ERIC Number: EJ1178619
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-May
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: N/A
Development and Application of 3D Printed Mesoreactors in Chemical Engineering Education
Tabassum, Tahseen; Iloska, Marija; Scuereb, Daniel; Taira, Noriko; Jin, Chongguang; Zaitsev, Vladimir; Afshar, Fara; Kim, Taejin
Journal of Chemical Education, v95 n5 p783-790 May 2018
3D printing technology has an enormous potential to apply to chemical engineering education. In this paper, we describe several designs of 3D printed mesoreactors (Y-shape, T-shape, and Long channel shape) using the following steps: reactor sketching, CAD modeling, and reactor printing. With a focus on continuous plug flow mesoreactors (PFRs, i.d. = 2 mm), fluid mixing phenomena were explored by using a passive mixing method. The small channel of mesoreactors facilitates the stability of a laminar flow in the system at low Reynolds number. With changes in flow rates (0.2 and 4.0 mL/min) and channel geometry (0° and 90° outlet angle), fluid mixing was controlled. Our results provided that 3D printed mesoreactors can be possibly used in teaching fluid dynamics, chemical kinetics, and reaction engineering, which are main courses of the chemical engineering undergraduate program. Furthermore, the cost of mesoreactor printing was suitable (<$1.00/microreactor) for education.
Descriptors: College Science, Science Instruction, Undergraduate Study, Hands on Science, Science Laboratories, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Computer Software, Printing, Educational Technology, Technology Uses in Education, Geometric Concepts, Science Experiments
Division of Chemical Education, Inc and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: CBET1546647