Fluid flow behavior and the rate of an enzyme reaction in deep microchannel reactor under high-throughput condition

Two different types of deep microchannel reactors, T- and To-types, were fabricated using glass substrates, and the reaction interface formed in each of them was observed using a flow visualization technique. The flow maldistribution was not observed even when the flow rate was increased to 100 mL/min in experiments using the To-type reactor. Analysis on the basis of a computational fluid dynamics simulation indicated that the flow maldistribution is caused by fabrication error, and it is strongly affected by the channel length and difference in the fluid properties. In an examination of the reactor performance using an enzyme reaction, it was shown that even at a high flow rate condition, the reaction rates in the deep microchannel reactors were higher than those in a beaker. It was concluded that To-type deep microchannel reactors are suited for building microreactor systems with a throughput in the order of 104 tons per year. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.