Numbering-up liquid-liquid systems in microfluidic reactors: A parametric study

Present parametric study shows that the flowrate, number of channels, hydrodynamic resistances and phase ratio significantly affect the maldistribution in parallel microfluidic reactors (i.e., numbering-up). Especially the effect of flow rate and phase ratio has not been reported before. However, these findings are of a qualitative nature due to a high degree of variability between experiments. Additional experiments show that the stable point of operation easily shifts in the considered set-ups, explaining this variability. Therefore, a Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) in SPSS is introduced to partially compensate for this variance and, also, manage the large data set that results from a parametric study. It is shown that introducing advanced statistical methods can provide additional insights and can further push the field of numbering-up. (C) 2022 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates that flowrate, number of channels, hydrodynamic resistances, and phase ratio have a significant impact on the maldistribution in parallel microfluidic reactors. Advanced statistical methods, such as Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), can provide additional insights and partially compensate for variability between experiments.