Dynamic Nanoparticle Aggregation for a Flowing Colloidal Suspension with Nonuniform Temperature Field Studied by a Coupled LBM and PBE Method

Abstract

Due to the high surface energy, aggregation of particles in colloidal dispersions is almost inevitable. In the present study, a comprehensive model was established by coupling a two-phase lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and population balance equations (PBEs) to describe the dynamic particle aggregations in flowing and heated colloidal suspensions. Typically, the dynamic aggregations in suspensions under natural convection in a rectangular enclosure are investigated. The real-time particle size distribution (PSD) significantly depended on Ra (Rayleigh numbers), concentration, and enclosure geometry, where increasing particle concentrations can inevitably increase the particle size, but the effect of Ra on PSD is different when enclosure geometry changes. The results of average Nusselt number (Nuave) suggested a significant negative impact of particle aggregation on the heat transfer, especially for high concentration and low Ra cases. Our work should be of value when the properties of practical colloidal dispersions are to be predicted and estimated.

Transport and Retention Behaviors of Deformable Polyacrylamide Microspheres in Convergent–Divergent Microchannels

“…Transport of micro- and/or nanoscale particles suspended in a pure or mixed fluid in microchannels is a ubiquitous phenomenon in many environmental and industrial applications, such as groundwater pollution and remediation, − energy conversion, material preparation, membrane separation, , chromatographic analysis, medical treatment, enhanced recovery of hydrocarbon reservoirs, − etc. Monitoring the transport and retention behavior on the microscale is very important for the design, evaluation, and application of engineered particle materials in various energy, environment, and sustainability fields. , …”

“…Most research involves traditional column experiments, can provide valuable insights through breakthrough curves and retention profiles, ,− and transparent micromodel experiments can achieve more details related to the transport and retention phenomenon; ,,, however, these results do not quantitatively distinguish the essential ways in which physical and chemical factors affect the transport and retention behaviors of deformable particles in microchannels. General theoretical methods to investigate transport and retention of particles include population balance equations (PBEs), , Monte Carlo simulation, molecular dynamics simulation, coupled LBM and PBE method, LBM-DEM-IMB simulation, , etc. Despite the wealth of information available on the variety of physicochemical factors for particle retention and release, the deforming remigration, even under a simple condition of single deformable particle movement, remains elusive.…”

Lattice Boltzmann Methods for Industrial Applications

“…Song et al coupled multiphase LBM and population balance equation (PBE) to simulate dynamics particle aggregation in flowing and heated colloidal suspensions. 143 Another very recent study regarding the deposition of monosized spherical particles in homogeneous isotropic turbulence using LBM was presented by Wang et al 144 Heat-and mass-transfer phenomena are of paramount importance and occur more often in various industrial applications and chemical processes. The simplicity of LBM designed for fluid flow or isothermal problems facilitated its extension to address thermal problems.…”

“…Very interestingly, Afrooz et al presented the experimental study of cotransport of gold nanospheres and carbon nanotubes in saturated porous media, which is an ideal problem for numerical validation using multicomponent LBM. Song et al coupled multiphase LBM and population balance equation (PBE) to simulate dynamics particle aggregation in flowing and heated colloidal suspensions . Another very recent study regarding the deposition of monosized spherical particles in homogeneous isotropic turbulence using LBM was presented by Wang et al…”

A modified diffusion-limited cluster aggregation model for accurate prediction of the coagulation and fragmentation process in nanoparticle suspension

“…There is another method that can be used for the description of the aggregation of particles in fluid, namely, the population balance model (PBM). Some researchers have made a significant contribution to this method [17][18][19][20]. The method can provide particle size distribution at any time and only needs to solve the group of ordinary differential equations [4].…”