Investigation of Mass-Transfer Performance for Biodiesel Reaction in Microchannel Reactor using Volume-of-Fluid with Species-Transport Model

Afiq Mohd Laziz (), Chong Yang Chuah, Jens Denecke, Muhammad Roil Bilad and Ku Zilati Ku Shaari
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Afiq Mohd Laziz: Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak, Malaysia
Chong Yang Chuah: CO 2 Research Centre (CO2RES), Institute of Contaminant Management, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak, Malaysia
Jens Denecke: Institute for Thermofluiddynamics, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany
Muhammad Roil Bilad: Faculty of Integrated Technologies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Bandar Seri Begawan BE1410, Brunei
Ku Zilati Ku Shaari: Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: A microchannel reactor improves the overall mass and heat transfer as compared with a conventional reactor. This is attributed to the creation of a high area-to-volume ratio and enhanced mixing due to the presence of the vortices inside the slug. In this paper, the mass-transfer performance was studied using a cross-junction microchannel. Subsequently, the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) method was used to observe the oil concentration contour inside a slug using volume-of-fluid (VOF) with the species-transport model. Based on the simulation results, the oil concentration was accumulated in both the slug’s rear and front regions. Hence, the creation of four vortices resulted in the creation of dead zones at the low-oil-concentration region. Furthermore, it has been observed that an optimum flow rate in a microchannel reactor is required to achieve a high mass transfer. A higher oil concentration was measured during the slug formation at a low flow regime due to the long residence time. In contrast, a high mass transfer has been reported during the slug-moving stage due to the higher vortices velocity, resulting in enhanced mixing and mass transfer. Hence, slug forming and the moving stage substantially influenced mass transfer at low and high flow rates, respectively.

Keywords: biodiesel; cross-junction; CFD; slug flow; validation; slug vortices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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