed

CFD

April 2013 24
Micromixing in T-Jets Mixers

April 2013 25
Micromixing in T-Jets Mixers
Bourne test chemical reaction
Simplified form
A is 1- Naphthol
A  B 
 R (fast)
k1
B is Diazotised Sulfanilic acid (limiting reactant)

R  B  S k2
(slow)
k1  19  10 m mol s
3 3 -1 -1

k2  3.99m mol s
3 -1 -1

S is formed only when excess of B exists after

A reacts with B to form R

If mixing is fast enough all B is consumed by A

Concentration of S is smaller for faster micromixing
conditions
April 2013 26
Micromixing in T-Jets Mixers
Experimental setup

April 2013 27
Micromixing in T-Jets Mixers
Selectivity XS
Effect of depth ratio Effect of width ratio

Selectivity
2CS 1 Fluid is completely segregated
XS  Xs
2CS  CR 0 Fluid is completely mixed
Xs is a direct measurement of micromixing

April 2013 28
Micromixing in T-Jets Mixers
Effect of flow rate ratio

W/w=6; W/d=1.5

Limiting reactant B is
increased

Flow rate ratio must be

unity

April 2013 29
Micromixing in T-Jets Mixers
2D hydrodynamic model coupled with advection-diffusion
reaction equation for species with chemical reaction
h  2 mm
c 
   c  D 
Fully developedtvelocity profile
m
2
cr Left inlet w right inlet

  w    w 
 z   h    z   h   
   2    2  W
 x ( z )  6inj
w2
At the chambers interior, wall, injectors and outlet the H  50 mm
diffusion was set zero. The fluid diffusivity was set as

Dm  1 109 m 2 s 1
2D CFD Study Model

April 2013 30
Micromixing
A
in T-Jets
B
Mixers
R S
Excess of B

Flow is
segregated
Re=100

Products R and S is formed in the interface in equal amount Reaction is due to

diffusion
Excess of unreacted B at low Re
April 2013 31
Micromixing
A
in T-Jets
B
Mixers S
R

B is not Product R is
consumed formed in bulk
completely Re=400

Self-sustainable chaotic flow regime at high Re Reaction is due to

vortices
B starts to be consumed by A at high Re advection
April 2013 32
Micromixing in T-Jets Mixers
Selectivity

Selectivity
2CS
XS 
2CS  CR  CB

April 2013 33
Conclusions
The dependence of the flow dynamics and mixing performance in T-
jets mixers of the Re, W/w and W/d was shown using the PLIF, CFD
simulations and Micromixing studies

CFD simulation have shown vortices that occupy the entire mixing
chamber
The formation of these vortices depend not only on the Re but also on W/w
and W/d ratios

Different flow regimes were identified

April 2013 34
Conclusions
Threshold limit for the design parameters to obtain self-sustainable
flow regime were set : Re ≥ 150; W/d ≥ 2 and W/w =6

Lowest value of IS, Xs, indicating good mixing were obtained for self-
sustainable chaotic flow regime

Transition Re identified for different geometries; Transition Re

increases with W/d ratio, .i.e. deeper geometries reach dynamic flow
regimes at low Reynolds number

April 2013 35
Future work
Effect of feed streams pulsation on the flow dynamics with different frequencies and
amplitudes

Identification of instantaneous flow field with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)

Characterize the T-jets mixer with fast reaction systems as the chemical reaction studied
was found to be slow for this system

Apply T-jets mixer model on the reactive precipitation processes for nanoparticles
productions

Prediction of precipitation processes with coupling of Population Balance Model with

CFD

April 2013 36
Acknowledgments
Doctor Ricardo Santos

Professor José Carlos Lopes

Professora Madalena Dias

Professor Alírio Rodrigues

Financial support:

Ph.D. scholarship by FCT (SFRH/BD/43879/2008)

April 2013 37