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Heat transfer performance of NETmix—A novel micro‐meso structured mixer and reactor
Author(s) -
Costa Marcelo F.,
Fonte Carlos M.,
Dias Madalena M.,
Lopes José C. B.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.15728
Subject(s) - nusselt number , heat transfer , microreactor , laminar flow , mechanics , thermodynamics , mixing (physics) , materials science , heat transfer coefficient , flow (mathematics) , chemistry , mechanical engineering , reynolds number , physics , engineering , turbulence , biochemistry , quantum mechanics , catalysis
NETmix is a novel static mixing technology consisting on a network of unit cells, comprising chambers interconnected by channels. To assess the heat transfer capacity of NETmix, the NUB model was implemented to perform hydrodynamics and heat transfer simulations. Due to the periodic nature of the NETmix structure, two central chambers and six half‐chambers were found to be sufficient to be representative of the whole network. The Nusselt numbers were determined based on the CFD simulations, and when compared with theoretical results for laminar flow between parallel plates, 3–5 times higher Nusselt number values were obtained with NETmix. This observed heat transfer rate enhancement, makes it suitable for fast reactions where heat transfer is crucial. Finally, results obtained from this study show that NETmix presents a heat transfer capacity one order of magnitude greater than microreactors, and 2–5 orders of magnitude greater than the most commonly used devices in industry. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J , 63: 2496–2508, 2017