Diffusion in liquid mixtures

The understanding of transport and mixing in fluids in the presence and in the absence of external fields and reactions represents a challenging topic of strategic relevance for space exploration. Indeed, mixing and transport of components in a fluid are especially important during long-term space missions where fuels, food and other materials, needed for the sustainability of long space travels, must be processed under microgravity conditions. So far, the processes of transport and mixing have been investigated mainly at the macroscopic and microscopic scale. Their investigation at the mesoscopic scale is becoming increasingly important for the understanding of mass transfer in confined systems, such as porous media, biological systems and microfluidic systems. Microgravity conditions will provide the opportunity to analyze the effect of external fields and reactions on optimizing mixing and transport in the absence of the convective flows induced by buoyancy on Earth. This would be of great practical applicative relevance to handle complex fluids under microgravity conditions for the processing of materials in space.

Automated summary

Understanding transport and mixing in fluids, both in the presence and absence of external fields and reactions, is a challenging and strategically important topic for space exploration. The efficient mixing and transport of components in microgravity conditions is crucial for sustaining long-term space missions. Investigating these processes at the mesoscopic scale is increasingly important for understanding mass transfer in confined systems, such as porous media and microfluidic systems, where the convective flows induced by buoyancy on Earth are absent. This research has practical applicative relevance for handling complex fluids and processing materials in space.