Revealing the role of chaotic transport on mass fluxes at gas-liquid interfaces: interface-resolved numerical simulations

The aim of this project is to forge new fundamental understanding on the role of flow transport and chemical reactions on heat- and mass-transfer across interfaces.

Gas exchanges at a gas-liquid interface are relevant during gaseous compound absorption and chemisorption by a liquid solvent, of main interest in CO2 capture and storage (CCS), and for gas exchanges between oceans and the atmosphere, a fundamental aspect in climate modelling.New physical insight to the underlying mechanisms will be achieved by means of high-fidelity multi-scale numerical investigations, validated against state-of-art experiments.

The objectives of the project are: i) develop a numerical tool for interface resolved simulations of heat- and mass-transfer with chemical reactions on the liquid side to more accurately model technological configurations for C02 absorption. ii) Validate the code against the experiments conducted by our collaborators. iii)  Optimize mass-transfer in laminar flows by altering the interface topology passively, e.g., through the design of rough and deformable walls. iv) Quantify the role of turbulence in both phases on the interfacial fluxes by means of large-scale simulations and thus identify the main mechanisms determining the fluxes.This research will be among the first ever detailed investigation of the fluid dynamics of gas absorption in a liquid and species evaporation from a liquid mixture using both numerical and experimental tools, in laminar and turbulent flows.