Mixing performance and continuous production of nanomaterials in an advanced-flow reactor

[Display omitted] •Continuous and scalable synthesis of Ag NPs in Corning AFR was investigated.•The flow pattern and multiscale mixing behaviour were studied by experiments and CFD.•Increasing total flow rate improves multiscale mixing due to enhanced secondary flow.•Flow rate ratio affects mixing by changing initial concentration distribution.•The roadmap to control the size and PSD over mixing behaviour was constructed. The Corning Advanced-FlowTM Reactor (AFR) whose productivity is ready for scale-up with limited loss of transport properties was implemented in the continuous synthesis of Ag nanoparticles (NPs). To demonstrate the effect of mixing on Ag NPs, the flow pattern and mixing characteristic (mainly on the meso- and macroscale) in AFR were studied by flow visualisation and computational fluid dynamics simulation first. It was found that increasing the total flow rate from 1 to 9 mL·min−1 could enhance mixing by the synergetic combination of secondary flows created by different mechanisms. The flow rate ratio in the range of 0.25–8 affected the degree of mixing by changing the initial concentration distribution profile across the combined stream. The highest degree of mixing was obtained at the flow rate ratios of 0.25 and 8. Subsequently, the micromixing performance was quantified by Villermaux-Dushman method. The micromixing time decreased from 17 to 4 ms as the total flow rate increased from 1 to 9 mL·min−1, while the micromixing time was nearly independent of the flow rate ratio. At last, the link between the mixing characteristics and average size and particle size distribution (PSD) of Ag NPs was established. As the total flow rate increased, the average particle size decreased, and PSD became narrower due to better micromixing efficiency. When the flow rate ratio varied, the PSD of Ag NPs was dependent on the width of the Ag precursor stream rather than the degree of mixing, because an excessive amount of NaBH4 was used.