Transport Phenomena in Novel Microstructures for Use in Thermal Separation Processes

In the present work novel microstructures are developed and studied by means of analytical and numerical methods. These microstructures form part of a demonstration microdevice to carry out a distillation without chemical reaction, two for the liquid and gaseous phase distribution/collection, and one for the liquid/gas mass transfer (“μTU-I,-II”). A solution for the 3D velocity field for the velocity component w in flow direction can be given for the rectangular and semicircular microchannel by using a lubrication approximation which gives good realistic values for the Reynolds number at low flow rates comparing to the common 2D approaches. The μTU-I is studied using the CFD code (6.3 FLUENT ® - 3ddp) by the approach of the VOF model. The simulations are performed with the test system methanol/water (distillation). By varying the flow rates of both phases and the contact angle, the condition until the occurrence of flooding of the microunit “μTU-I” is determined. The flooding and the optimum operating conditions of a new optimized configuration “μTU-II” -microunit are also investigated by means of numerical simulation (CFD). It can be shown that longitudinal instability is generated. Based on several concepts for liquid and gaseous phase distribution/collection by the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, novel microstructures (“Liquid-Distribution-Collection-Microstructure”, “Vapor-Distribution-Collection-Microstructure”) for both phases are developed, studied and optimized by using CFD. The results of all studies are verified based on the demonstration device in the laboratory.