Numerical and experimental investigation of Y-shaped micromixers with mixing units based on cantor fractal structure for biodiesel applications

The biodiesel synthesis intensification can be easily done with the help of microfluidic devices. In this paper, three novel designs are proposed for evaluating mixing performance required for biodiesel preparation. These designs are investigated numerically and then tested experimentally by fabrication of its chips. The current work is focused on the transesterification of sunflower oil with ethanol at room temperature conditions to elaborate on the application of our micromixer for biodiesel synthesis. The mixing of fluids is analyzed in the range of Reynolds number 0.5-100. The designs are proposed based on split and recombination and cantor fraction structure ideas. These designs are YCMSAR, YSMSAR, and YCSMSAR. All these designs are good for effective mixing. However, the YCSMSAR micromixer demonstrates better mixing index of 99.9% at Reynolds number, Re = 100. The effectiveness of our selected design is supported by various plots and contours simulated by COMSOL and by experimental images and supplementary video.

Automated summary

The paper introduces three novel designs of micromixers for evaluating mixing performance in biodiesel preparation. The YCSMSAR micromixer demonstrates the best mixing efficiency at a Reynolds number of 100, with a mixing index of 99.9%.