Separation-layer mixing

Droplet Separation-layer Mixing Most Relevant Citations... 

The separation layer mixer used a barrier liquid to delay the mixing until the exit of the mixer is reached by the fluid. Here the actual mixing is processed outside the reactor inside the developing bubble (for more detailed information, see Section 1.3.13, Droplet Separation-Layer Mixing). 

Several reactions have been demonstrated using microreactors. One of the potentially more important is the direct synthesis of MIC from oxygen and methyl formamide over a silver catalyst. Dupont have demonstrated this process using a microreactor cell similar to that described above in which the two reactants are mixed, then heated to 300 °C in a separate layer and subsequently passed through another tube coated with the silver catalyst. The estimated capacity of a single cell with tube diameters of a few millimetres is 18 tpa. 

Separation layer mixers use either a miscible or non-miscible layer between the reacting solutions, in the first case most often identical with the solvent used [48]. By this measure, mixing is postponed to a further stage of process equipment. Accordingly, reactants are only fed to the reaction device, but in a defined, e.g. multi-lamination-pattem like, fluid-compartment architecture. A separation layer technique inevitably demands micro mixers, as it is only feasible in a laminar flow regime, otherwise turbulent convective flow will result in plugging close to the entrance of the mixer chamber. 

The geometries for asymmetric mixed-matrix membranes include flat sheets, hollow fibers and thin-fihn composites. The flat sheet asymmetric mixed-matrix membranes are formed into spirally wound modules and the hollow fiber asymmetric mixed-matrix membranes are formed into hollow fiber modules. The thin-film composite mixed-matrix membranes can be fabricated into either spirally wound or hollow fiber modules. The thin-film composite geometry of mixed-matrix membranes enables selection of different membrane materials for the support layer and low-cost production of asymmetric mixed-matrix membranes utilizing a relatively high-cost zeolite/polymer separating layer on the support layer. 

Separation-layer micro mixers are specially tools for mixing solutions which react fast or tend to foul otherwise [39, 53, 135-138], The most prominent example of such processes is probably the generation of particles by immediate precipitation, as e.g. for calcium carbonate formation. Separation-layer mixers thus overcome the limits of normal micro mixers, which tend to clog under such conditions. 

The separation-layer technique benefits from the unique feature of micro mixers, such as to operate in a laminar flow regime [135], By the absence of convective recirculation patterns, at least close to the inlet, the separation layer remains as a barrier between the solution to be mixed, as long as it is not passed by molecules owing to diffusive transport. 

The concentric separation-layer micro mixer is constructed as an assembly of stacked plates for feed supply with three tubes, performing lamination for mixing, set into one another (see Figure 1.116) [39, 53, 136-138] (see also [135]). The tubes are inserted into a frit. The three feed lines are each connected to a tube. In this way, a tri-layered concentric fluidic system is achieved. Besides mixing three solutions, a major application for the device is to separate the two fluids to be mixed by a separation layer, usually being the solvent of the two solutions. This is to delay the mixing process in order to avoid unwanted fouling problems at the mixer outlet This is particularly valuable for spontaneous precipitation reactions which are the main field of application of the mixer. 

M 54] [P 48] Separation-layer micro mixers with concentric multi-layered outlets can be operated in a droplet-forming mode [53] If fast precipitating solutions are contacted in this way with a solvent layer for initial separation, the part of the droplet close to the tube outlets remains transparent, which demonstrates that a tri-layered system still exists with the two reacting solutions not being intermixed, as evidenced by calcium carbonate formation in aqueous solutions as described in [39,136], At the droplet end cap the layers collide and circulation flow sets in. As a result, mixing is achieved and precipitation occurs. The circulation patterns are visualized by the particle trajectories. 

Figure 1.120 Schematic design of the various mixing nozzles analyzed two-fluid droplet close contact (left) two-fluid droplet separated by annulus (middle) three-fluid droplet with separation layer (right) [135],...

Three-fluid droplet generation and mixing - separation layer... 

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