2Louisiana Technological University

At the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) and Louisiana Tech, research continues on the design and development of continuous flow enzymatic microbioreactors. Enzymes present of the walls of the reactor channels catalyze desired reaction(s) among the feed chemicals, resulting in either the production of some desirable material or the destruction of an undesirable material.

Experimental testing of prototypes is one way to identify and refine features that lead to improved reactor performance. Another way is to simulate the processes within microreactors using state-of-the-art computer modeling. The latter approach has several advantages including the ability to evaluate changes in microreactor configurations with substantially reduced time, effort, and cost.

A previous study demonstrated the feasibility of using computer modeling to simulate flow and chemical reaction within enzymatic microreactor channels. This study builds on this foundation by (1) comparing the accuracy of computational simulations with experimental results, and (2) using such simulations to parametrically examine the effects of changes to reactor designs (basic design enhancement study). The commercial code CFD-ACE+, developed by CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC), was used to perform the simulations. It was found that the simulation predictions were in general agreement with experimental results and that major trends in reactor performance were captured.