Mixing of two different electrolyte solutions in electromagnetic rectangular mixers

This study proposes a new electromagnetic rectangular mixer, and numerically examines the mixing characteristics of two different electrolyte solutions in the device under a uniform magnetic field. The mixer consists of a conduit with electrodes equipped on its top and bottom walls. The difference in the electric potentials applied to the sets of electrodes induces the current. The combination of the induced current and magnetic field yields Lorentz force, resulting in the fluid motion for pumping and mixing of the two different fluids. The numerical simulation is carried out with the use of commercial software CFX. The present numerical model is validated by an existing numerical work. The effect of different variables on mixing efficiency is investigated in many different cases with two different heights of the duct and various input voltages of the electrodes. The current simulation results indicate that the mixing performance can be enhanced by using multiple sets of electrodes and applying higher input voltages (absolute values) to the electrodes.