Micromixing Study of a Clustered Countercurrent-Flow Micro-Channel Reactor and Its Application in the Precipitation of Ultrafine Manganese Dioxide

A clustered countercurrent-flow micro-channel reactor (C-CFMCR) has been assembled by the numbering-up of its single counterpart (S-CFMCR). Its micromixing performance was then studied experimentally using a competitive parallel reaction system, and the micromixing time was calculated as the micromixing performance index. It was found that the micromixing time of C-CFMCR was ranged from 0.34 to 10 ms according to its numbering-up times and the operating conditions of the reactor, and it was close to that of S-CFMCR under the same operating conditions, demonstrating a weak scaling-up effect from S-CFMCR to C-CFMCR. The C-CFMCR was then applied to prepare ultrafine manganese dioxide in a continuous manner at varying micromixing time. It showed that the micromixing time had a major effect on the particle structure. More uniform and smaller MnO₂ particles were obtained with intensified micromixing. By building a typical three electrode system to characterize their performance as a supercapacitor material, the MnO₂ particles prepared by both S-CFMCR and C-CFMCR under optimal conditions displayed a specific capacitance of ~175 F·g^-1 at the current density of 1 A·g^-1, with a decline of ~10% after 500 charge-discharge cycles. This work showed that C-CFMCR will have a great potential for the continuous and large-scale preparation of ultrafine particles.