In this paper, the results of computational fluid dynamics simulations of flow, temperature, and concentration
distributions used in the design of a microreactor for the high-throughput screening of catalytic coatings
(Mies et al., Chem. Eng. J.
2004, 101, 225) are compared with experimental data, and good agreement is
obtained in all cases. The experimental results on flow distribution were obtained from laser Doppler
anemometry measurements in the range of Reynolds numbers from 6 to 113. The measured flow nonuniformity
in the separate reactor compartments was below 2%. The temperature distribution was obtained from
thermocouple measurements. The temperature nonuniformity between the reactor compartments was below
3 K at a maximum heat production rate of 1.3 W in ethylene oxidation at 425 °C over CuO/Al2O3/Al coatings.
With respect to concentration gradients, a deviation from the average rate of reaction of only 2.3% was
obtained at realistic process conditions in the ethylene ammoxidation process over identical Co−ZSM-5 coatings
in all reactor compartments. The cross talking noise between separate compartments does not exceed 0.1%
when the reactor parts have a smooth surface finish. This illustrates the importance of ultraprecision machining
of surfaces in microtechnology, when interfaces cannot be avoided.
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