Article
Engineering, Chemical
Kui He, Yi Lin, Yanxin Hu, Si-Min Huang
Summary: The phase separation features of typical oil-water parallel flow (stratified flow/annular flow) at both hydrophilic and hydrophobic micro-T-junctions are experimentally studied. The results show that complete separation of oil and water is achieved only at the hydrophilic T-junction with stratified inlet flow, while annular flow has lower separation efficiency. A comparative study reveals the similarity in phase separation features between macro- and micro-T-junctions and attributes them to the channeling effect. A simple model is developed to predict the critical conditions for complete separation. This study suggests that micro-T-junctions with uniform hydrophilic channels are potential candidates for onsite phase separators in micro-fluidic devices.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Xianbo Hou, Rubing Zhang, Daining Fang
Summary: This study successfully achieved efficient oil/water separation using modified multifunctional membranes with adjustable surface structure and pore size distribution. These membranes can quickly separate various types of oily wastewater and heavy oil, showing promising application prospects.
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Kui He, Hongliang Qian, Haibin Zhang, Si-Min Huang
Summary: This paper reports the ensemble phase splitting features of water-oil slug/droplet flow at a micro-T-junction with three equal branches. The slug flow shows almost no phase separation at various splitting ratios of continuous flow, while the droplet flow exhibits distinctively different phase splitting features, with a separation degree reaching as high as 45% at certain conditions. The abnormal uneven phase splitting features are a result of the transition of the splitting mode of dispersed phase from pressure dominant process to shear dominant process, which can be achieved by increasing the Capillary (Ca) number of the continuous flow and slightly increasing the splitting ratios of continuous flow.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH & DESIGN
(2023)
Article
Thermodynamics
Faheem Ejaz, William Pao, Hafiz Muhammad Ali
Summary: The study found that T-junctions with upstream and downstream diameter ratio combinations of 0.8-1 and 0.5-1 achieved separation efficiency of 96% and 94.5%, respectively, significantly higher than regular and converging T-junctions. Results also showed that excessive reduction in upstream and downstream diameter ratios below 0.5 and 1 led to a decline in separation efficiency.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NUMERICAL METHODS FOR HEAT & FLUID FLOW
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Langyu Liu, Shaokun Jiang, Chunying Zhu, Youguang Ma, Taotao Fu
Summary: The experimental study focused on the liquid-liquid distribution and droplet dynamics in branching T-junction microchannels. Different droplet flow patterns were identified in the main channel and the effects of flow rates and crossing flow on two-phase distribution were described. The analysis and prediction of two-phase distribution achieved a good prediction effect on liquid-liquid two phases distribution in branching microchannels.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Ming Zhang, Yuehong Cui, Weizheng An, Haiyan Wang, Lisong Wang, Shuo Liu
Summary: This study develops a new mechanical model based on force analysis to predict the liquid carryout threshold in T-junctions. The effect of the orientation of the side arm on separation efficiency is investigated using computational fluid dynamics. The results show that the angle of the side arm has an impact on the liquid carryover threshold, while the liquid-carrying performance in the side arm is not affected. The new model is validated through experimental data and achieves accurate prediction of the liquid carryout threshold.
Article
Thermodynamics
Vasyl Ruzaikin, Ivan Lukashov, Andrii Breus, Tetiana Fedorenko
Summary: Phase separation occurs in every system and device with a T-junction used in a two-phase line, making it crucial to predict it accurately for successful designing of refrigeration, thermal control, and fluid transport systems. Testing was conducted on three simple T-junctions with different inlet and side diameters, using two-phase ammonia at a saturation level of 40/60 degrees C and mass velocities of 25/150 kg·m(-2)·s(-1). Based on the test data, it was found that the phase separation behavior is independent of inlet mass velocity, vapor quality, void fraction, flow patterns, and relative side branch diameter when the relative side branch mass flow rate exceeds 0.6. A simplified empirical correlation was proposed with an error margin of +/- 15% to describe the ammonia test points.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REFRIGERATION
(2023)
Review
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Faheem Ejaz, William Pao, Mohammad Shakir Nasif, Ahmed Saieed, Zeeshan Q. Memon, Md Nuruzzaman
Summary: This article reviews the impact of T-junction design and geometrical parameters on phase separation, specifically focusing on the inverse proportionality between diameter ratio and phase separation. It discusses both the agreement and disagreements among researchers in this area, providing recommendations for future research.
