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Intensification of liquid mixing and local turbulence using a fractal injector with staggered conformation
  • Shuxian Jiang,
  • Marc-Olivier Coppens,
  • Jia-Jun WANG
Shuxian Jiang
University College London

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Marc-Olivier Coppens
University College London
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Jia-Jun WANG
Zhejiang University
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Abstract

Two self-similar, tree-like injectors of the same fractal dimension are compared, demonstrating that other geometric parameters besides dimension play a crucial role in determining mixing performance. In one injector, when viewed from the top, the conformation of branches is eclipsed; in the other one, it is staggered. The flow field and the fractal injector induced mixing performance are investigated through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The finite rate/eddy dissipation model (FR/EDM) is modified for fast liquid-phase reactions involving local micromixing. Under the same operating conditions, flow field uniformity and micromixing are improved when a staggered fractal injector is used. This is because of enhanced jet entrainment and local turbulence around the spatially distributed nozzles. Compared with a traditional double-ring sparger, a larger reaction region volume and lower micromixing time are obtained with fractal injectors. Local turbulence around the spatially distributed nozzles in fractal injectors improves reaction efficiency.
Oct 2022Published in Chemical Engineering and Processing - Process Intensification volume 180 on pages 109042. 10.1016/j.cep.2022.109042