Micromixing visualization and quantification in a microscale multi-inlet vortex nanoprecipitation reactor using confocal-based reactive micro laser-induced fluorescence.

A technique for visualizing and quantifying reactive mixing for laminar and turbulent flow in a microscale chemical reactor using confocal-based microscopic laser induced fluorescence (confocal μ-LIF) was demonstrated in a microscale multi-inlet vortex nanoprecipitation reactor. Unlike passive scalar μ-LIF, the reactive μ-LIF technique is able to visualize and quantify micromixing effects. The confocal imaging results indicated that the flow in the reactor was laminar and steady for inlet Reynolds numbers of 10, 53, and 93. Mixing and reaction were incomplete at each of these Reynolds numbers. The results also suggested that although mixing by diffusion was enhanced near the midplane of the reactor at Rej = 53 and 93 due to very thin bands of acidic and basic fluid forming as the fluid spiraled towards the center of the reactor, near the top, and bottom walls of the reactor, the lower velocities due to fluid friction with the walls hindered the formation of these thin bands, and, thus, resulted in large regions of unmixed and unreacted fluid. At Rej = 240, the flow was turbulent and unsteady. The mixing and reaction processes were still found to be incomplete even at this highest Reynolds number. At the reactor midplane, the flow images at Rej = 240 showed unmixed base fluid near the center of the reactor, suggesting that just as in the Rej = 53 and 93 cases, lower velocities near the top and bottom walls of the reactor hinder the mixing and rection of the acidic and basic streams. Ensemble averages of line-scan profiles for the Rej = 240 were then calculated to provide statistical quantification of the microscale mixing in the reactor. These results further demonstrate that even at this highest Reynolds number investigated, mixing and reaction are incomplete. Visualization and quantification of micromixing using this reactive μ-LIF technique can prove useful in the validation of computational fluid dynamics models of micromixing within microscale chemical reactors.