ENGINEERING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL-JESTECH
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Guilherme L. Oliveira Neto, Nivea G. N. Oliveira, Joao M. P. Q. Delgado, Lucas P. C. Nascimento, Hortencia L. F. Magalhaes, Paloma L. de Oliveira, Ricardo S. Gomez, Severino R. Farias Neto, Antonio G. B. Lima
Summary: This study simulated the process of oil/water separation using ceramic membrane with Ansys Fluent software, and investigated the effects of different operating conditions on the water/oil mixture in the filtration module. It was found that increasing the feed mass flow rate significantly influenced the transmembrane pressure.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Jurij Gregorc
Summary: This study evaluates the feasibility of using CFD to predict water-air separation in a mini manifold at ambient conditions. The results show successful prediction of phase separation, with long computational time being the main limiting factor for regular CFD use in such applications.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Gustavo Bochio, Marlon M. H. Cely, Arthur F. A. Teixeira, Oscar M. H. Rodriguez
Summary: This study focuses on the stratified two-phase flows of oil and water with high viscosity oil. Comparisons between experimental data and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models show good overall results for pressure drop, volumetric fractions, and phase distributions, indicating a good consistency between CFD predictions and experimental observations.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xin Sun, Bai Xue, Shengdu Yang, Yunfeng Guo, Shuhao Qin
Summary: By adjusting the PLLA concentration and/or precipitation temperature, controllable microstructures and interconnected pore morphology of porous PLLA membranes can be easily achieved. The prepared PLLA membranes exhibit high crystallinity ranging from 61.8% to 75.8% and a greatly increased maximum water contact angle of 142.3 degrees. The membranes also demonstrate enhanced mechanical damage resistance, increased porosity up to 90.8%, and higher oil-absorption capacity at 24.1 g/g, showing great potential for application as a biodegradable oil-water separation material.
SURFACES AND INTERFACES
(2021)
Article
Thermodynamics
Jiawei Fu, Zhenhua Liu, Xingyang Yang, Sumin Jin, Jilei Ye
Summary: This paper experimentally investigated the performance of a compound T-junction in separating the vapor-liquid two-phase zeotropic mixtures R134a/R245fa. The effect of inlet vapor quality and mass flow rate on the separation performance was studied, and the performance of compound T-junction was compared with simple T-junction. The paper also discussed the separation models for both types of T-junctions. The experimental results showed that the composition separation efficiency could be increased by adjusting the inlet vapor quality and mass flow rate, and the compound T-junction exhibited better separation performance compared with the simple T-junction. The developed separation model for the compound T-junction had a coefficient of determination of 0.9662.
EXPERIMENTAL THERMAL AND FLUID SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Thermodynamics
Mohamed A. Mohamed, H. M. Soliman
Summary: The study aimed to design and test a simple device for gas-liquid separation under various inlet conditions. Experimental results showed that the novel system demonstrated higher phase-separation effectiveness compared to other systems proposed in literature.
EXPERIMENTAL THERMAL AND FLUID SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Mechanics
Xianyi Jiang, Lin Su, Zhanwen Zhang, Meifang Liu, Qiang Chen, Yongping Chen
Summary: In this study, solid-water-oil (S/W/O) droplets with an ultra-thin coating layer were prepared using the droplet break-up technique. The flow patterns and mechanisms of the droplet break-up were investigated experimentally, revealing three different break-up regimes and the effect of flow rates on the coating thickness.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Xin Huang, Limin He, Xiaoming Luo, Ke Xu, Yuling Lu, Donghai Yang
Summary: The study reveals that in an AC electric field, with increasing frequency, the stability of droplet chains improves, leading to an increase in the number of droplets in the chain and longer, more stable chains.
