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Numerical modeling of polystyrene synthesis in coiled flow inverter

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Abstract

Recent studies show that microfluidic devices are gaining importance as micromixer in chemical and bio-chemical analysis systems. However, little attention has been paid to investigate chemical reactions such as polymerization reaction process in microreactors. In the present study, numerical modeling of the free-radical polymerization of styrene was carried out in novel coiled flow inverter (CFI) microreactor. The concept of CFI is based on the technique developed by Saxena and Nigam (AlChE J 30:363–368, 1984). This device is made up of helical coiled tube which is bent periodically to 90° at equidistant length. The CFD modeling for polymerization reaction taking place in coiled tube reactor was also performed in order to understand the influence of secondary flows on reactor performance for fluid flowing with very low flow rate. Its performance was compared with CFD results obtained in a straight tube reactor having identical length and operating under the same process conditions. The results showed that monomer conversion in the coiled tube reactor was higher than that of the straight tube reactor. Further work was carried out in the novel CFI reactor to study the effect of diffusion coefficient and number of bends on different parameters such as monomer conversion, number-average degree of polymerization (DP n ), and polydispersity indexes (PDI). It was found that the performance of CFI as reactor increased when the diffusion coefficients of reactants was decreased. Thus, CFI was found to be an efficient microfluidic device for controlling the free-radical polymerization.

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Abbreviations

C p :

Fluid heat capacity (J/kg/K)

d t :

Tube diameter (m)

D :

Diffusion coefficient of species i (m2/s)

D c :

Coil diameter (m)

DP n :

Number-average degree of polymerization

I :

Initiator

k :

Fluid thermal conductivity (W/m/K)

L :

Kinetic chain length or reactor length (m)

M :

Monomer

n :

Flow behavior index

N Regn :

Generalized Reynolds number [=(4n/3n + l)n(l.0/8n−l) (d t u 2−nρ/k)]

N Sc :

Schmidt number [=ρμa/D rn]

P :

Pressure (Pa)

P t :

Pitch

Q :

Heat source (W/m3)

R i :

Rate of production of species i (mol/l/s)

R :

Tubular reactor radius (m)

t :

Time (s)

T :

Temperature (K)

u :

Velocity vector (m/s)

X M :

Monomer conversion

μ:

Viscosity of fluid (Pa s)

ρ:

Density of fluid (kg/m3)

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Acknowledgment

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Science & Technology Service, French Embassy in India for financial support of the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India

    Monisha Mridha Mandal & K. D. P. Nigam

  2. Laboratoire d’Ingénierie des Polymères pour les Hautes Technologies (LIPHT) – EAC 7165, Ecole de Chimie Polymères et Matériaux (ECPM), Université de Strasbourg (UDS), 25 rue Becquerel, 67087, Strasbourg Cedex 2, France

    Christophe Serra

  3. Institut de Mécanique des Fluides et des Solides de Strasbourg (IMFS), UDS – CNRS, 2 rue Boussingault, 67000, Strasbourg, France

    Yannick Hoarau

Authors
  1. Monisha Mridha Mandal
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  2. Christophe Serra
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  3. Yannick Hoarau
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  4. K. D. P. Nigam
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Correspondence to K. D. P. Nigam.

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Mandal, M.M., Serra, C., Hoarau, Y. et al. Numerical modeling of polystyrene synthesis in coiled flow inverter. Microfluid Nanofluid 10, 415–423 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-010-0679-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-010-0679-z

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