Shape Optimization of an Innovative Hepatic Sinusoids-Based Micromixer

Abstract Microreactors have gained great interest in research due to their high effectiveness compared to regular reactors. They have been involved in many applications, such as the production of fuel and medicine and pharmaceutical applications. The most influential part of the microreactor is the micromixer which is responsible for enhancing the rates of heat and mass transfer which directly affects the whole reactor performance. Developing microreactors that are similar to body organs, may be later used as a platform to mimic the organ itself on a microchip. In the present study, a novel planar micromixer inspired by hepatic sinusoids is presented. A computational model is built to study the effects of geometric parameters variance on the micromixer performance. The micromixer is fabricated from Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using photolithography technique, and experiments have been conducted to validate the computational model. Improved micromixer design is attained that is suitable for stratified flow. Results show promising performance over the studied Reynolds (Re) and Peclet (Pe) numbers range, especially at low values of Re number. Mixing qualities up to 99% have been attained with pressure drop lower than 5000 Pa.