Article
Acoustics
Xiaoming Luo, Haiyang Gong, Ziling He, Peng Zhang, Limin He
Summary: This article introduces the application and mechanism of power ultrasound in the petroleum industry, analyzes the impact of acoustic parameters on treatment efficiency, and discusses the challenges and outlook.
ULTRASONICS SONOCHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Yunrui Han, Lin Han, Limin He, Shipeng Wang, Xiaoming Luo
Summary: This study established a universal criterion and mathematical model describing the initial motion of oil droplets on surfaces with different wettability immersed in water, revealing the movement mechanism of oil droplets and investigating the coupling effects of droplet height, surface properties, and water flow velocity on droplet motion behavior. The research obtained the critical shear water flow velocity required for the initial movement of oil droplets from different surfaces, which is of great scientific significance for improving theoretical systems of multiphase separation and guiding the design and optimization of surface properties and flow field velocity.
INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Yunrui Han, Yingkuan Han, Jiayang Sun, Hong Liu, Xiaoming Luo, Yu Zhang, Lin Han
Summary: This study proposes a facilely developed superhydrophobic chip integrated with lotus-leaf effect and rose-petal effect (LLE-RPE) using laser-induced graphene (LIG) for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection. The chip achieves reliable ultrasensitive detection through dense and uniform aggregation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in droplets. This system provides a simple approach for high-performance detection in various fields such as chemical analysis, environmental monitoring, biological analysis, and medical diagnosis.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Xiaoming Luo, Ke Xu, Wanrui Li, Xin Huang, Limin He
Summary: In this study, a strong jet is generated by increasing the capillary pressure difference through adjusting droplet size and interfacial tension, leading to rapid mixing in low Reynolds number fluid flow. Five distinct droplet mixing modes are identified, with a phase diagram and transition rule established. A novel energy distribution model is used to analyze the relationship between liquid bridge expansion and jet movement of two droplets, along with a criterion for evaluating droplet mixing efficiency. These findings offer a theoretical basis and practical guidance for efficient mixing of microfluids.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Xin Huang, Xiaoming Luo, Yunrui Han, Weidong Li, Yuekun Lai, Lin Teng
Summary: The deformation and breakup behaviors of droplets containing polymer were investigated to understand the mechanism of electric field collapse during the treatment of emulsion containing polymer. The results showed that the electric field collapse process caused by droplet breakup consists of three steps, and the increase of polymer concentration strengthens the Joule heating effect.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Zhaoming Yang, Ji Wang, Jingjun Zhang, Limin He, Xiaoming Luo, Huai Su, Xuejing He
Summary: An experimental investigation on a novel gas-liquid separator called Two-stage Gas Liquid Cylindrical Cyclone (TGLCC) is conducted to observe flow patterns and measure separation efficiency/pressure drop. The presence of the vertical pipe before the TGLCC inlet affects the evolution process of inlet flow patterns. A statistical method using box plot analysis is proposed to predict flow patterns based on pressure drop data, with an accuracy of 98%. The analysis also shows that the separation efficiency of TGLCC is heavily influenced by flow pattern evolutions, and the statistical method predicts the separation efficiency with an accuracy of 93.4%.
JOURNAL OF NATURAL GAS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Mechanics
Yunrui Han, Tuotuo Xu, Limin He, Shipeng Wang, Xiaoming Luo
Summary: This paper investigates the detachment behavior of oil droplets on substrates with different wettability in a laminar flow field, and analyzes the shedding mechanism and critical condition. These research findings can provide guidance for the actual production of oil-water separation.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Jianheng Chen, Xiaoming Luo, Limin He, Haixiao Liu, Lin Lu, Yuling Lue, Donghai Yang
Summary: In this study, a novel bypass pig prototype with a self-regulated module is proposed to enhance pigging safety, efficiency, and flow assurance. Experimental studies were conducted to evaluate the pressure mitigation and pig velocity characteristics under varying bypass fractions. The results showed that increasing the bypass fraction can reduce the pig velocity and stabilize pressure fluctuations. Additionally, the addition of a bypass regulating valve can significantly increase the pressure drop coefficient.
