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A Novel Multiple Plasma Jet Tangentially Mixed Reactor: Design and Carbon Black Production

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Abstract

In this paper, a new multiple plasma jet tangentially mixed reactor (MPJ-TMR) is proposed. The impact of varying tangent circle diameters on the mixing process is investigated through CFD simulation. The MPJ-TMR has been preliminarily applied to high-conductive carbon black (HCCB) preparation. The results show that the MPJ-TMR with a tangent circle diameter dc/din = 0 is directed to form the "counter-flow recirculation zone", which impedes mixing between plasma jets and cold fluids. For the MPJ-TMR with a tangent circle diameter dc/din > 0, the intensity of the "counter-flow recirculation zone" weakens and disappears as the tangent circle diameter increases. The eccentric impact flow drives the fluid to spiral around the central axis. So that a spiral vortex structure is formed to enhance the mixing. Among them, the MPJ-TMR with a tangent circle diameter dc/din = 0.5 exhibits the best mixing efficiency due to its highest local circumferential velocity and axial vortex flux, resulting in good entrainment between plasma jets and cold fluids. Therefore, the MPJ-TMR with a tangent circle diameter dc/din = 0.5 is applied to prepare carbon black. The resulting products show a rich branched chain structure with over 90% of the primary particle size distributed within the range of 10–20 nm. The physicochemical indices DBP Absorption, IAN and resistivity of HCCB are very close to that of acetylene carbon black. The reactor demonstrates excellent product uniformity.

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The datasets used or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 120350015) and Youth Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 12105282).

Funding

Youth Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 12105282).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineer Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, People’s Republic of China

    Xianhui Chen, Shaopeng Wang & Weidong Xia

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  1. Xianhui Chen
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  2. Shaopeng Wang
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  3. Weidong Xia
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Contributions

SW: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing—original draft, Writing—review &editing. XC: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Resources, Supervision, Writing—review & editing. WX: Resources, Supervision, Data curation, Project administration. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xianhui Chen.

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Chen, X., Wang, S. & Xia, W. A Novel Multiple Plasma Jet Tangentially Mixed Reactor: Design and Carbon Black Production. Plasma Chem Plasma Process 44, 721–738 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-024-10446-y

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