HYDRODYNAMIC STUDIES ON LIQUID-LIQUID TWO PHASE FLOW SEPARATION IN MICROCHANNEL BY CFD MODELLING

Microfluidic systems undergo rapid expansion of its application in different
industries over the few decades. Industries have exploited its surface tensiondominated
property to achieve better mixing and improve mass transfer between two
immiscible liquids. Rapid separation is needed for many reactions that required precise
residence time, to enhance production yield. The separation technique for two-phase
fluid flow in microfluidic system is different from the macro-system, as the
gravitational force is overtaken by surface force. To understand these phenomena
completely, a study on the hydrodynamic characteristics of two-phase oil-methanol
system in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel is carried out. The objective of
this work is to separate the products from a transesterification process of oil and
methanol. A multiphase Volume of Fluid (VOF) model is developed to predict the
fluid flow in microchannel. An inline separator design is proposed along with its
variable to obtain effective separation for the oil-methanol system. The separation
performance is evaluated based on the amount of oil recovered and its purity