JOURNAL OF NATURAL GAS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Xin Huang, Yijia Lu, Wanrui Li, Xiaoming Luo, Weidong Li, Jiaqing Li, Pengbo Yin, Lin Teng
Summary: The characteristics and mechanism of droplet non-coalescence under a DC electric field are investigated using high-speed microscopic experiments, molecular dynamics simulations, and interface dynamics simulations. The research shows that the evolution of liquid bridge determines whether two droplets coalesce or not. The evolution is influenced by the electric force F-E, capillary force F-i, and viscous force. The relative strength of F-E and F-i depends on the electric capillary number Ca and the maximum liquid bridge radius R*(max). The findings have significant implications for efficient demulsification of water-in-oil emulsion.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Hui Li, Jianqiang Zhang, Shaopeng Gan, Xilu Liu, Lei Zhu, Fujun Xia, Xiaoming Luo, Qingzhong Xue
Summary: An oil-water separation membrane with bioinspired bubble-mediated antifouling strategy is developed to overcome the limitations of low surface energy and high viscosity of oil foulants. The membrane is superhydrophilic/superaerophobic and can catalyze hydrogen evolution, generating microbubbles that coalesce with the oil fouling and increase their buoyancy and warp their interface tension. The synergy of warped interface tension, increased buoyancy, and kinetic energy enables efficient dynamic antifouling and removal of solid sediment. The membrane maintains high flux in long-term oil-water and oil-sand-water emulsion separation, making it promising for treating industrial oily wastewater.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Lin Teng, Weifeng Wang, Xin Huang, Xiaoming Luo, Weidong Li, Jiaqing Li, Pengbo Yin, Yu Luo, Lilong Jiang
Summary: The evaporation kinetic mechanisms of sessile droplets are investigated using numerical simulations. A model combining flow, heat transfer, and vapor transport equations is developed based on the Arbitrary Lagrange-Euler (ALE) method. The numerical results are validated and shown to be consistent with experimental results. The study reveals that the formation and evolution of internal flow in an evaporating droplet are influenced by thermal conduction distance and evaporative cooling effect. The results provide theoretical and practical guidance for exploring more efficient heat transfer techniques.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Peng Zhang, Ziling He, Xiaoming Luo, Zihan Jia, Limin He
Summary: Graphene oxide (GO) modified mesh was prepared for separating O/W emulsions. The modified mesh exhibited improved hydrophilicity and underwater oleophobicity. Optimization of mesh number, modification time, and stacking layers led to the development of a triple-layer 2800 mesh secondary modified mesh with the best separation performance. The proposed GO modified mesh showed favorable stability and durability, indicating promising industrial application prospects.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Cailin Wang, Xiusai Xu, Cuiwei Liu, Xiaoming Luo, Qihui Hu, Rui Zhang, Hongda Guo, Xia Luo, Yong Hua, Yuxing Li
Summary: A mechanistic model for general CO2 corrosion of carbon steel with protective iron carbonate (FeCO3) scales in a specific temperature and CO2 partial pressure range was developed. The model incorporated mathematical distributions of the thickness and porosity of FeCO3 scales determined by X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT). The flux profiles of species under the measured scale thickness and porosity were demonstrated, and the coupling effects of thickness and porosity on the protectiveness of the corrosion product scales were analyzed.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Zhao-Ming Yang, Yu-Xuan He, Qi Xiang, Enrico Zio, Li-Min He, Xiao-Ming Luo, Huai Su, Ji Wang, Jin-Jun Zhang
Summary: The flow regimes of GLCC with horizon inlet and a vertical pipe are investigated in experiments, and machine learning algorithms are applied to identify the flow regimes using gas and liquid superficial velocities as inputs. The results show that gas and liquid velocities are ideal for flow regimes identification while pressure drops are not suitable, except for XGBoost and Bagging Tree algorithms.
